There are currently over five hundred million users spending and average of fifty five minutes a day on Facebook around the world. The number of people on Twitter is somewhere between thirty and forty million. Those staggering numbers have caused businesses and corporations to redevelop their marketing strategies to include a Social Media presence. Outside marketing consultants are even charging companies to manage these "free" services. It seems to make sense considering the numbers involved, but those numbers are small in comparison to the number of mobile phones currently in use around the globe which current estimates place at around four billion. The numbers alone should compel businesses to implement some sort of a Mobile strategy, but there are other reasons that Mobile Media is a more effective marketing tool than Social Media.
The first advantage that Mobile Media has over Social Media is the timing of the message delivery. Sure, people spend fifty five minutes a day on Facebook, but they always have their mobile phones. Studies show that ninety-seven percent of all text messages are opened with eighty percent of those being opened within one hour. That means that if you send a text with a lunch special at 10:30 in the morning to five hundred subscribers, four hundred of them will see that special in time for lunch. If you were to put that same special on Facebook, you run the risk of your intended targets not being logged in and missing the offer in time to use it, or even missing it altogether. You could "tweet" it out, but not every person on Twitter has it connected to their mobile phone, and there just aren't that many people using Twitter to begin with. Most Mobile Media platforms also offer a scheduling feature, which allows a business to schedule their messages in advance for up to a year ahead of time. That means the business can set up all of the messages that they want to send out and when they want them sent, and then spend their time focusing on other areas of their business.
The next advantage that Mobile Media has over Social Media is convenience. Since we are always in possession of our mobile phones, it is very easy to just show someone a text message to receive our offer. With Social Media sites, you typically have to print some sort of coupon. That's more paper to carry around that a potential customer can possibly forget. If you think that they should just be able to show the offer on a Smart-phone, keep in mind that only about forty percent of the country is currently using a Smart-phone. If a business were to rely on the use of Smart-phones for their marketing and promotions, they would be excluding sixty percent of the buying public.
Possibly the most important advantage that Mobile Media has over Social Media is in the level of personal engagement. If a business posts a deal through Twitter, that deal is going to get lost among a barrage of "tweets" from Sarah Palin complaining about the President, LeBron James refusing to apologize for being arrogant, and Justin Bieber talking about nothing important. Some people have thousands of friends on Facebook. Their Facebook wall is constantly scrolling, and if a business posts a deal on that wall it will likely just blend into the mix of posts about what someone's cat did that day or what their grandma had for breakfast. But when someone receives a text, whoever sent that text has their attention, if only just for a second. The business and the consumer are instantly and exclusively engaged without the interference of other Facebook friends or self-absorbed pseudo celebrities on Twitter.
Every business should have a presence in Social Media. It is free and can help build the name and reputation of the businesses that utilize it properly. It even works well in conjunction with Mobile Media. But it has its limitations. The timing of delivery, convenience, and levels of engagement are all much greater with Mobile Media when compared to Social Media. It is not recommended that a business outsource the management of its Social Media campaign unless it is part of a broader marketing package. Why pay for something that you can easily do yourself for free? Put that money towards something that will be far more effective for your business, like Mobile Media.
Jeremy T. Roos is an experienced sales expert in several fields and is currently focused on technologically driven marketing solutions for professionals, business, and organizations of all sizes. For more information go to http://www.socalmobileconnect.com or for partnership opportunities go to http://www.westcoastizigg.com.
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