Mobile Marketing

Facebook Mobile app may be slow, prone to crashing seen and seen as a weak point by its users it is still a rapidly growing audience. Did you know that 488 million of Facebook’s 901 million active users are mobile users?

With these figures in mind it’s important to plan and post your Facebook content with mobile in mind. Posting links to Flash websites and videos is something you should avoid as iPhones can’t display Flash content and iPhone mobile users make up 19% of Facebook’s mobile users.

So what else can you do to raise your mobile marketing game? Let’s look at some areas outside of Facebook.

We have now got to a point where there are more people with smart phones than desktop computers. Are you one of the people who still haven’t optimised their website? Or more importantly are you even aware of just how important it is?

You may have been putting it off but you won’t be able to ignore it for much longer. If you are unsure of how to do it there are many ways of doing so.

Mobile website

When you view a website using your mobile it can be a great inconvenience having to scroll unnecessarily to view a passage of text. To make this more appealing, it has now become a must to optimise specifically for handheld devices. There are many programs you can use to convert your website into one that is mobile friendly. For example 2ergo and Wirenode etc. You may be wondering how this works, its relatively simple. As you may already know websites are built using code, within this code includes everything from how it will look on screen to its function. In order for your browser to recognise it as optimised for mobiles a certain code needs to be inserted within called a Meta tag. This will tell your browser that it is handheld friendly and determine how it is displayed on the screen.

Mobile Apps

Another option is to create an app; this could have a variety of functions, from just being a version of your website specifically designed for mobiles or even a way to order food. This can prove to have great potential in the sense that people will have a constant reminder of your brand and is specific to handheld devices.

QR Codes

QR codes are probably the simplest form of mobile marketing, but with all things it comes with both its advantages and disadvantages. So long are the days when we had to write everything down if we wanted to find out more, commonly misspelling email addresses and noting down wrong numbers, we’ve all been there. A QR code is very similar to a barcode and can be put on almost all flat surfaces. Once scanned, they can take you to an app, website, to view videos or even to begin a sales call which is all free to generate. Not only do they enhance both search engine and social media optimisation but you can measure just how effective it was through the use of analytics. The only disadvantage I could find was that currently only smart phones are equipped with the camera and software needed to read the QR code.

The change may seem scary, but if steps are taken it can prove to be an invaluable opportunity.

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net