The increasing penetration of mobile phones and launch of affordable smart phones has opened another platform of communication for marketers to speak to their customers. People are replacing laptops with smart phones for web browsing, chatting, social networking, blogging and emailing.
Chatting and messaging are slowly being buried in social networking world and has been replaced by updates and knowledge sharing of whatever the field a consumer is interested in. Smartphone apps are also contributing in enhancing communication experience.
The point to consider here is not how new technologies are affecting the marketplace, but rather stress should be laid on how to open new ways of connection between the marketer and the target consumer. I would say that mobile marketing is moreover a direct and face to face communication which helps in forming a strong bond, attracting new customers and retaining the old ones.
But combine utilization of social media and mobile; produces more effective and desirable results rather than using alone. Marketers should also take into consideration that the way of advertising and promoting brands is different everywhere. It was different when it used to be on Billboards, TV, Radio and it is different on social mediasites or web marketing, so it also takes a altered form when its going on mobile. Some points to be taken into account while mobile marketing -:
1. Mobile accessible content – Ensure that the content should be accessible to mobile devices. Blackberry, iPhones and many smart phones are used to make business decisions while at the time when not present in office.
2. Social networking functionality – Content sharing functionality on Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites should be optimized as per the mobile.
3. Content creation – Short videos and blog posts would create more impact and would be easily readable than long content.
4. Research and target – Research is the first step before making any decision; so do your homework and identify the target audience well, before jumping into mobile marketing wagon.
5. SMS promotion – Short messaging service would be more economic and faster way to converse with the audience for a new brand.
There is no defined way to use social media into marketing; it has always been about how a marketer can make use of various tools and services of social media to send its message to the target market. The combination of mobile and social media marketing is another way which every marketer can use it in its own way.
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