Group items tagged

the study confirmed that Twitter followers are more likely to buy from brands they follow (37% vs. 21%), and recommend brands to friends (33% vs. 21%).

Yet the Facebook advertising opportunity for brands is unparalleled. With 550 million members worldwide (165 million in the U.S. alone) Facebook is a powerhouse of connectivity where content can be shared among friends

While both social media channels are interactive, one important distinction is the "push" vs. "pull" marketing dynamic deployed on Facebook and Twitter.

Apple's and Samsung's combined worldwide market share at the end of the second quarter was 48.1 percent. By the end of the year, that figure could hit 49.7 percent. And by the conclusion of 2013, their combined share could reach 52.3 percent.

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.

Because there are various types of phones, with various types of communications technologies on them, there are also many types of mobile marketing: SMS MMS Mobile Web Apps Bluetooth Location-Based QR Codes Banner Ads Mobile Websites

Mobile Website is an optimized website for viewing on a mobile phone.  Since smart phone screens are generally around three inches wide by four inches tall (or thereabouts), viewing a regular website often displays the text and images too small to read. By optimizing websites for mobile devices, your company can deliver a better web experience for the small screen user, thus increasing the chances that user might interact with the site the way you want them to.

A perfect example of a well-done mobile website is that of pizza maker Papa John’s. Pick up a smart phone and browse to papajohns.com. (It won’t work in a web browser, you’ll have to see it on your phone.) The site is designed so the on-the-go visitor has just a couple of options and can quickly do the most likely thing a mobile user will want to do on papajohns.com: Order a pizza.

Mobile websites are becoming an increasingly necessary tool as more consumers get their Internet information via their mobile devices such as cell phones, tablets and smaller portable laptops.

"In essence the Internet as we know it is changing now and will continue to do so dramatically over the next two to three years," said Lee Weiner, Co-Founder of Direct Marketing Concierge

Mobile websites, strategic implementation of QR codes and full in-house produced marketing campaigns have set Tampa-based Direct Marketing Concierge apart as a unique player in the changing landscape of cutting-edge marketing.

QR codes have reported the largest growth (63%) in the past six months. Activation through mobile can be a great opportunity to extend the conversation from a traditional medium and represents a tracking mechanism. However, it is only as good as the content provided; it needs to be done at the right time with the right content, providing value to the consumer.

visual (QR codes), mobile visual search (Google Goggles), audio (Shazam), and native (SMS, MMS).

According to comScore, 45% of all Facebook traffic and 55% of all Twitter traffic is mobile.

64 percent of American consumers can remember seeing television ads that included social media and QR code symbols such as those for “likes” on Facebook.

33 percent of consumers in the United States have gone on to interact with the social media that was shown on television after having seen it.

This survey included 1,000 respondents. Most of those participants said that they had noticed the use of social media on television and were aware of the ways in which they could interact with those various social networks, including the “Like” symbol for Facebook (42 percent), QR codes (28 percent), the Hashtags for Twitter (18 percent), and Shazam symbols (9 percent).

One of the biggest downfalls is that brands often rush into the online and social media space without fully thinking it through or tying to incorporate it into their other marketing activities.

Social media plays a pinnacle role in terms of helping companies get into their consumer’s mindset, understand how they want to be communicated with and actively engage with them.But not everybody is getting it right. There are a number of brands constantly making mistakes in the space and paying the price for it.

These local accounts allow Whole Foods to take a more targeted marketing approach, reaching out to local customers and answering specific questions.

Per ScanLife’s recent 2012 quarterly report consumers are scanning a lot more now, by about157% from this same time last year.

Today, more consumers are attached to smart phones and other such devices than they have ever been in the past. This has created an opportunity that businesses have been unable to ignore. QR codes have been identified as an effective way to reach out to these consumers, and many companies have begun using the black and white barcodes to promote goods and services. These companies have found that using QR codes can be tricky, however, with many failing to utilize them effectively.

Start with your business card.

Be creative.

Offer an incentive.

Youth marketing agency Archival Youth Marketing have conducted a survey of over 500 students on 24 college campuses across the US to find out what they think about QR Codes. Of the students surveyed 81% owned a smartphone and 80% had previously seen a QR code. 21% of the students successfully scanned a QR Code when shown an example and 75% of the students said they are “Not Likely” to scan a QR code in the future. (The infographic below is reproduced with the express permission of Archival)

Here are some best practices for maximizing the return on your QR code direct mail initiative:

Ensure that QR codes link to Web pages that are optimized for mobile devices

Provide online content that adds value for the targeted consumer and makes it worth their while to scan the code.

20.1 million mobile phone owners in the U.S. used their devices to scan a QR code in the three-month average period ending October 2011. In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a large number. However, the number of people using QR codes is expected to grow.

1. Reinventing the Shopping Experience

2. Enhancing the User Experience

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.