Lots of buzz and interest on mobility these days, and discussion around how it could impact the further adoption and use of social media.
Like so many other technologies, the benefits can sneak up on you.
So today, #SMCHAT is officially launching a new series on Mobility. Once each month we’ll cover the latest trends, case studies, and insights as they relate to the expanded use of mobile technologies and applications. On WEDS 3/7, we’d like to start framing the series. So here are some questions to get everyone thinking:
Q1 How would you frame Social Mobility (the Series)? What are the key elements?
While that’s coming together, let’s touch on and sample a few of the deeper discussion areas, where we’ve already had some good discussion:
Q2 TECH. iOS (iPhone, iPad) or DROID? Who’s got the edge?
Q3 APPS. Which SM apps benefit most from Mobility? Twitter? What about 4SQ? GoogleMaps?
Q4 MKTG. So the “Lo” in #SoMoLo means retailers benefit, right? What are they waiting for?
Would love your ongoing input in this important space. In fact, we’re looking for moderators. If you’re interested, give me a shout. And stay tuned for a transcript, which will be posted here. See in at 1p EST !!
#SMCHAT 
Alasdair Munn (@ajmunn)
March 7, 2012
Mobile is such an important topic. It is right that we are spending time on this.
I am sad I will not be at the chat today, but here are a few thoughts.
A few years ago I was talking about situational commerce, the ability for us, as consumers, to purchase at the point of impulse, be that on the high street, on our computers, or through our mobile devices. We have the technology, and we are getting to the point where we have enough people trusting the system.
What we are lacking today are retailers and manufacturers who are not yet prepared to invest in the infrastructure, or change the way they think about retail and their systems. The other side of the coin is we have yet to see a delivery mechanism that everyone is comfortable with. The mad rush to come up with an acceptable and intuitive, yet secure payment system that services all retail touch points is heating up, but it is not quite there.
We know QR codes held the potential, but in practice they can be clumsy, or the reward for using them, against the effort has been poor. There are success stories such as Tesco’s use of virtual shopping isles in South Korea, showing the importance of culture, critical mass, and servicing an actual need. New approaches are happening, but there needs to be a critical mass for it to work.
Mobile fits in here as part of an integrated strategy. The ultimate aim here, if you are a manufacturer or retailer, is to empower people to purchase. This does not mean only via a mobile device or mobile wallet, but certainly using your mobile device to lead you to the point of purchase, be it information, location, sharing, scanning etc.
Sorry Chris, this does not follow your framing, but felt the urge to write some rough thoughts. Obviously it is much more complicated and this really deserves a deeper look.
Hope the chat goes well today.
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sourcepov
March 7, 2012
We’ll miss you today Alasdair, but actually, your comments are a great expansion on Q4, talking about the Marketing aspect. This whole thread explodes into new capabilities, and as you say, making it easier for a consumer to know where and how to purchase, and to actually make the purchase.
As we develop the next several Mobility breakout topics, we’ll include your thinking and more on this thread; thanks, as always, for the contribution. Even if (today) via async!
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Anne Kleinman (@adinfini)
March 7, 2012
I hope that we will get to spend some time on a few of the topics that were not really touched on today especially events – events can be everything from sales conferences and trade shows to in store tastings. Picture the lady with the hair net next to the little cups of samples, and instead of turning to the people in the aisle, you tweet or post to your network for them to come taste too and share your thoughts etc.
Also how to help clients using existing options, not needing to build own app, best practices
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sourcepov
March 7, 2012
Here’s a quick recap to reflect EARLY ideas on proposed subtopic breakdowns
TECH – platform, vendor/OS wars, feature/function, futures
APP – proliferation, trend analysis, key case studies (4Sq)
MKTG Capabilities – GPS, consumer purchase, B2C dialog, opt-in, QR codes
MKTG Segment Analysis – Retailer, HC, Event/Venue, NFP
MKTG Adoption – barriers/enablers, UX (user experience), purchasing habits
Let’s add hashtag #Mobility as much as we can as we discuss these threads, and add #SMM & #SoMoLo where it seems to fit.
This will all clearly evolve, but it does reflect some of today’s input. Please, provide additional inputs here, as comments,and I will update. Thanks as ever! Chris
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sourcepov
March 9, 2012
Mods volunteering to date –
@ajmunn Alasdair
@smsjoe Joe
@adinfini Anne
@tcgagency Alex
@autom8 Autom
Apparently, interest in this space accrues to those whose names start with “A”.
If you guys could interact a bit to brainstorm the next topic; I’ve got Mobility down for 4/4, and every first WEDS thereafter.
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autom
March 11, 2012
finally wrapping my head around this..thanks Chris (and everyone on this stream) for starting the convo.
some thoughts:
who are the users?
i echo Alasdair’s thought when he refers to ‘retailers and manufacturers who are not yet prepared to invest in the infrastructure, or change the way they think about retail and their systems’. what could this data point look like? is it indicative of both the awareness and use of mobile? what industries or verticals are seeing the most promising uptake and why?
how do we know for sure?
this post http://goo.gl/aMs2J characterizes how nascent #SoMoLo / #SoLoMo really is and points to lower (less than 50%) usage/adoption rates from retailers and consumers alike. although it also refers to a separate study that claim “75% of the online population will make purchased on the web by 2015”
seems logical doesn’t it? although it would be prudent to keep in mind that these data points are from one or two sources. trend analysis tends to be more sound and well substantiated with multiple sources and data from various (if not, specific, since we are talking about SoMoLo after all) demographic profiles.
tech as the only constant
on the tech side, i often hear from certain follows that it’s never about the technology but more about how useful it will be. again, makes complete sense doesn’t it. yet the paradox of innovation that fuels the tech evolution sometimes blurs the vision of app/web developers as they get enmeshed in outdoing each other to innovate. is it relevant to marketers? perhaps in some cases, especially when examining UX and asserting the importance of user feedback, which in turn influences how the tech is designed
relevance as driver
i also echo Anne’s thought on considerations for implementation of mobile marketing strategies that yield tangible outcomes. i say this because it is relevant to my current role as an events marketer.
my first geolocation post (http://goo.gl/8P2jk) a couple of years ago saw a 4sq that was just breaking into mainstream and SXSW helped amplify the location meme. then in the fall of that same year, i explored some ideas around potential uses of LBS-based marketing for B2B (http://goo.gl/pW7Wo) it would be interesting to pick up where those ideas paused and see if any still apply or have evolved.
there are a multitude of areas to explore in this domain it seems. i’d be happy to put some thought into one of the areas brought forward. Chris, shall we look to you to assign based on how this comment stream aggregates more ideas? ;) cheers a
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Anne Kleinman (@adinfini)
March 12, 2012
This post that I found has some interesting starting points for usage of SoMe tools at conferences using “lowtech” platforms like Twitter. Would be interesting to explore how to update and expand on these ideas utilizing #mobility tools.
http://socialmediaforsmartpeople.com/ten-effective-uses-social-media-at-industry-conferences/
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