Tag: social media marketing

Mobile marketing degrees are not being handed out

Education isn’t something that stops with a diploma or a degree, and continuing your learning is not a vital element in the majority of most professions, especially for marketers, who must always know the latest developments and trends to ensure that they can offer what their clients want most and how to best engage consumers to create an effective call to action.

Marketers go through their formal education and spend years building job experience, and the lucky ones are hired by a terrific organization. But this doesn’t mean that the learning can end there. Though governing laws may not require a marketer to take continuing education courses or otherwise update their professional knowledge, it remains an integral part of their ability to succeed (and for the ability of their employer to succeed).

PR and marketing professionals must remain on the cutting edge. Today, this means that they need to be aware of the latest developments and trends in the internet and technology. These two industries are moving faster than most people can imagine. Yesterday’s exciting new emerging concepts – such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter – have become common parts of our daily lives and, as such, are also routine elements of marketing campaigns and strategies.

As we’ve been seeing, emerging social media such as Pinterest and Google+ are just starting to find their place, and marketers will need to keep on top of their growing popularity or they will become lost in the trends and fall behind. That said, social media is only the start.

Mobile is opening up a whole world of new opportunities, but for many, it is like starting from scratch once more. QR codes, for example, aren’t just a buzz word anymore, but are becoming both supporting and central elements of massive campaigns. 

The difference mobile search made during the year…

With the ever growing number of smartphones in the marketplace, mobile search has become more important than ever before, but marketers are quickly discovering that their efforts with SEO and other traditional search techniques, cannot be quite the same as they were for the regular web.

Mobile search – unlike traditional laptop and desktop-based queries on search engines – offer different results different results and provide a different way of demonstrating those results depending on the kind of device that is being used – for example, a tablet or a smartphone.

Google has recently announced the development of a search engine crawler that was created specifically for smartphones, and that functions separately and differently from the one it is currently using for the typical feature phone. This is a strong indicator that unique SEO techniques will be required to effectively optimize apps and sites meant for smartphones.

Until now, it has always been believed that Google’s treatment of all mobile devices – from tablets to smartphones to feature phones – has been relatively the same as it has been for PCs, only with a few additional geo-specific results. However, with this recent announcement, it is clear that Google intends to treat the various devices differently, and SEO experts will need to come up with a new strategy that will take this into account.

 Mobile commerce to have significant impact on UK retail industry

The Economist Intelligence Unit, an independent research and analysis firm operating in the European Union, has released a new report concerning the impact of e-commerce, mobile commerce, and social commerce on the retail industry in the United Kingdom. UK retailers have been seeing an increase in demand from consumers interested in using their mobile devices as payment platforms. In response, many retailers have begun adopting mobile commerce systems, such as NFC terminals, as well as bolstering their online presence to be more accommodating of social commerce and e-commerce.

New commerce to make up a third of all retail sales in the UK in 10 years

The report predicts that sales from e-commerce, m-commerce, and s-commerce are to make up more than a third of all sales in the UK within the next ten years. These types of commerce account for roughly 10% of all retail sales made in the UK currently. Social commerce is one of the most rapidly growing forms of commerce emerging in the UK. This form of concept refers to sales made through social media sites, like Facebook and Google+. E-commerce has always been a popular option for consumers that prefer not to visit physical stores, but mobile commerce may become the leading form of commerce amongst all consumers.

Mobile commerce may reign supreme

The report shows that mobile commerce is growing in popularity and may soon become the primary shopping medium amongst consumers by 2022. The report suggests that consumers are more likely to make impulsive purchases when using mobile commerce platforms, thus giving retailers even more incentive to become more accommodating to these consumers. Given that many of these consumers are constantly connected to social media sites, both mobile commerce and social commerce initiative may stand to net major gains for retailers in the UK.

More consumers expected to participate in new forms of commerce in coming years

Online sales channels continue to outperform traditional channels. The Economist Intelligence Unit predicts that consumers will favor online channels throughout the next ten years, especially as more retailers adopt mobile commerce services and the availability of NFC-enabled mobile devices grows. Several companies are experimenting with alternatives to NFC technology that may broaden the horizon of mobile commerce, as well. These efforts are expected to bring more consumers into the fold and add further momentum to new forms of commerce in UK and around the world.