According to the Nielsen Mobile Media report from Q3 2011, 44 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers now have smartphones. Thanks to a new mobile site by the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau (FM CVB), you now have an excuse to bring yours on vacation.
The FMCVB, the official visitor information center for Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., has been a client of Flint Group for several years. With so much going on in the Fargo-Moorhead area, the FM CVB was looking for a better way to deliver timely and quality information to on-the-go visitors.
Our solution? A revamped Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) mobile site, Fargomoorhead.org.
FM CVB’s existing mobile site had limited navigation, and its aesthetics were neither inviting nor engaging. And for an industry that is all about meeting and exceeding visitors’ expectations, well, that just wouldn’t do.
Let’s get a before-and-after look at the main pages, just for kicks (and yes, because the new site is awesome):
Mobile Awesomeness, an online resource featuring the best of mobile web development, thought it was pretty awesome too—so awesome that they decided to feature it in their inspirational gallery.
Anyone with a smartphone or tablet can visit the site to access community information. The location-aware guide allows visitors to use the “nearest me” feature to list and sort options, making exploring the community easier. There’s also a “things to do” section, which lets users sort by type of activity or event, beginning with today’s events. Each listing also has a share tool that allows users to share the event or destination on their social spaces, such as Facebook or Twitter.
In order to make the site a valuable community resource, we’ve designed the platform in a way that encourages public participation. Local businesses and organizations can upload calendar information to the FM CVB website, and the content will appear on both platforms. Companies can also email deals or discounts, which are featured on both the website and mobile site.
Since mobile web browsing is predicted to overshadow web surfing from a personal computer in less than five years, we designed the FM CVB site to function within multiple operating systems. Users who enter Fargomoorhead.org into their browser will be sent to the new mobile site, whereas visitors using a basic feature phone will be redirected to the CVB’s old mobile site.
In an age where content is king and accessibility is essential, the FM CVB mobile site gives visitors fingertip access to Fargo-Moorhead’s most pertinent community information.