Rigid restrictions on mobile marketing in Canada have hindered the development of ideas and programming, often relegating the marketing channel and its potential to the back burner. However, with the roll-out of both 3G networks and smart phones like Blackberries, iPhones and Windows mobile devices, the social networking and asset platforms that dominate the web are starting to dominate our handsets too. This presents an interesting opportunity to begin to think a little differently about what mobile marketing can actually mean.
If your brand is already utilising Facebook, Youtube or Twitter, congratulations, you’re likely engaged in amazing mobile connections already.
According to Facebook:
- There are more than 30 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
- People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are almost 50% more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
- There are more than 150 mobile operators in 50 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products.
Neilson’s blog reports that “in the last quarter of 2008, 812,000 unique users sent or received Twitter text messages from AT&T or Verizon cell phones. There was an average of nearly 240 tweets per person for the quarter”.
One of the most popular iPhone apps, “YouTube”, shows that 30.4 percent of iPhone users have accessed YouTube via their mobile device.
Instead of looking at how you can intercept or engage customers through SMS messaging or by using mobile as some sort of contest/CRM entry point, why not look at the phone as another location to communicate via your current social media programs? Maybe it’s time to start thinking about the type of information that is relevant to a mobile user within the platforms you’re already invested in.
For those who would say that’s not a mobile campaign, I say phooey. I’m not discounting the great potential of SMS and proprietary mobile apps, but I can’t ignore that mobile phones are quickly becoming a viable way to access the web. Mobile optimization will need to occur if we’re going to tap this emerging channel in any sort of effective/integrated way. Thanks to the hard work of the various platforms, the cost is in the content production/optimization, not the mechanism.
Content creation is the same here as anywhere else. You can partner, sponsor, enable, pitch or create it yourself. The important thing to remember is the context within which this content will be consumed. The needs of a mobile web surfer are much different than a home or office surfer.
If you’re an auto company, perhaps it’s time to optimize a video of a “feature set walk around” on YouTube so that any parking lot can become a showroom floor.
If you’re all about food, maybe it’s time to optimize your recipes for the “epicurious” on mobile via Facebook.
That’s not to say there are not a ton of amazing branded apps, like this one for the iPhone from Kraft – but the cost of entry doesn’t always need to be this high.
Combine the rapid development of the smart phone family and the highly-anticipated potential of Google’s Android platform, any investment in social networking will spill into mobile and continue to earn you advocacy, influence and trust.
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3 Responses to “A mobile strategy? With Social Media, you may already be there.”
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
A mobile strategy? With Social Media, you may already be there. http://ff.im/-28FXa
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
mobile strategy? you may already be there with social media – get it in ya – http://bit.ly/1JFNyr
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
August 15th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
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