Making Social Marketing Mobile

I'm always looking for examples of technology enabling and enhancing marketing. That's why I really enjoyed this article from "RCR Wireless News" about how mobile technology is becoming a crucial component of social marketing: Analyst Angle: Social Marketing and Adding Mobile to the Mix.

From the article: "Mobile is a natural complement to social marketing. Cellphones allow the spontaneous capture of images and sounds which allows frequent posts to Web sites keeping the content fresh while also facilitating the viral distribution of content to other cellphones. In the near term, cellphones are likely to complement social networks rather than replace them."

The article provides real-life examples of how mobile augmented a social marketing campaign (such as Toyota's Engines of Change campaign and the marketing of Ashley Tisdale's debut album).

And, just why is mobile so crucial to social marketing? It's all about creating content. "Cellphones are playing an increasingly important role in these campaigns as they are evolving into one of the primary devices used to create content. Higher-quality cameras on cellphones have created new opportunities for cellphone users to capture content (e.g., photos, video) and post it directly to Web sites. According to a consumer survey of cellphone owners conducted by Jupiter, the percentage of cellphone owners posting photos to an online blog or photo-sharing site nearly tripled between the end of 2005 and the end of 2006. It’s still just a few percent today, but interest is growing. This trend is poised to accelerate with young adults citing a high-quality camera as the most important feature they seek in their next handset purchase. Phones with high-quality cameras such as the Nokia N95 or Sony Ericsson’s Cyber-shot series will be an enabler of high-quality photos."

The marriage of cellphone content with social marketing is a good one, one that will last. Self-created content is here to stay--mobile technology is enabling it, and any social marketing program needs to take advantage of it.