News on Social Marketing, according to Harvard Business Review: In the near future, mobile business will become a very lucrative business.
Before the end of the month, Facebook is expected to announce their uniquely targeted mobile advertising model. To serve as a complement to Amazon’s considerable digital ecosystem of products and services, Amazon is talking to Chinese manufacturer Fox Conn with ambitions of building their own mobile device.
With more than a billion subscribers and roughly 400 million mobile web users, China has exceeded the US as the worlds dominant smartphone market. By 2014, advisory firm IDC foresees over 76 billion mobile apps downloaded resulting in an app economy worth an estimated thirty five billion in the same year.
However, getting something launched on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest is easy, but building an engaged and meaningful following isn’t. In short, companies should have an understanding on mobility as it is not only about mobile.
Mobility means information, convenience, and social all served up on the go, across different screen sizes and devices. Information and the convenience that came with digital transactions was what people wanted during the digital time. With the social era, it was all these things plus social connectivity.
The difference between mobility and mobile is like the difference between hardware and software. Mobile is linked to devices while mobility changes with context and determines if it all works together or doesn’t.
Before increasing investment in mobile, you must improve your understanding of the nuance of mobility and mobile behaviors and avoid relying too much in “social media gurus.” Business can get to think more about mobile strategically once they establish a center of excellence that puts mobility at the center, and integrates it with other business idea.
You should also avoid the temptation to “app everything” and instead of creating a whole host of apps that few are likely to download, invest in making your “digital ecosystem” more mobile-friendly.
Read more at The Future Isn’t About Mobile; It’s About Mobility
News on Facebook Marketing, according to The New York Times: After Facebook’s dismal stock market debut, the company is making an aggressive moneymaking push aimed at pleasing Facebook’s investors.
Facebook is nudging its users to share a bit more: credit card numbers and offline addresses through their new service called Gifts. This new service allows Facebook users in the United States to buy presents for their friends on the social network. The company has stepped up mobile advertising and is starting to customize the marketing messages it shows to users based on their Web browsing outside Facebook.
These move got a positive reaction for Wall Street as stocks went up 49 percent from its lowest point, closing Tuesday at $26.15, although that is still well below the initial offering price of $38.
To boost its Gifts service, Facebook created its own software to track inventory and shipping in a rented warehouse in South Dakota. This new service could give Facebook a toehold in the more than $200 billion e-commerce market and could gather valuable personal data and use it to refine targeted advertisements.
According to Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W. Baird, “The hard part for Facebook was aggregating a billion users. Now it’s more about how to monetize those users without scaring them away.”
“Gifts should also contribute more to Facebook’s treasure trove of user data, which has the benefit of a virtuous cycle, driving more personalization of the site, leading to better and more targeted ads, which improve overall monetization,” he added.
It is now much easier to make a purchase with Facebook’s Gifts service. A huge menu to choose from is offered to Facebook users as they are nudged to buy a gift for Facebook friends. They are asked to choose a greeting card and then they are asked for credit card details. Unless users remove it after making a purchase, Facebook says that they will store the credit cards information.
Read more at With a Billion Birthdays on File, Facebook Adds a Gift Store
News on Google Marketing, according to Tech Crunch: After being available for one night, Google Maps has already surge to the No. 1 spot in the Apple App Store, edging YouTube and two games, Fun Run and Interlocked. The app is now the top free app in the App Store.
Interestingly though, the Google Maps iOS app is not featured by Apple on its special Maps-related Featured section. After the world realized just how flawed Apple’s Maps are, the company introduced the “Find Maps for Your iPhone” Featured section just after iOS 6 was released.
Apple’s Tim Cook released a public statement with regards to the matter and gave a fair shot to its Map competitors in the App Store. Google, however, doesn’t seem to get that same treatment. But with a full native app in the App Store, the search giant clearly needs no help to be on top as Google Maps on mobile web undoubtedly became more useful in the past few months.
Read more at Shocker: Google Maps Surges To Top Free App In The App Store In Just One Night
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