Mobile sites frequently need a good clean-out

11 March 2010 | By Jessica Sandin

Every once in a while it’s a good idea to have a bit of a kitchen clear-out. Not just to clean things (although that’s clearly an advisable activity) but to weed out that ancient pack of the special herb you once needed for a casserole but never made again, or to relieve your fridge of that jar of what’s-its that looked really tasty on the deli shelf when you spotted them a year ago but you then forgot about completely.

Although sell-by dates often arrive much more quickly than they need to, food does go bad as it gets older. If we let it fester then bad things start happening to it and, if you’re not careful, it can interfere with other bits on your shelves too. That said, while you probably should dispose of that open bottle of sherry, you can stick with the Madeira. That keeps, forever.

I can understand if you’re wondering why this column seems more like a strange monologue on clearing out kitchens, but the point is online activities really require the same sort of attention. And if what you have online or on the mobile internet is more like fresh milk than long-lasting tinned goods, then it needs to be done with the frequency of fridge rather than cupboard clearing.

All too often brands and even bricks-and-mortar content companies make little dashes for mobile, only to focus on something else the following week or month. This may involve putting up a seasonal site or something supporting a shorter-term campaign or competition. Unfortunately, the site may remain where it is indefinitely, ready to be discovered, maybe even linked to, delivering all the freshness of a pint of milk well past its sell-by date.

This is true of digital content overall. It’s astonishing how you can find tired sites from brands which fight hard not to appear past it anywhere else. It can be a bit magnified on mobile, since part of the medium’s raison d’etre is that it’s in consumers’ pockets 24/7. Activities on a channel that’s so lauded for always being at consumers’ fingertips must never neglect that core fact.

If your amazing homage to the Winter Olympics is still there in April, that will affect what consumers think of your brand. So if you’re not going to keep it up to date, it can be better to shut down that Twitter account or Facebook page you thought was a great idea six months ago but then didn’t really look at again. Scouting around Facebook, I was astonished to find pages from usually avid content producers, such as magazines, with thousands of fans and the last update sometime in November. It does more harm than good.

Better still, of course, would be to have a little think about what it means to maintain your digital activities before deciding how to shape them. In other words, unless you’re committed to replenishing the milk with fresh pints regularly, then put in a whole case of that timeless Madeira instead. What the more long-lasting content may consist of depends on who you are, of course, and can require a bit more thought. Perhaps ecological cleaning tips from Greenpeace or shopping lists for classic cocktails from Diageo. Little things that don’t go out of date, but consumers are likely to keep coming back to them because they’re engaging, useful or entertaining. That’s certainly what the bottle of Madeira in my cupboard is all about.

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