Mobile marketing in 2010: “A Year of Experimentation”

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R2Integrated of Baltimore released their own mobile marketing survey last week, which signaled that marketers will play it a little conservatively in the space in the coming year. Basically, it seems, marketers still need to teach themselves how to best take advantage of the different tools mobile marketing has to offer. Afterall, it’s a new way to reach people who are usually on the move — which is different than marketing campaigns devised for TV and even the desktop Web.

“It appears that 2010 will be a year of experimentation and education on mobile marketing as marketers struggle to come to terms with its practicality and ROI,” said Matt Goddard, co-founder and CEO of R2I, said in a statement. “This shouldn’t suggest that marketers ought to table their mobile marketing plans, but that they should pay considerable attention to how they can connect the dots back to driving revenue.”

View all result charts of the R2I Mobile Marketing Survey Summary here.

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Small Business Leaders Prefer ‘Passive’ Social Media – For Now

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While the concept of “social media” brings to mind images of active online discussions, a new study of small business social media use by Business.com finds that small business leaders currently show a strong preference for “passive” social media sources of business-relevant information — such as viewing webinars or reading online ratings, reviews and company blog posts — over those that require more active interaction with others. However, the use of social media resources requiring more active participation, such as asking business-related questions through Twitter or online question-and-answer forums, is set to rise among small business leaders as they gain access to effective online business networks.

These are the top five social media resources among study participants:

1. Webinars / Podcasts

Small business leaders find webinars and podcasts to be highly useful for learning new skills, ongoing professional training and/or researching industries, products and services without the expense and time commitment required to attend seminars in person.

2. Ratings & Reviews

Whether looking for the most useful software, best business book on a particular topic or qualifying potential products to stock in retail stores, small business leaders find that online ratings and reviews provide valuable input into the business buying process.

3. Company / Brand Pages on Social Networking Sites

With online social networking becoming mainstream, and as companies rush to establish a corporate and/or brand presence on these sites, many small business leaders turn to social networking sites for the latest information from important vendors.

4. Company Blogs

An oldstand by in the world of social media, small business leaders praise company blogs — at least, those that are “well written, current and with good thought leadership articles” — as great sources of information about business-relevant products, services and the underlying character of a company. Increasingly, small business leaders are connecting to company blog content through social networking sites.

5. Social Media Search

While some of the business-relevant information on social media sites can be found through general search engines, a great deal cannot. Realizing this, over half of small business leaders using social media search for business-relevant information directly on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Business.com Answers, SlideShare and many more.

A more detailed look at hundreds of write-in comments from the study suggests that business social media is definitely not about “socializing.” Instead, small business leaders judge the value of different social media resources based on how efficiently they can find what they need. More passive social media, like webinars, product/service ratings, company “fan” pages and blog posts, can be relatively quick ways to find basic, business-relevant information.

Read the original article here.

Executives expect Big Mobile Ads Gains in 2010

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A new survey reveals, that mobile executives see big ad gains in 2010:

Nearly half of mobile industry executives and analysts in a new survey expect mobile ad spending to double this year, while almost one-third expect it to grow by 200%. That’s quite a bullish outlook. The survey by mobile consulting and research firm Chetan Sharma on 2010 predictions also covered topics including app stores, tiered pricing and mobile payments.

The continued growth of mobile data worldwide is expected to be the top mobile story in 2010, followed closely by the new Google phone and Android, with the rumored Apple tablet computer rounding out the top three.

….

What devices other than phones will be big? Netbooks were cited by 41%, followed by e-readers (21%), and tablets (15%). And Motorola was the company pick as “comeback kid” in 2010, outpacing others like Microsoft, Nokia and Sprint by a wide margin.

One area where industry executives were not optimistic was the wireless carriers’ own app stores. Almost half (47%) predict they will lose steam this year and 26% by next year. Only 20% believed carriers’ branded app storefronts will be around for a long time.

On the regulatory front, the mobile industry doesn’t appear overly concerned with a more aggressive Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Julius Genachowski. Nearly 70% said the FCC’s national broadband plan to be submitted to Congress in February either won’t have any impact until the courts rule on it, or it won’t matter anyway.

Read the entire article here!