GetOlympus More than Just another iPhone App

- by Cris Mitchell

With the recent release of the GetOlympus iPhone app, we saw one of the industry giants not only adapt and adopt to new technologies, but they have shown their users Olympus is a company committed to listening to it’s customers and delivering useful and well thought out products.

While the GetOlympus iPhone app isn’t going to turn you into the next Ansel Adams or Richard Avedon, what it is going to do is connect you to the world of Olympus and fellow Olympus shooters. In this age of big impersonal companies, it’s refreshing to see a business such as Olympus take strides in fostering a community among their users.

For years I’ve primarily been a Canon shooter. Not because I’m faithful to the company but because in the world of Professional Photography you’ve basically you had one of two choices, Canon or Nikon PERIOD! Granted both make excellent cameras, however the reason why they have cornered the marketplace is simple, they spent the most amount money on advertising. While there have been other players in the market such as Fuji, Panasonic, Sony and Olympus they just haven’t been able to capture the market like the big two. All make reputable products, but have continued to play second string to both Canon and Nikon.

Flash Forward
Within the past year both Olympus and Panasonic have released cameras into a new Micro 4/3rds market and since this time have gained tremendous momentum into the digital camera landscape.

These camera’s are compact, have interchangeable lenses and best of all take amazing pictures and with all the buzz surrounding them and at the urging of fellow photographer Kirk Tuck I picked up the Olympus flagship Micro 4/3rds model the E P2 and thus began not only my love affair with this camera and micro 4/3rds format but more so the company that makes them.

Bear with me, we’ll get to a review of the iphone software shortly.

One thing that immediately impressed me with Olympus as a company, was how well connected they are to their customer base through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Not only are they connected, they’ve gone the extra mile and actively staff and participate directly with their customers through these outlets. Committing to this level of online involvement allows Olympus to stay on the pulse of what their users have to say and how they feel about their products. This commitment also gives them the upper hand when it comes to stopping bad PR or rumors before they get out of hand.

On a number of occasions and much to my amazement, representative from Olympus have commented and/or have replied to my posts or pictures on Twitter and Flickr. Heck the fine representatives from the mothership have even gone the extra mile responded back to my inquires making me feel like I’m not just a spoke in their wheel, the perception is that they truly care about what I have to say and aren’t just robots that scour the net looking for the keyword Olympus, well maybe they do scour looking for keywords but that’s no the point here. What I can tell you is this, NO one at the BIG TWO have ever taken the time to respond to anything I’ve ever posted online either positive or negative, I’m pretty sure they don’t even know I exist except as a serial number in the customer database.

What’s the Lesson Here?

As photographers we often overlook this very simple principal in our businesses. We go about our days setting up facebook pages and twitter accounts and instead of taking the time to listen to our customers needs and engage them in personal and meaningful relationships, we just begin broadcasting what we think everyone wants to hear only adding to the general noise level that social media and the internet has become so famous for.

You’d have to be blind not to notice that the landscape of the photography industry has gone through a complete metamorphosis over the past several years. There are more photographers competing for less money and fewer clients. As business owners we need to take a page out of the playbook of companies like Olympus and begin listening to, communicating with and participating in ways that build trust and loyalty with our own personal customers.

So in the end, this isn’t just a review of a simple iPhone application, it’s much more, it’s a story on how to create the Ultimate Customer Experience, one that hopefully creates loyal fans, faithful followers and better photographers.

So with that said let’s take a look at the new GetOlympus iPhone app by Olympus. I’ll outline each section below.

PHOTOS

Creative juices not flowing, need some inspiration? The User Gallery is just what you are looking for. Browse through a gallery of images by swiping your finger from left to right in traditional iPhone fashion. Click the picture to view it bigger and then click the star button in the right corner to add it to your list of favorites or the info on each shot including Photographer Name, Olympus camera used to take the picture and a few notes about the image itself.

By clicking the About button in the top right you gain access to 4 more links.

About Olympus – Basic company positioning statement

Send A Comment - Allows you to send in feedback directly to Olympus

How to Submit Your Own Photo - Directions on how submit your photo to the User Gallery

Sign Up for Tips and Savings – Submit your email address for Tips and Savings on Olympus products.

TIPS

Need info on how to shoot a Panorama or use an Extension Tube? The tips section gives beginners and professionals alike a quick and easy reference to all your challenging photography questions.

The submit a Tip button in the top right allows you to directly submit your own tip to Olympus for inclusion in the app. When viewing a tip in detail you can click the star button in the upper right corner to add that tip to your list of favorites.

CONNECT
The Connect tab gets to the heart of everything I’ve been talking about in this post, it is COMMAND CENTRAL, allowing you direct access to Olympus’s social media accounts on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and You Tube all via the GetOlympus App. There is also the latest press releases and company announcements to keep on top of things like firmware upgrades and new cameras. While viewing the News release you can click the Star button in the top right and add it to a list of Favorites.

OFFERS
The offers section is like having membership to the Olympus secret society, get easy access to special Olympus offers and discounts. As of the writing of this article they are having a Big Spring Savings through May 31st on select products.

FAVORITES
Remember when we clicked all those star buttons in the other 4 sections? Well this is where they all end up. The favorite section of the app gives you easy access to retrieve images, tips and news all in one place. Think of it as your browser bookmarks.

That’s it for the first version of this app, like I said at the beginning it’s a simple app with a bold mission, to educate and connect photographers to the world of Olympus. You need not only be an Olympus shooter to take advantage of this app, but to get the full benefit it helps.

Best of all you can’t be the price of FREE.

© Cris Mitchell 2010
Cris is the Publisher of ProPhotoResource.com, an online educational website for the art and advancement of Professional and Aspiring Professional Photographers.

Tagged as: app, Getolympus, iphone, Olympus, photography, Social Media, togs4togs