How Do You Emotionally Engage Your Audience?

 

Windows Hello uses Iris detection technology source: Mashable.com

Humans are animals. Sure, we have a consciousness that our primate counterparts might be lacking but we are still driven by instinct. We still have no control over our emotions.  Our emotion is what drives our behaviour - and it is for this reason why brands need to consider engaging on a deeper, emotional level if they really want to reach their audience meaningfully.

Engagement involves understanding what your audience wants, grabbing and sustaining attention and keeping ideas simple. But emotional engagement is a whole step up from this.

So how can brands meaningfully engage with audiences? There are many different ways, dependent on both brands and audience.

Microsoft has focused their energy on creating a more personal computing experience for their customers. Recently, this has involving the release the Windows Hello. Windows Hello means your computer or device is able to recognise your fingerprints, face or iris. As well as enhancing peace-of-mind by significantly improving security, the device becomes a highly personal and personalised piece of technology. Windows Hello authenticates applications, enterprise content and customises online experiences. The technology adapts to the user instead of the other way around.

Microsoft is a great example of the application of technology into peoples lives to impact them beneficially. With beneficial impact comes emotional engagement. As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and the digital and physical worlds meet on the edge, this beneficial impact becomes more of a possibility.

This edge of the physical and digital world is an exciting step for engagement as brands have the opportunity to talk back to people. A static marketing brochure can suddenly become an exciting choose-your-own video journey, chosen through an immersive touch screen. Interactive media is up to 41% more emotionally engaging than regular static media. This is because people treat interactive media like a person, we suspend our disbelief of the virtual world and brand messages becomes a two-way, dynamic conversation.

Digital tables are the result of advancements in technology; delighting, engaging, two-way interaction. The digital table is a phenomenon because, unlike other forms of technology, it is designed for many people at once. Multi-user interaction means conversations happen in-person with friends and family, creating deeper emotional engagement. This is because as we interact, chat, share and laugh, we unconsciously draw these emotional connections.

The gradual meeting of the digital world with the physical world, with more personalised computing and the application of technology to enhance peoples lives, represents an exciting step in user interaction and emotional brand engagement.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter to learn more about digital tables or other emotionally engaging multi-user solutions.

 

Users interact on a digital table

 

Microsoft Surface Hub: New Collaborative Technology

Collaboration is increasingly being recognised as a powerful agent of productivity. We are told to have a laugh with coworkers and to help coworkers integrate into company culture to better retain staff. This is great because it's better for everyone: we get to have fun and the company gets more productive employees.

Image: Microsoft

This week Microsoft announced the launch of the Surface Hub, a collaborative tool to increase productivity for business meetings. While we at nsquared have been going on about the benefits of collaboration since 2008 (in fact, our whole organisation is built on the power of collaboration), this announcement shows the power of multi-user technology is beginning to be recognised, and on such a huge scale too. 

Microsoft is said to have billed it as a "large-screen collaboration device" which will automatically sync with OneNote, have an endless whiteboard for team brainstorming, as well as a number of large-screen apps. The device will be available in either a 55- or enormous 84-inch screen, and will be mounted vertically like a television. With Microsoft starting to take orders in just three weeks from 24 markets around the world, Microsoft's vision for the collaborative meeting space is truly at our doorsteps.

It is exciting to see steps forward in the collaborative sphere as the technology nsquared has been pioneering gets recognised as forerunners in this field. While a wall-mounted touch screen is great, there are of course limitations: Standing and arm fatigue means the meeting times would have a short life span. Only one or two people can interact with the screen at one time (in one physical location) means that annotating and brainstorming is limited to those at the front. nsquared technology specifically addresses these problems with our 360 degree immersive and inclusive DIGITABLE range. The DIGITABLE already has potential to share from tabletop to screen to create an immersive environment. Imagine the potential of the engaging conference capabilities of Microsoft Hub in combination with the collaborative interactivity of the DIGITABLE.

Users interact on an nsquared DIGITABLE

The future of meetings has arrived. While Microsoft may have taken a while to get here, we embrace new, intelligent technology that has real potential to improve peoples lives. If you would like to learn more about our collaborative DIGITABLES, or other intelligent business solutions, click on the respective links or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Have a collaborative week!

Put Down Your Phones And Put Your Hands On The Table

 Image source: pazoo.com

Imagine you are sitting at a restaurant waiting for dinner, and your friend pulls out their phone. In fact, you probably do not need to imagine this as it is a daily occurrence for many of us every single day. This can be endlessly frustrating as not only does it break the flow of conversation but it also builds a barrier between the two of you as they quickly become distracted; one notification leading to another. Just like this image from How I Met Your Mother checking Barney's Facebook then needing to check Barney's Instagram. This is true of restaurants; lobbies, schools, libraries, museums and in almost every public space we suffer the same frustrating behaviours. This is the digital age however and more than ever we do expect digital answers.

A table has, and always will be, the natural place for meetings. We sit ourselves around one to chat, to eat, to socialise.

The DIGITABLE is a tool to help enrich these interactions. Instead of pulling out our phones, breaking conversations and isolating people, a communal screen in the centre of table makes technology a social activity.

nsquared attractor is the app developed for 360 degree, multi-user ad hoc interaction. With context-relevant content floating around ready to be engage with, it is a tool to help bring people to a table to interact with digital content collaboratively and socially. Whether to search through  information as the conversation progresses, to watch videos of nearby attractions or browse content in a retail or education space, nsquared attractor is the simple-to-use, sleek application that puts peoples phones back in their pocket and gets them talking again.

Check out the latest video on nsquared attractor below!

If you're interested in cutting edge multi-user technology, follow nsquared on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and find out about our latest news as it happens.