A recent Comscore article shows that Facebook and Twitter Access via Mobile Browsers has Grows by Triple-Digits in the Past Year, which really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. I don’t know about you- but it seems that everyone I talk to these days has an iPhone, Droid, or Blackberry.

The rise of mobile technology has some neat (and somewhat frightening, in the Big Brother-sense) implications for how we can be targeted by marketing/advertising. Applications like Foursquare publishes your location to the world, which could allow a monitoring application to watch for anyone who “checks-in” at specific locations.  Think about the implications of checking-in on Beale Street in Memphis on a Saturday night, and then getting a reply that offers you no-cover entrance, or 2-for-1 on your first cocktail at a nearby blues club?

Consider what that technology could that do for restaurants: giving them the ability to offer location-specific specials for lunch or dinner?  What about B2B organizations (a lot of whom seem to be struggling with ways to use social media tools) who want to target locally?  It would be relatively simple for an application to cross-reference someone’s check-in location (like in your company’s office complex, for instance) with specific keywords in a Twitter profile data.  I could then send a message to anyone who is listed as a CMO or Director of Marketing that checks in at Memphis’ business incubator, Emerge Memphis, a message that said “Good to see you in our neck of the woods. If you’ve got 10 minutes, stop by and we’ll show you something neat that we’re up to”.

Alright, I may want to put a little more thought into that message itself, but the point is: I can get hyper-specific with who I am targeting and what messaging I send to that person.

A Better Mobile Web
My other thoughts on the rise of mobile are nothing new – I love that mobile technology gives us so much freedom and instant access to information, but I hate that web site (not app) developers are not catering more to mobile users.

Web sites need to get smarter!  This presentation from Razorfish’s John Petengill points out how mobile users do not want their Internet experience to be watered down. Check it out – very short, but powerful (plus its a really cool presentation).

Valeo is proposing an optional, mobile-friendly version of every with every new site project that we have pitched in the last 6 months.  Why wouldn’t you want a mobile site if you’re developing a new web presence?  Give mobile users a better experience, because their numbers will continue to rise.

There’s a lot of hype about having a mobile app, and there are some great companies who have developed an application that will build mobile apps for you. Our neighbors, Resolute Interactive, has developed their Appanda software that allows you to design and publish your own iPhone and Android app through a web interface. (Shameless plug: check out Valeo’s app on iTunes that was built using Appanda)

This is a break through for anyone who doesn’t want to hire someone like Resolute or Valeo to build you a custom app, but don’t forget about your website, which still has the power to drive far greater amounts of traffic to your online presence. Having your own mobile app is great – but between a mobile app, and a mobile-friendly version of your site, which do you think has more potential?  I’ll give you a hint- mobile apps are not showing up in search engine results…

Looking to the Future
Not huge in the States yet, but sure to be crossing the oceans and coming here soon, I think QR codes will play some part in the mobile future.  I’m not quite ready to talk about that yet – but we’re working up some ideas, so I’m sure we’ll have something for you sometime this year.  Stay tuned…

Some interesting reading about Foursquare:

• Facebook About to Drop a Bomb on Foursquare? (socialmediatoday.com)
• foursquare fascination (timesunion.com)
• Putting Foursquare-esque Technology to Work… at Work (socialmediatoday.com)

Using social media channels can be the promised-land for savvy marketers, with visions of virally-propagated sugar plumbs dancing through their heads.  The reality of social media marketing is that while everyone is clamoring to “go viral” since that seems to be the buzz word, there is no chance that is going to happen unless you give people something to talk about.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Joe Hall nailed this concept in his recent post that referenced Bonnie Raitt, and he also has some great examples of how you can get people talking. This is an important step – mainly because you can be extremely savvy about how to use social media tools, but if you don’t have information that is going to get people talking, I think you’re ultimately going to end up frustrated and feeling like a failure.  Just because all these shiny new toys in the marketing arsenal have incredible reach with little or no cost, does not mean that you can take the marketing out of the equation.

We are currently working on a couple of Facebook applications to help spread the word for clients, but what word are we going to spread? Without something worth talking about- why would we even bother to build something like that?  The simple answer is:  we wouldn’t.

Make sure you can “give them something to talk about” before you go jumping into social media.  In my most recent presentations on creating WOW (Word of Web) using Social Media, I always talk about this:

If you can’t speak to me with conviction about what you do, why you do, and why I should want to be involved (or buy your product, or work with your firm); then you have no business trying to do that using social media tools! Online marketing is moving at an increasing pace to a completely online conversation, so if you can’t convince me in a face-to-face conversation that I should work with you, how do you expect to be able to do that online? The same old marketing/advertising tactics are not going to prove very effective.   I don’t think you have to go so far as Yoda says and “unlearn what you have learned,” but I do think that a different mindset must be applied.

Some Great Reading about Social Media and measurement:

• Going Viral isn’t Marketing…
• 7 Myths of Social Media Marketing 2010
• How to Measure Social Media

If you’re still on the fence about social media marketing as an effective channel for your business, you may want to think again.  Take a look at this calculator that shows how quickly the medium is advancing:

When it comes to successfully marketing a business, the key is to be where your customers are, but your competitors aren’t.  Considering the hesitation some businesses have about jumping in to social media, there is a great opportunity to be one of the first out of the gate.  The reasons why your business should explore social media are endless, and so many articles explaining everything from 101-type starters to strategy models; just get out there and do it already!

I spoke today to the Memphis AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) about integrating social media into their marketing efforts to engage supporters and donors, as well as to get people to help spread the word.

I think fundraisers and cause marketers are no different than the rest of us: in these trying economic times, everyone is clamoring for the same donation dollars.  The need for a more cost-effective strategy to spread the word is crucial. Communicating more effectively than your competition is the name of the game.

That’s why social media is perfect:

• Typical cost of a social networking account:  $0.00
• Audience: varies by platform, but some counts put social media users at well over 1/2 a billion (and continuing to grow quickly)

Here is a copy of the presentation: