Tag: social media

Mobile marketing trends and why so many are keeping a close watch

Mobile marketing degrees are not being handed out

Mobile Marketing 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 initiative launched by Opera and Naranya

Opera sets sights on expanding into mobile commerce

Opera Software, a Norwegian software company, has announced its partnership with Naranya, Latin America’s leading mobile marketing and commerce company. Together, the two companies are looking to bring mobile commerce to Latin America through the Opera Mini mobile browser. This effort is encompassed in the Opera Payment Exchange, which is a mobile commerce platform that is available to the 191 million users of the Opera Mini application. Opera users will now be able to purchase goods and services through Naranya and its billing connections in 7 countries around the world.

Opera has a large audience to tap into

Opera is one of the world’s leading Internet browsers, on both mobile and static platforms. Opera Mobile has become one of Opera Software’s flagship platforms, with more than 270 million users worldwide. The Opera Mini application is based on this platform and has become a popular tool for those that like to browse the Internet from their smart phones and tablets. Many of these consumers have begun looking into mobile commerce, and Opera Software has been quick to respond to this interest.

Naranya boasts of well established presence in mobile commerce

Naranya boasts of more than 500 million users linked into its Monetization Platform. This platform has been used by numerous game developers, social networks, online media groups, and digital companies to monetize their goods to mobile consumers. The platform has become quite popular in Latin America, where advances in mobile technology are raising the demand for mobile commerce. By mobile commerceteaming with Opera, Naranya aims to further expand its mobile commerce platform into new markets.

Mobile commerce growth slightly delayed due to concerns over security

Mobile consumers are becoming enthralled with the concept of mobile commerce, but many are still wary due to concerns regarding security. Mobile commerce applications have, in the past, been hacked with relative ease, putting a consumer’s financial information at risk of theft and exploitation. Naranya has extensive experience in mobile commerce and has stringent security measures in place to mitigate the risks involved with mobile commerce. These security measures appear to have been enough to win the favor of Opera Software.