Like Social Cam which I talked about in my last blog, another fast up and
coming app is Instagram. A little bit of Facebook , Twitter, and a little bit of Social Cam rolled into one. You can "like" a photo, you can follow or be followed, you can upload your shots onto Facebook or Twitter or both, whatever your little heart desires. Don't get me wrong, I am not against Instagram. It just that it kind of rehashes some apps that you can all ready do with others. I guess what makes it kind of neat is that it attempts to roll many things into one app. As to its longtivity as a popular app it yet to be seen. It is available for most smart phones but you need to sign up on their website (at least for the Android version from what I can tell) and specify your phone and it downloads the app for you. http://instagr.am. To try and download it from the Play Store without going through this procedure, it is not going to happen. Not a big deal in my opinion. From there, find your friends through Facebook who have the app and begin to follow them, start taking pictures so you can fill your album and they will follow you or see the popular pictures of the day from the web collaboration and like them too. As seeing this as a social media tool for SMB's or an enterprise level, yes, there "could" be some possibilities through promotions such as liking a picture of an event your doing and tying this in with your Facebook fan page but the verdict is still not in on using Instagram with business. Since signing up for it, I am seeing mostly young people having fun taking goofy or fun pictures of themselves like with Social Cam and just enjoying themselves. On a personal note, a lot of my friends have started using Instagram. So even us "over the 30 mark gang" are having fun with it. If a smart social media administrator wanted to capitalize on the fad and apply themselves, yes Instagram could be a cool tool to use to capture real time events or promotions and intigrate with present tools since you can merge as with Social Cam, to Facebook and Twitter. Take a look at Instagram and decide for yourself. No question about it. We have become a mobile society. We are active, busy, and we want our information fast. The average attention span of a reader is less than 3 seconds. That is all you have to catch their attention. Blogs, such as this are different because you came here searching for a specific topic and you want more information. But in marketing and advertising, people are in the scan mode. "Catch my attention and I'm only giving you a second or two to do it in". So how does a SMB accomplish this with little or no budget?
First you need to understand mobility marketing. In a nutshell we are talking about reaching your customer through their smartphone. We could the tablet as well but for sake of discussion lets focus on the smartphone. Smartphones are the offce for today's executives and our population in general. They get their news, email, videos, texts, web, and we have have apps (applications) to cover specific items of interest. Most will work off wi-fi and wi-fi is pretty much available everywhere today. Wi-fi gives the user a smoother and faster experience in data load. Ok great so now we know why we need to market to these mobile users, how do I do it without investing a huge amount of money? Without spending a lot of time on each topic, I will list some general easy inexpensive methods and you can explore what will work best for you. Many of these topics you can find on the web if you want more information or if you have the budget your local marketing firm can help. I will be happy to provide more inormation if you email me. Make sure your website is mobile compatible. If your web site has not received attention in the past few years, chances are it is not formatting to smart phones. Make sure it does. check with your server host provider. Nothing worse than having your web site being checked on by a potential customer and they have to tap or scroll through a maze to get their information. You will lose them in a hurry. Use QR codes. These can be made free on the web. What are they? Quick Response codes are scanned by smartphone users. You can get QRs to your clients or customers by your email, web Advertisng, postcards, or send it via text. When they scan it via their smartphone camera, the code takes them to whatever you want it to. Your web site, Youtube, your email address, whatever. Just make the link worthwhile. A special offer, discount, a promotional video. Pretty coool right? I place them on my business cards. Email. Emails are the least expensive way to reach your customers but market smart with them. use newsletter templates or send a offer. Make the email attractive to read. Remember that 3 second rule? Have a catchy headline, like "Free Offer" "Limited time" ect. Put that QR code there; Scan this for free mechandise or something similar. SMS. I have mixed feelings about texts in marketing. Personally I find them annoying but others say they work. I consider sms texts from businesses like spam in email. Either you love it or hate it. Before you say, that is time consuming, There are software programs that will "auto" send SMS texts to reach a mass target. Keep in mind you are burning up their data so make your texts catchy. (Most people today have an unlimited text plan) Google Ad words-Mobile. Google Ad words are a good way to get your message out and just pay per click. You can target specific markets or verticals. Again, your ad hits certain web sites you want to reach. Go to Google's web site for more information. Antalytics-SEO. Overhaul your web site and use Google antalytics to utilize "key words" and beef up your search engine optimization. This in turn will allow those with web on their smart phones to find you and your products or services easier giving you more "hits". E-Commerce. Market your business on the web. If you have products or services to offer, put it on the web. and allow credit card transactions if possible. Today's web sites are very secure to conduct business on line. Yes, there will always be some risk of hackers, but choose a good web hosting service. If you market on the web, that customer sitting at a airport between flights or sitting on the beach in Florida relaxing may be just thinking about something you have to offer. In conclusion, the above tips are the most popular but not all inclusive. Develop a campagin, keep it all in theme, and design it so you can track your ROI. Mobile marketing is not rocket science but you have to understand that the smartphone user is a "smart user" of his "smartphone". Good luck! |
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