Category: Mobile Gaming

Social media marketing gains ground in 2012

| December 15, 2012

 

Social media marketing offers many new opportunities for businesses

Social media plays an importaMobile Social Media Marketingnt role in the lives of millions of people around the world. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have shown that consumers are very interested in keeping in touch with their friends and family online, while also sharing their interests with others and promoting companies they like. Social media offers many opportunities to the marketing sector, especially in terms of mobile marketing. A new report from NM Incite, a social media and market research firm, highlights the opportunities that social media marketing represents.

Report highlights the growth of social media platforms

The report, titled “Social Media Report 2012,” details the ways social media can be used as a communications tool for advertisers. The report highlights the growth of several social media platforms, noting that Facebook remains the most popular platform among consumers and businesses. Blogger and Twitter continue to be rising stars in the social media space, with marketers eyeing Twitter for its potential in social media marketing. Pintrest, a relatively new content sharing website, has seen the most aggressive growth this year, in terms of users.

Consumers showing more interest in mobile devices than in PCs

According to the report, more consumers are making use of their mobile devices to stay connected to social media platforms. The report shows that the amount of time consumers spend on these sites with their mobile device has gone up 21% this year. More consumers are showing favor for their smart phones and tablets than they are for their PCs, presenting an opportunity for advertisers to establish a constant connection with people no matter where they go. Businesses are also responding to this by making themselves more available to social media sites, encouraging consumers to share these sites to their friends and families.

Social media marketing presents its own challenges

The report notes that social media marketing presents several challenges, despite its beneficial prospects. Mobile consumers have shown that they are interested in visits that are marketed to them, but only 14% of these people actually purchased products that they looked up through social media marketing campaigns. Moreover, constant connection with consumers opens businesses up to more scrutiny, increasing the need for comprehensive customer service on a 24-hour cycle.

Mobile games dominate applications space

| December 14, 2012

 

Mobile GamesMobile games account for majority of revenue in apps market

Mobile technology has become an important aspect of the lives of consumers throughout the world. The advent of mobile technology paved the way for applications, pieces of software that provide consumers with a wide variety of services. The mobile applications business has become very lucrative, especially for the developers of mobile games. A new report for Canalys, a market insight and analysis firm, shows that mobile games are a major player in the applications space, and that game developers account for the majority of revenue generated therein.

Report shows that games are far more popular than other applications

According to the report, mobile games are among the most popular applications for Android and iOS mobile platforms. These games occupy a variety of genres and some have become the most favored forms of entertainment for some consumers. According to Canalys, some 25 mobile games developers accounted for more than half of the revenue generated through the applications market in the U.S. during the first 20 days of November. These developers accounted for more than $60 million in downloads and in-app purchases over this period of time.

Games offer versatile experiences

Mobile games are dominating the applications space. This may be due to the simplicity of mobile games and the lengths developers go to in order to ensure constant engagement with consumers. Other applications, such as GPS navigation apps, are not as popular because they are not exceedingly entertaining and serve one function. Mobile games, however, provide consumers with a source of entertainment that can be easily attained and customized to suit their interests.

Developers face major challenges despite success

Though mobile games have come to play a domineering role in the applications market, developers are still faced with significant challenges. The success of mobile gaming has attracted a veritable tide of new development studios, which are over-saturating the market and making it difficult for consumers to find games they are interested in and those that offer a quality experience. Marketability is also a serious challenge, as developers of mobile games do not typically operate with a strong marketing budget that can reach millions of consumers.