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Added the Google tracking code to the Landing page for the ads you are running? What about the Facebook landing tabs that you are running for a contest/sweepstakes/announcement or any other promotion. The insights are great and much more in depth than what Facebook provides. Do this now!Another great piece of code is the Google remarketing code. With the same added onto your Facebook page it makes for a great spread for your Google Adwords run ads. With a captive fan base account being pulled into the target range it makes for specific targeting.So you are running a contest on Facebook & Twitter at the same time? Ensure you talk about it on both platforms. Those with accounts on either will get involved. Sounds irrational? Now think where all your Twitter widget features and so does your Facebook News stream. Get it? Think social. Also remember they a lot of people stumble onto social media links via Google search and brows Twitter without logging in.Using a hashtag? Keep it small and precise. Do not add two words together that make puns or cannot be understood. Also, remember to keep the possibility of its use extremely narrow. You don't want negative publicity or feedback via the same.If you are using an application ensure you promote it using a Bit.ly link. No not for tracking the rate of the clicks alone but also the branding bit. A shot URL always saves space on Twitter and looks good too.

An auto reply for new followers does not always work on Twitter. Sometimes they follow you to DM you to make a complaint. Be careful. Keep it neutral if you have one. Who said the future can’t be predicted. On a content calendar plot dates of important holidays, days and celebrations. Include important soccer games, death and birth anniversaries of the celebrated personalities. Trust me. These trend on Twitter and do they go mighty!Keep a 5 time a day tab on your Twitter account. Twice a day checks are passé. Trends emerge and die within hours. Capitalize with these plugging in announcements, product launches or even new recruitment's. Trust me they work.The Youtube option of featured video makes for an excellent way to announce information to first time visitors. Simply set the same on auto play and have not only your videos plays increase but also your on channel engagement.So you have a welcome page as well as a thank you page that follows after the viewer has gone through the application/lead form etc. Does the thank you form have a tweet this/like this button? Build to scale when adding widgets to an interface and do so where the viewer is able to pause and dedicate time on the same.So people registered on your landing page and you forgot to add the Facebook widget there? Don't fret a simple mailer to the leads generated will ensure that at least some of them do follow you back on Facebook. In personal instances the mailers have generated as much as 400 likes when marketed to a database of 2000 leads. Unbelievable? Try it.

Google Adwords seems to be very generous with its marketing solutions coupons. Do you receive countless coupons for trial campaigns? Do you use them? Don't lie. The best way to use them is run ads targeting them to your page. This is an efficient way to use the trial versions and create some super cool traction on your page.Loaded a nice picture for the Facebook page? No not the cover, the profile we mean. Check how it appears on the news feeds of fans for a better perspective. Is it exciting to look at? Is it too cluttered? Note that most pages and updates pull traffic due to the nature of their visibility. Everyone looks at someone attractive right? Make a note.Wondering whom to follow on Twitter. Don’t worry, it’s ok. There are a million faces there. Heard about Twitter lists? These public/private database goldmines are a brilliant index of people according to the nature of their interests and hobbies. Another way of selecting whom to follow is by registering on wefollow.com – a twitter index on people and their influences. Wish to go more specific then there is klout and Peerindex. Both tools excellent on rating people on their merits in multiple aspects.Twitter makes for excellent ways to reach out to those who matter. Make lists according to the people who enquire and complain with you. Adding them to a special guess list will help in damage control as well as testing plans, products and packages in the future.

"We just started using them," explained Abby Suiter, practice manager for Daniel Island Animal Hospital. "…It’s all about clicking a link, so you don’t have to type in an address. You just scan it."

"We are using QR codes to try to get information out to potential patients and anyone who is interested in orthodontics as efficiently as possible," added Dr. Michael Zetz of Daniel Island-based Crescent Moon Orthodontics. "QR codes give you a way to give somebody information or access to information really easily."

Both Suiter and Zetz say they have added QR codes in their practice exam rooms, so patient families can literally tap into additional, relevant information while waiting.

On a quarterly basis, the number of 2D mobile codes in magazines grew from 252 in Q1 to 1155 in Q3 (up 228%).

While there is still some fragmentation in the market among code types used in magazines, QR codes had a 62% share in Q3 compared to 30% using Microsoft Tags, 4% using SpyderLynk SnapTags, and 3% using JagTag solutions. 

Among brands leveraging codes in Q3, Revlon led the pack with 37, followed by Cuisinart with 26, Garnier with 25, Delta with 20 and John Frieda with 19. 

In just the two years since the release of Apple's iPad, the U.S. tablet market has reached a "critical mass," with nearly one in four smartphone owners also using a tablet in the three-month period ending in April, according to data released by market researcher ComScore.

Tablet use among smartphone owners has more than doubled in the past year, going from 9.7 percent last year to 23.6 percent this year, ComScore found.

"Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home," Mark Donovan, ComScore's senior vice president of mobile,

48% of the respondents in the AT&T Mobile Marketing Survey point to an increase of 10% to 25% in traffic, while 14% have increased traffic 26% to 50%.

The QR code program works in conjunction with Wildfire’s new mobile site. The codes are used for a variety of purposes and are located in an assortment of locations throughout Wildfires many restaurants in Chicago and it’s surrounding suburbs. Wildfire has placed the QR codes on everything from posters, to tabletops, to windows. The QR codes help Wildfire to endorse any upcoming events and promotions in order to keep customers “in the know” with the ultimate goal of increased customer participation in store events and promotions. The program gives Wildfire an opportunity to to interact with their guests all the while generating buzz for the restaurant and creating a unique experience for the diner.

"As the number of people with smartphones continues to escalate, marketing to the mobile customer is becoming increasingly more critical to the marketing mix.

• USPS – the Postal Service is now running its second campaign that uses a QR code. In this case, it is offering discounts of 2 percent to companies choosing to use their mailers with the barcodes printed on them. This benefits both the companies and shows that there is still a place for snail mail in this increasingly digital and mobile world.

• Coca-Cola – the soft drink giant placed a QR code on its containers throughout the 2012 Europe Cup soccer tournament, giving scanners exclusive videos from the tournament, as well as an easy way to obtain the free SmileWorld social app.

• Proctor & Gamble – PGMobile shopping trucks were launched last month by the beauty and home products corporation, distributing free samples as they patrolled New York City. Both the samples and the truck were emblazoned with quick response codes that could be scanned by smartphone users.

A demographic analysis of those who scanned a QR code with their mobile phone in June revealed an audience that was more likely to be male, young to middle-age and upper income. Men were 25 percent more likely (index of 125) than the average mobile user to scan QR codes, representing 60.5 percent of the scanning audience. More than half of all QR code scanners were between the ages of 18-34 (53.4 percent). Those between the age of 25-34, who accounted for 36.8 percent of QR code scanners, were twice as likely as the average mobile user to engage in this behavior, while 18-24 year olds were 36 percent more likely than average (index of 136) to scan. More than 1 of every 3 QR code scanners (36.1 percent) had a household income of at least $100,000, representing both the largest and most over-represented income segment among the scanning audience.

Age: 18-24 2,402 16.6% 136 Age: 25-34 5,317 36.8% 211

Grocery store 3,546 24.5%

Determine the kind of value you aim to derive for yourself and your followers from using the hashtag. Do you intend to crowdsource information? Do you aim to create buzz? Are you looking to provoke conversation? Make sure your intentions and purpose for employing the hashtag are clear and focused. Formulate a hashtag that is relevant to your purpose and the subject you intend to tweet about.  Check to see if the hashtag you have in mind already exists and is in use. It is also very important to check if your desired hashtag has not taken on some other meaning. Twitter Search, Hashtags.org and Tagalus are some tools you can use to do a quick hashtag check.  Start tweeting your hashtag. It helps to set the context of your hashtag by briefly explaining what it means. Tweet with moderation. The last thing you want is to be seen as a spammer. Always ask what value you and your followers can get from the tweet you are putting out.  If it does not exist yet, add your hashtag definition to online tools such as Tagalus.  Set up an automatic alert tool that sends you an email alert when someone tweets your hashtag. Twilert is one such tool.

The concept itself is deceptively simple; just add the “#” symbol in front of a word or a group of words with the spaces between them taken out.

By including a relevant hashtag in your tweet, it becomes visible to people searching for that specific topic, adding your voice to the general discussion. Conversely, hashtags automatically narrow down your audience, allowing your tweets to reach and engage only those interested in the same subject matter.

While overall smartphone penetration stood at 48 percent in January, those in the 25-34 age group showed the greatest proportion of smartphone ownership, with 66 percent saying they had a smartphone. In the same age group, 8 of 10 of those that had gotten a new device in the last three months chose a smartphone. Among those who chose a device in the last three months, more than half of those under 65 had chosen a smartphone.

The consumer uses his/her mobile phone to scan a simple QR code at the cash register terminal. The terminal is connected to Seamless' transaction platform and the QR code identifies the cash register that the customer is using. Seamless' platform then responds with a list of items entered and an amount to be paid. The consumer can thereafter pay directly using his/her mobile phone. The transaction takes approximately half the time of a standard card payment transaction.

The retail and grocery trade sectors currently pay high fees to credit card companies in order to use their services. In addition, they are required to invest in new card payment terminals every time a new standard is introduced. In the US, retailers pay $49 billion each year in credit and debit card fees. With Seamless`solution, retailers have a chance to halve their current costs.

Mobile commerce will nearly double to $6.7 billion this year -- fueled by rising smartphone adoption and growing mobile Web use, according to a new eMarketer forecast. The market research firm estimates m-commerce sales will leap another 73% in 2012 to $11.6 billion.

“Mobile commerce is growing at a fast clip -- and it’s acting as an engine of overall e-commerce growth, by converting potential brick-and-mortar sales to digital sales as consumers use their smartphones while shopping in-store,” said eMarketer principal analyst Jeffrey Grau,

EMarketer forecasts that 37.5 million U.S. consumers ages 14 and over will make at least one purchase on their mobile phone next year, up from 26.8 million this year. Nearly all those buying via mobile will be smartphone owners, at 97% in 2012.

Apple held 61.64% of the mobile/tablet OS market in October, according to Net Applications, up from 54.65% in the prior month, and a hike of more than 12 percentage points from December 2010. Android, in contrast, accounted for 18.9% of the market in October, up from 16.3% in September, an increase of just over 7 percentage points from December.

despite the rapid increase in smartphone usage, only around 25 percent of companies have bothered to create a mobile smartphone version of their sites and only 13 percent have created sites specifically for tablets.

Currently, over 90 percent of people in the U.S. have mobile phones and estimates of smartphone users generally run between 70 and 80 million people in the U.S. It's even more important if you're trying to reach those oh-so-valuable 18 to 34 year olds: 42 percent of smartphone owners fit this age bracket. Looking at it another way, fully 62 percent of mobile users aged 25 to 34 own a smartphone. And, as I reported in my last column, 40 percent of smartphone and tablet users break them out when they're watching TV.

Is your website mobile ready?Have you tested it on a mobile device?  If you don’t have an iPhone, iPad, or other smart phone device – find one!  You might be surprised to check your Google Analytics or other website traffic and learn how many people are viewing your website on these devices.

Have you claimed your business page on sites like Foursquare, Yelp, Google Places, etc.?Whether your customers have reviewed you on these sites already or not, these services may already have claimed your presence on these sites. By claiming your sites, you improve your search rankings and have some control over special offers and responses.

QR Codes are key to directing traffic in your sitePeople don’t remember or don’t have patience to type in long addresses into their mobile devices.  In addition, you want to direct people to take specific actions like see a specific page for mobile users, opt in to email or sms marketing, check in on your social media sites, and many other options.

With this technology, created by Micros Retail, sales associates will be given Apple iPhones to process mobile sales and wirelessly e-mail receipts to customers, which in addition to building a relationship between associate and customer, expedites sales. Devices will also be equipped with the brand’s Gucci Style app (with customers encouraged to visit the company’s digital flagship at gucci.com), as well as other tools to enhance the in-store shopping experience such as Google translator, maps and a currency converter.

QR codes enable us to make the transition between digital and brick and mortar seamless,” said Patti Cohen, executive vice president, global marketing and communication at Donna Karan International, adding that the brand’s QR codes dovetail with the retailers’ own digital programs.

there are around 1.3 billion phone lines in the world. The number of TV sets and personal computers is higher, around 1.5 billion of each.

by the end of 2010 there will be an estimated 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide.

Cellular coverage is reaching about 90% of the world population and 80% of the population living in rural areas.

Nearly half (46%) of American adults are smartphone owners as of February 2012, an increase of 11 percentage points over the 35% of Americans who owned a smartphone last May. As in 2011, our definition of a smartphone owner includes anyone who said yes to either of the following two questions: 45% of cell owners say that their phone is a smartphone, up from 33% in May 2011 49% of cell owners say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the US market,1 up from 39% in May 2011

As more and more Americans turn to their mobile phones for information, the potential for QR codes grows ever larger. (Smart phone proliferation surged above 50% in early 2012). So, rather than wait for QR codes to die or, conversely, assume they’ll be just fine, marketers should take proactive steps to use QR codes more effectively right now.

First, businesses need to have offers that are QR code-specific.

Second, there is a difference between using QR codes in unique ways to get noticed, and using QR codes in unique ways just to be weird.