Social media on the move
Consumers are still reluctant about mobile marketing because they fear being bombarded by advertisers while they're out and about. But the overwhelming success of branded applications show that marketers have a mobile role to play, as long as they provide value.
If custom apps aren't a viable option, social media is another avenue for marketers to interact with their consumers on the go. EMarketer predicts that by 2010, 34 percent of mobile internet users will use social media on their phone. This is a sizeable opportunity for marketers. If they find their social niche and interact with consumers in a meaningful way, the Holy Grail of reaching mobile consumers can be discovered.
The top reason consumers engage with brands online is to gain access to exclusive promotions and specials. Taking this into consideration, marketers should incorporate mobile into their social strategy. If offers are timed correctly, they can impact social followers on their mobile devises. No matter what the strategy, the key has always been to provide value to customers on the go, without overtly interrupting them.
Using coupons of point of service/purchase applications, marketers can encourage customers to engage with them through social media and mobile marketing.
Thinking long term
Social media is a commitment. Time and resources are needed to keep a close watch on user sentiment, trending topics, and to be an active participant. This investment will most certainly pay off. Social media will keep your brand in front of influencers and provide search engines with new content to index. This will help your marketing cause in a number of ways because search engines will crawl your web properties more frequently. They will find press releases, product announcements, and blog posts more quickly, which means it will be in front of consumers in a timely manner. This also has a valuable long-term impact on SEO by increasing quality and quantity of website references.
The personal nature of social media will also do more than provide valuable consumer insights. It will enable marketers to identifying unique keywords through interactions that can be applied to search campaigns. Monitoring and tracking how consumers relate to you socially will provide further insight into their search intent and what phrases they use in search queries. By continually refining and evaluating search intent, marketers can ensure they're bidding on the right keywords that resonate with their user base and drive conversions.
Tying it all together
The ultimate thing to remember is that marketing is a holistic process. In traditional marketing, a commercial impacts brand awareness and in-store traffic. In digital marketing, social media marketing impacts brand awareness and SEO. Nothing operates in a silo, and the most successful marketers will continue to leverage the benefits of integrated plans including social media marketing and SEO.
Andreas Roell is president and CEO of Geary Interactive.
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