• THINKademic Blog

    • Link Assistant Social Media Sales Marketing Game Technique

    Posted on December 18, 2012 by edmondwu

    Being a web strategy consultancy, we review a lot of tools and programs to help us become more efficient and keep us up to date. We came across an sales email from a vendor called Link Assistant which sells their SEO products. Their campaign involved creating a game that allows customers to earn additional discounts by promoting their sale through social media. The more social media promotions performed meant the higher the discount.

    Their email first states that there are a range of discounts from 45% – 60% which is enough to probably push a lot of people to click through which is a good first step. Everyone loves a mystery man or this case mystery deal.

    Then the user is quickly given a list of rules that wasn’t even necessary as the “Unlock the Game” block already showed users call to actions that were common for social media users. The “Make just one social share to active” encourages users by using the word “just one” suggesting that it’s quick and painless.

    After the initial social media action, the user is shown stocking which have question marks which encourages them to unlock the next discounts by sharing more.

    Next the user is encouraged to share more by showing them that they can earn more discounts. The user eventually knows that to earn the highest discount you will need to finish completing sharing on all the major social networks, Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter.

    Well done campaign Link Assistant. Happy holidays. We’re a fan of your product.

    Posted in Marketing | Leave a comment

    Rise of Pintrest

    Posted on February 14, 2012 by edmondwu

    Recently I found myself with a rash of people following me not on Twitter but on Pintrest. I completely forgot about this Pintrest thing since I was invited on it a while ago. It was interesting because it was a site that was ver similar to a website that I worked on for about a year but never worked out. Pintrest is an invite only social network where people share interesting things such as furniture, accessories, and any number of products or things of interest. The concept is that you pin the things that interest you on your boards. Your friends can see and share things back with you. Sounds like a simple idea but what’s in it for businesses.

    Well it’s the biggest things to retail businesses since Ebay. It’s one of the best distribution channels now for your products. Recently hitting 10 million users, it has captured one of the most lucrative demographics on earth, women. Well what’s a purse or clothing company to do? Well right now, you can’t create a brand page but definitely probably get an invite to start “sharing” not “spamming” the site with your fabulous products. Or simple just add a “pin it” button on your site.

    By having your products on Pintrest, you get a definite social media head start of your competitors. You may not get link backs but definitely will get your product out there with very little work other than creating some great images.

    Posted in Marketing, Thinkademic Tips | Leave a comment

    MANMOSH: A Site for Men Who Love Stuff

    Posted on June 15, 2011 by edmondwu

    We’ve been a bit busy at THINKademic working to make our client’s sites and businesses better but in our spare time, we practice our craft by making interesting things such as MANMOSH. MANMOSH is a network of sites that scourers the web for the most interesting products from around the web. It sorts products based on style and interest as well as by categories so if you’re simply looking for any product by a certain style such as some more edgy, you can check out STREETMosh or if you want something more sophisticated, then 007Mosh is the site for you. It’s a new way of looking at men’s products. There will be more features in the coming months so keep an eye out.

    Posted in Company News | Leave a comment

    We just launched our new site!

    Posted on February 21, 2011 by edmondwu

    So it’s been quite a while since we told you that we were launching a new site but we better late than never. Ever since opening ourselves to new clients, we’ve been working like bees. But we have a lot in store as well as many more updates and tips on the blog. We’re also working on a couple internal projects and hopefully we’ll release those faster than we released the redesign of the site.

    Posted in Company News | 2 Comments

    Fifteen Possibilities from Google Chrome OS and the Cloud

    Posted on December 8, 2010 by edmondwu

    Google just released their new Chrome OS that puts computing solely in the cloud.  While on it’s face, it seems just like another Google project but this is actually huge.  The first response is that what about my Microsoft Word or Photoshop?  Yes there will be a need for those programs but for most computer users perhaps 90%, Google Docs and Picnic will most likely be sufficient.  The ten percent of us including me will probably need our heavy duty design programs, excel processing functions and massive files.  So it will definitely be fine for those of us who check Facebook, chat, email, watch videos, and do some word processing.  What are the major ramifications and possibilities of Google Chrome operating system?  Let’s list a few (fifteen to be exact):

    1. OS of Choice for Lower Priced Devices: Google will essentially give it away for free thus lower the production cost of laptops, notebooks and tablets for manufacturers. This is to the detriment of Microsoft mainly (perhaps you should not have created such a bloated OS).

    2. Growth in Market Share: Chrome OS and Chrome browser will grow in market share in browsers and operating systems.  This causes a drop in Windows operating system as well as the dreaded Internet Explorer (Firefox as well).  (Note that Windows 7 and IE 9 were vast improvements but innovation just came too slow).

    3. More Users and Increased Product Usage: Users of Chrome OS devices will become new users of all of Google Products such as Gmail, Docs, and Maps.  Increasing user base and time spend on products thus increasing revenues.  While there are users of Google products, most probably don’t use Google Docs or other products.

    4. Further Growth in Android because of Chrome OS: Android and Chrome OS will be increasing intermingled as users will prefer to sync their laptop with their mobile phones as well.

    5. Software Developers to become Chrome App Developers: With the need for sophisticated applications for the new cloud based OS, companies will find a new market for their products aside from Mac and Windows.

    6. Growth of Subscription Based Apps: Users will become increasingly dependent on paying monthly for applications instead of buying them since they can now be used across devices.

    7. Chrome TV: Google TV may also be linked with Chrome OS to provide a better experience.  Image surfing the web and clicking the “Watch” later button and it’ll appear on your Google TV.  Perhaps you have something in your Google Cloud storage and you simply go to your TV and pull it from the cloud to watch.

    8. Increasing Dependence on Google Products: Because the whole Chrome OS experience is dependent on logging in and creating an account, users will be increasing used to the Google interface and products causing dependence.

    9. Chrome OS Education Edition: Because the OS is fast and simple, it would be ideal for laptops for young children and students.  It would not be a surprise for Google to spearhead a campaign to have Google Chrome OS notebooks in the hands of every student.

    10. Chrome OS Offline Features Created:  I have not used the OS yet but I see eventually there is an increasing need for a Offline feature.  If it doesn’t come out with a strong feature, it will be built out with super caching of all programs and processes.

    11. Chrome OS Virtualization: People will still want their other programs so I would image that Google would created Chrome OS to allow for these programs to be used on the OS in a separate “sandbox” or container.  I’m sure the idea is highly complex but it would be awesome to create a faux Windows OS to allow for the running of these programs.

    12. Down Goes Online Security: Since Chrome OS handles security, there will probably be lower sales for software security.

    13. Chrome OS Enterprise Edition: Yes Google will end up wrapping their Google Apps with Chrome OS in one neat and simple package.  Simply rent a computer from a authorized dealer and log on, then magically your company computer is all set up.

    14. Death of the IT Guy: For major companies the shift probably won’t happen very fast, but for small companies, they will increasing like the cloud and paying for an Enterprise Chrome OS since it simply kills the need for the IT guy or entire department.

    15. Growth in Google Search: Since the OS has the Google search bar, it essentially puts the search everywhere the user is on the device.  This will become a seamless interface that generates even more money.

    Those are just some possible impacts and events that may occur.  I think they are highly likely than just a simple list.  But I think it has large ramifications in how people will interact with the web across multiple devices (laptop, desktop, TV and phone) in multiple areas of life (personal, work, and school).  This simply links everything that Google has been doing together.  That’s why the cloud and Google Chrome OS is different.

    Posted in Editorials | Tagged , | Leave a comment

    New Website Coming in December

    Posted on November 11, 2010 by edmondwu

    We’ve been busy!  Yes you’ve heard that before but we’re in the process of creating a brand new website with new updates.  We’re trying to find some time to tie up some loose ends on projects and ready to start some new exciting ones.  Also we’ll have a dedicated person on the blog so there’ll be some more updates.  We can guarantee too many but it’ll be more than twice a year.  Until then have a great one.

    Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    We’re Busy!

    Posted on August 16, 2010 by edmondwu

    We haven’t updated in a long time mainly because some of us have been have gone back to school and pursued some side projects while continuing to keep Thinkademic buzzing.  But we’re getting back in full force again however, we’re still a bit busy.  At this time, we’re unable to take on anymore new clients since we’re been shifting focus toward developing things through equity based partnerships and projects of our own.  So the only way at this time to get some work done by us is only through a referral from a past client.  We can’t promise that we can take it on but we’ll definitely look into it.

    We’re moving into a new direction of making web things now.  Web things as in things that we want to create.  We love design and web integration of business but we have the opportunity to pick projects that we love working on so with that luxury, we’re working on fun stuff that makes us lose sleep.  We’re always open to ideas but right now, we’re a bit busy.

    Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    Thinkademic Shifting Focus

    Posted on December 27, 2009 by edmondwu

    Thinkademic is officially shifting their business model to align the focus toward toward collaboration and business incubation through partnerships. As much as we love to help businesses grow and prosper, we feel that a more powerful approach is actually being part of the business that we are helping instead of a per project basis.

    I started this consultancy as more of a side business that expanded to a more demanding challenge where helping multiple clients lowered the quality of work while also decreased the benefits to both parties. The experience has been a tremendous stepping stone to creating a business model that helps small businesses and start ups that grow dreams into reality. We have progressed far in terms of skills and experience. But now, we will exclusively focus on a partnership relationship as opposed to regular client relationship with future businesses because we feel that the benefits and advantages are more significant to both parties. We will expand on this in this coming new year. Also be on the look out for an increasing frequency of updates on the site as well as the blog. Enjoy the rest of 2009 and blast your way into 2010.

    Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    Technology and the Warehouse

    Posted on September 7, 2009 by edmondwu

    Working with industrial clients are always interesting but the pace of innovation in the retailing and eccommerce has creative a vast need for distribution centers and warehouses at the expense of retail workers and sales people. Let’s face it, your ecommerce site doesn’t need a break nor does it sleep when someone in Hawaii needs to buy something five hours behind your retail location on the east coast. Now it looks like the days of the warehouse worker may be coming to an end. Kiva Systems makes robotically automated warehousing system that is mainly staffed by robots and a computer. It’s not the terminator but think more industrial roomba. It’s an amazing video but it’s a sign that not only do you need to automate the retail side of your business through the internet and streamline distribution but connect the orders from your site directly to your warehouse for instant distribution while relaying that information back to your site to provide a better customer experience because orders will not only be shipped faster, cheaper but more accurately thus providing a better customer experience. Thinkademic stresses that in a age of increasing competition, customer service is still key. Enjoy the video.

    Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    The New Thinkademic Site is Now Live

    Posted on August 11, 2009 by edmondwu

    We’ve been doing mainly private and independent work lately but we’ve decided to take this work and make it into a real thriving business.  So the site has still a bit of the bugs as I have been personally working on myself so it’s a bit a labor of love.  Basically we just want to say welcome to our site and we hope to have much of the site content up soon so you may browse and realize that you want to hire us.

    Thinkademic is part consulting and part web company as we not only consult companies on the best ways to use and optimize the web as a tool but we develop new business web techniques to take advantage of the dynamically changing web environment.  We are a social company that feels that the web can do more than just create more efficient and profitable companies but it is a platform that can create a better world.  In the web, we trust.

    - Thinkademic

    Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment