Mobile Makes Millions — But It’s Not as Simple as It Seems | Epicenter Do you seriously want to become rich? Here’s the secret — and it’s got nothing to do with building an online social network, or even getting the government to bail out your bank. To paraphrase Mr. Mobile. ‘It is the fastest-growing giant industry of the economic history of mankind, and it’s barely begun.’ Like, duh, yeah, you knew that mobile phones were the next big thing, what, a dozen years ago? Except … there’s a far more fundamental business opportunity facing you right at this moment, and most people are unaware of the vast economic possibilities right in front of them. A few numbers will explain why mobile is today’s big growth opportunity. Yet in the same timescale after launch, Apple had sold 120 million of its mobile online devices (iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches). As Morgan Stanley points out, that’s a growth curve for the mobile internet that’s around 12 times as steep as that for the desktop internet when rolled out — and we all remember how transformative that was.
How Do Crowds Work In Social Media Networks? How do social media crowds work? Who are the social media influencers? What leverage can I gain by implementing social media strategies for my clients? These are the questions being asked every day as social media gains more and more PR attention across the industry, your clients are probably asking, even your agency staff, and there was a great post by razorfish strategist Tim Richards with a new take on some great insight originally from forrester that helps to dissect some of the questions. (click here to download this social media crowd chart by Tim Richards) So what is a crowd & how does it work? So when your looking at social media optimisation and launching campaigns, your looking to target the social influencers within networks, but the bigger the crowd, the harder the center is to find, which means leveraging those key influencers gets harder, because they are probably more of them. Some interesting stats from the chart: Be Sociable, Share!
Mobile Marketing: 56 MUST Have Facts [Data Included Mobile marketing is on three out four marketer’s plans for 2011 according to Forrester Research. Unlike other forms of digital marketing, mobile marketing involves a layer of complexity due to the difference in platforms and devices. To help you understand this evolving marketplace, here are 56 mobile marketing facts including 23 charts. Each point is based on market research and can guide your marketing plans. To facilitate use of this information, it’s broken into the following categories: mobile marketplace, mobile marketing, mobile social media, mobile apps, mobile advertising, SMS/text messaging, mobile commerce and location-based services (LBS). If you’re interested in mobile marketing, there’s something here for you. Mobile Marketplace Mobile is ramping up faster than other technologies. Mobile Marketing 75% of marketers are planning to add mobile to their marketing mix according to Forrester Research . How mobile phone users spend their time is becoming more important.
The Communications Market 2011 (August) This is Ofcom’s eighth annual Communications Market report. This supports Ofcom’s regulatory goal to research markets and to remain at the forefront of technological understanding. Nearly 10 million TV sets were sold in 2010, almost all of which were HD ready Viewers currently watch just over 4 hours a day, up by approximately 18 minutes over ten years There were nearly 1 million internet-enabled TV sales during 2010, and 125,000 sales of TVs with 3D capabilities Almost half (46 per cent) of households now have a digital video recorder (DVR) Read more... Some 91.6 per cent of the adults listened to the radio in the first quarter of 2011, up by 1 percentage point on 2010 One in five (18 per cent) households use the internet to listen to the radio Average radio listening hours fell from 3 hours and 24 minutes per day in 2000 to 3 hours and 12 minutes per day in 2010 UK radio industry income totalled £1.1 billion in 2010, up by 2.8 per cent in a year Read more... Read more... Read more... Read more...
A Year In Social Commerce 2010 was the year social commerce became truly mainstream and for some of us, an integral part of our daily shopping habits. I’m almost certain, that everyone who reads Digital Buzz, would have experienced social commernce is some way, shape or form during 2010? The infographic pulls out a few great momentum gathering moments; with P&G’s “Pampers” Facebook Store generating over 1000 transactions an hour from March in 2010, along with another social commerce strategy called “Tryvertising” allowing customers a free trial by “Tweeting” that product, Disney opened their Facebook ticketing store, as did Delta Airlines, and one of the craziest things I’ve seen, China’s group-buying site called “Taobao” selling 1 new Mercedes per minute in September 2010. While the infographic below looks back at how social commerce really took off in 2010, I think it’s even more important to look forward to how social commerce will shape the industry (and our lives) in 2011. Be Sociable, Share!
Future of Mobile Marketing with NFC and Object-Based Media NFC stands for Near field communication and is a wireless technology that allows for very short range communication between just two devices. You’ve probably heard a lot about how NFC will affect mobile payments. Soon NFC chips will be standard in mobile phones. In essence, when you walk into a store to shop you can pickup what you want, skip the cash register and as you walk out your mobile phone will pay for the items you wanted. Object-Based media is objects with NFC that can produce Media links such as Video, Augmented Reality or websites pop up on people mobile devices. The exciting part is how it can be used in marketing. Brings a whole new level to consumer education and point of sale buying huh.
Are Smartphones Taking Over Our Lives? [STUDY] New research portrays the UK as a smartphone-addicted country. Mobile data services have increased 40-fold in a three-year period in the country, and more than a quarter of adults and nearly half of teenagers own a smartphone. The 341-page report, released by UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom, is sprinkled with nuggets of information about mobile data consumption among smartphone users, as well as larger telecommunications trends in Internet, radio and TV usage. Here are some of the takeaways regarding smartphone usage: SEE ALSO: Survey: Cellphones vs. With increasing telecommunications options in an ever-connected world, addiction to mobile and Internet use is not uncommon. How would you define smartphone addiction?
Netimperative | News | Today’s top stories Early data from search marketing specialist and technology firm Greenlight, reveals big winners and losers, visibility-wise, from Google’s Panda algorithm update – designed to improve Google’s ability to detect and devalue “low quality content”, which it has now rolled out across all English language websites. As soon as Panda was released in the US, Greenlight built a sample keyword set and started tracking visibility for this keyword set on Google.co.uk on a daily basis. Greenlight’s early data reveals winners are largely made up of well known news sources such as The Guardian, The Telegraph, Yahoo.com, Times Online and The BBC, along with YouTube and a couple of other sites. Meanwhile, big losers appear to include article and content directories such as HubPages and Ezine Articles, review sites like DooYoo.co.uk, "how too" sites like Videojug and eHow. Most devastatingly of all, another review site, Ciao, has lost 99% of its search engine visibility in Google.co.uk. Source: Greenlight
HOW TO: Optimize Marketing Materials for Mobile Devices The Mobile Content Series is supported by Mygazines, the better way to enhance and distribute brochures, catalogues, newsletters and other documents on every device. To complement this post, view an exclusive videocast, “Mobile Content Delivery: Native App Vs. Web App”. It’s no secret that mobile is the future. Mobile is a new paradigm. Pare Down The golden rules of mobile: simplicity, brevity, accessibility. “Successful mobile websites and applications will do fewer things, but do them better,” says Daniel R. Purpose-Driven Think about the use cases for different consumer devices. Before deciding on a platform for mobile marketing material, think more about what makes the most sense for the user and use cases. Mobile Sites There are two key points for designing for mobile: speed and usability. A user will need to gather the data they are after, quickly and easily without having to wait a long time for a page to load on a 3G connection. Auto-Detect Mobile Phones. Responsive Web Design Apps
Americans and Their Cell Phones Mobile phones have become a near-ubiquitous tool for information-seeking and communicating: 83% of American adults own some kind of cell phone. These devices have an impact on many aspects of their owners’ daily lives. In a telephone survey conducted from April 26 to May 22, 2011 among a nationally-representative sample of Americans, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that, during the 30 days preceding the interview: Cell phones are useful for quick information retrieval (so much so that their absence can cause problems) – Half of all adult cell owners (51%) had used their phone at least once to get information they needed right away. Young adults (those between the ages of 18 and 29) are especially likely to say that they have encountered several of these situations recently: Text messaging and picture taking are the most common uses of cell phones outside of voice calls; Smartphone owners take advantage of a wide range of their phones’ capabilities
Netimperative | News | Today’s top stories The report, which was conducted by InterExec, the Confidential Agent that represents senior executives seeking positions paying £200,000-£1m+, surveyed 100 of the top senior executive head-hunters across the UK. InterExec’s ‘top tips’ in how to network successfully using social media, include: 1) Build up useful and relevant connections to demonstrate your professional networking experience; 2) Share your personality attributes that you would not otherwise be able to convey in a CV; 3) Keep your interests strictly professional; 4) Check for grammar and spelling mistakes just as you would in your CV or covering letter; 5) Ensure information is consistent with what is in your CV or resumé. Kit Scott-Brown, managing director of InterExec, commented: “We are in a day and age where recruiters are increasingly turning to the Internet to research an individual’s skills, achievements and personality through their online profiles. www.interexec.co.uk
Mobile Marketing Is A Strategy Not A Tactic What has more users than all the TVs, PCs and landlines in the whole world combined? What is a bigger channel than the 1.7 billion people surfing the internet worldwide? Yup. The answer is Mobile. Our world now includes 5 Billion mobile subscriptions! And it is causing a revolution in business, in media and in the politics and policies that shape our existence. The world has changed. Last week I attended the Marketing Profs B2B Marketing Forum where I saw an amazing presentation from my new friend Christina “CK” Kerley (@CKsays). It has been far too long since I wrote about How To Get Started In Mobile Marketing and asked Are You Ready for Mobile Marketing in 2011? It’s been over a year since I wrote 10 Reasons Why Mobile is Hot! So it is time to give Mobile it’s due. Today, our customers are increasingly reading their emails on a mobile device. And our customers are doing more social and web surfing on their devices. Mobile is important. Still not convinced? Image Source