dynasty travel: Mobile and Social: A Marketing Marriage Made in Heaven

Apparently the stars have come into alignment. Or perhaps Hell has frozen over. Whatever the cause, for the first time ever, more Facebook users are accessing the site on mobile devices than on desktops. Not only that, Facebook is actually generating revenue from mobile ads. Perhaps mobile is not just a fad after all. Hmmmm. Time to rethink that marketing strategy, maybe even upgrade the corporate website. Smart thinking and here?s why: Location-based, real time information is no longer a novelty. It has become the norm. Where do people need that information? On their mobile devices. When do they want that information? Now. Who do they want to share it with? Their social network: friends, family, coworkers, even strangers.

What is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing is getting a lot of press lately. Even though the very term ?mobile marketing? has become a bit ubiquitous, there is still some confusion as to what mobile marketing actually is. That is because there are actually two different definitions of the term. According to Wikipedia, ?Mobile marketing is marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone?. It is also defined as ?The use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication?. So, in addition to being marketing messages viewed on the small or ?third? screen, the first two being the television and the computer monitor, it is also marketing that it specifically geared toward mobile devices. The first case would be a website as it is rendered on a cell phone or tablet, the second would be SMS messages and push ads. Clearly, it is the medium AND the message.

Mobile and Social

While social media was the buzz word for 2012, this year it is mobile marketing?and rightly so. However, it is important to recognize that there really is no social without mobile, nor mobile without social. In fact, many social networks are mobile-only platforms. For instance, Instagram, Facebook?s recently acquired photo-sharing application and Twitter?s new love-child, Vine, for micro-video sharing. Both were designed as mobile-only apps. Those two examples highlight the synergistic relationship between social and mobile. Another great example is the Super Bowl. Many of the brands incorporating mobile into their marketing message used social media as the catalyst. Kraft demonstrated the marriage of social and mobile deliciously with their Oreo brand. Their Super Bowl ad ended with a call to action: vote for your favorite, the cookie or the creme, on Instagram. In another commercial, automotive brand Lincoln and comic Jimmy Fallon used a Twitter hashtag to create a 90 second spot optimized for mobile viewing. We are seeing that social media play a crucial role in the success of mobile advertising. Many advertisers are successfully using social media to prompt consumers to use their mobile devices as the starting point to learn more about a brand or product.

The take-away: Social has gone mobile. Mobile needs social for ultimate success. Be kind to your marketing effort. While you are busy building up your social presence, don?t forget to make sure your efforts are mobile-friendly. Right now, mobile and social are in the honeymoon phase. Both are happy, basking in the sun, but remember what your parents told you. Marriage is hard work. Part of that work is making sure your website is mobile responsive, getting rid of any flash-based content and adding prominent social sharing buttons that people can actually click.

Kimberly Reynolds is a social media and mobile marketing consultant that transforms ordinary websites into powerful marketing machines. ?A serial entrepreneur since she was 12, selling books door-to-door, she now trains small business owners on how to leverage social media and the mobile web to attain financial freedom. ?If you are interested in how to use social media to outshine your competition, visit her website for a free social media analysis and social media training. Also, visit her on Google.

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