All posts in Mobile

Lately, you might have noticed Google’s aggressive and frequent product announcements. With so much going on at Google during the past few weeks such as Google’s Penguin algorithm update, the Google Plus iPhone and Android app redesign, Google’s Knowledge Graph, Google acquiring Motorola Mobility, Google Maps being replaced by Google Plus Local and Google Shopping; it’s become so very hard to keep pace with the changes (or future changes) that are bound to affect SEO and SEM strategies in the near or distant future. Therefore, I thought I’d take a step back and use the Queen’s Jubilee weekend to gauge how all of this will shape your future SEM strategy. Google has always maintained that search is at the heart of everything they do. So it’s safe to assume that all of their major updates, will in some way have an impact on search.

  • Mobile is big.
  • In some countries, mobile is the way to access the Internet.
  • Retail is one of the fastest growing sectors. To put this into perspective, between January 2010 and April 2012 in the UK mobile conversions rose from 1.6% to 20.7%.
  • Local results are important for mobile users who are accessing the Internet on the go.
  • People are spending a lot of money on these devices and they are looking for a great user experience that will allow them to mirror the on-line activities that they carry out on desktop.
  • Steve Jobbs said that mobile is not about search its about apps, of course this was a self serving comment but people are not using browsers as much, they’re using apps.
  • 62% of mobile traffic is from Apple IOS and it’s clear that while Android and other devices are important, Apple devices including the iPhone and iPad are the market leaders. Their market share of course is down to Apps.
  • There are 600,000 Apple apps which have generated 25 billion downloads. The variety of apps is extensive from entertainment to news to business to lifestyle and more.
  • Discovering apps is becoming more important for users. You cant pay to rank high in the App store but you can advertise, use social media and provide a free version of a premium app to encourage users to download your app. Interestingly users are driven more by recent downloads over total downloads.
  • Where does search come in to it with Apps?
  • In February 2012, Apple bought a company called Chomp for $50million. Chomp is a search engine for apps, which already has a PPC program (albeit for apps rather than keywords). It’s been given the task of rebuilding the app store so whether it will continue to offer Android apps as well as IOS apps remains to be seen.
  • There’s no doubt that apps are an important aspect of mobile marketing. Getting users to download them is one thing however retaining those users is another. Not only can it be difficult to get users to actually use your app, mobile apps can also be rather troublesome to maintain.
  • Should you decide to build a mobile experience for your users (and you should!) what is the best way to go about it?
  • You could use a 3rd party mobile site service, which will ‘transform’ your site to a mobile version. Mobile site service companies like Useablenet however will host your mobile site on their site which leads to a range of SEO nightmares including diluted links, high bounce rate and duplicate content issues. All in all it’s not a great option.
  • You could build a mobile siteversion in house, which offers a bit more control and could be more cost effective. Yet if it’s not done properly and uses a subdomain or subfolder then you face the same SEO nightmare problems as above.
  • The best option by far is to use the same URL structure as your main site and use the Responsive Web technique which will display the same webpage, the same URL, the same content yet all it does is repurpose the page for the resolution of the screen. It offers better usability for the user and help maintains link value.
  • Google have a separate mobile crawler, which works in the same way as the main Google index and searches for content and pages that are only served to mobile. Just as the crawler works in the same way, site optimization works in the same way for mobile as it does for desktop. Marketers need to be aware and ready to action their activities for these users who are wanting to access the same information and content but they are choosing to access it in a new way through new technologies.

After a relatively long wait, Google announced today that they have launched an update to their Google Plus iPhone app. As I type this post, my phone seems to be taking its own time in downloading the update which gives me the impression that this particular update is a fairly significant one. In fact, Google seem to almost want the Google plus app to be part of your normal day to day experience by stressing that “we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive”.

The most significant line in their announcement to me, was their justification for the iPhone app upgrade, “today’s new iPhone app is an important step in this direction—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google”. I’m not sure about you, but I feel this is probably the biggest hint Google has publicly dropped of their efforts in moving toward a more  ’social’ and a more ‘mobile-centric’ strategy for their future.

Last week my colleague Shaad Hamid and I were invited to the Business School at Oxford Brookes University to talk about the rise of Social Media and what it means for businesses.

Here are the slides from our presentation:



Top Take Aways

  • Social Media is no longer restricted by region, demographic or age. We are witnessing a global, cultural phenomenon. Social media has universal appeal and is emerging as a primary communication channel.
  • Mobile phones are fuelling the rise in Social Media use. They allow users to be constantly connected and offer real-time interaction so users no longer have to wait till they get home to update their statuses. The two mediums are complimentary as they represent the two most popular ways to stay in touch with friends.
  • The rise of social media has changed the landscape for marketing and advertising as consumers now have a voice. Where before there was a monologue between brands and consumers with brands dictating the agenda, there is now a dialogue.
  • Why should brands use social media? To build brand awareness, create great customer service, conduct market or competitor research, advertise or reach more consumers. However the most valuable activity on social media is building a community and creating brand advocacy.
  • Only 14% of consumers trust brand advertisements while 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations.
  • Building positive brand advocacy with users of social media is something that competitors cannot easily replicate.
  • The biggest challenge for companies trying to implement a social media strategy is figuring out the logistics – setting guidelines and controlling the ‘information supply chain’.
  • Social Media is a function of marketing and the marketing strategy must be in line with the overall business strategy.
  • Like any marketing function it must be measurable otherwise it’s not worth doing. Every social media strategy must have KPIs for each channel. Set goals and measure performance against them.

 

Over the past few years, QR Codes have become more mainstream and can be seen in most day-to-day activities. There are examples of some very good uses of QR Codes as well as some badly thought out QR Codes.

QR Code Macys

QR Codes are great for getting offline marketing messages online quickly. Adding QR Codes to typical offline marketing material such as posters, flyers, business cards or event badges allows the user to see the message instantly.

With all these offline marketing activities being used, how can the business track what is working and what isn’t? Well, with Google Analytics and I am sure most other analytics packages, you can put tracking codes directly into the QR Code and track when users scan the code.

Below is a step by step guide to tracking QR Codes in Google Analytics.

1. Choose the URL that you would like the QR code that you are generating to return once scanned.

For at least five years, digital advertisers have been declaring that the year of the mobile is finally here. But it’s becoming obvious to even the most cautious of marketers that mobile is finally an effective platform. A mobile phone is no longer simply a portable version of a landline. For a vast number of people it’s a way of sending pictures, streaming video, storing music, browsing the web and reading the news. That’s why more marketers than ever before are trying to harness handsets as an advertising platform. Here’s why your company should be among them.