MOBI - not MOBY

If you're not Linked In to me, or following my tweets (I don't judge), you wouldn't know about my perfect day last Thursday. I was having lunch with best-selling business book author Marc Effron at the Tribeca Grill. It was beautiful weather, and also the day of the Tribeca Film Festival Judges Luncheon. Marc and I were discussing plans for BRANDEMiX to revamp his website.

"Marc", I said, the trend is .mobi and iPhone doesn't support flash. Just to add more context, I was telling him that his website (and BRANDEMiX's too) was built in flash- the cutting edge of technology last year but that was then and this is now. The new iPhone G4 will be released this summer and according to the recent buzz, they still won't support flash technology.

As it turned out, Marc has an Android phone and immediately checked to see if he could access his website. No luck.

With 90%+ of all resumes coming to you via online, the internet may well be the first touchpoint in your relationship building process with candidates-of-choice. That's why it's critical for you to stay ahead of the technology as you build your digital Employer Brand.

For the bean counters:

• Over 95% of new phones sold today have web browsers and over 70 million US consumers/ employees use them regularly.
• Cell phone penetration in the US has surpassed cable TV, web
  access and Home PCs
• 11/9/09 Facebook announced that 1/4 of their monthly worldwide visits or 65 million visits, are via mobile.
  

Designing for .mobi is different from designing for flash. It's a new world where content is king and less is more (think 140 characters.) Easy navigation is critical for engagement and download speed will drive the experience. (This will be paramount once we begin the era of pay-for-play when cell phone carriers start charging us for our time online.)

What is your takeaway?
Take a look at your current website and start thinking of it in terms of a horizontal spreadsheet-
6 rows down and 6 across. Work with a digital architect to create a great experience for the digital natives. (Note: you can sidestep your internal IT department because you're only creating a mirror-site- something that will work in tandem with, and not in lieu of your current site.)

Start thinking in terms of the Twitter standard 140 characters, or 1.4 clicks to content. (I made that up.) Build out one pillar of your employer brand as tech geek and show your audience that you want to participate in the dialogue on any technology platform.

OK. I'm done with .mobi- and moving onto Moby.

Back to lunch at the Tribeca Grill. As we were watching the famous procession of Tribeca Festival Judges pass our table: everyone from Jessica Alba, Zach Braff and Whoopie Goldberg, Moby wasn't there.

Best from BRANDEland.