Social Media’s influence on Marketing Communications

Social Media is “an outcome of the highly-connected world of web 2.0 apps, social platforms and interactive based marketing efforts” (www.greenmarketing.tv, 2010) and is now used as a buzz word to define the essence of online networking. The network effect is important for the creation of online communities as networks are created, joined and give consumers the power to communicate and share. Consumers and the media “are creating content at unprecedented rates that is turning both the communications and PR measurement world upside down” (Delahaye Paine, 2007). This has been made possible with the invention of the internet, marketers having to realise that even though ‘meaning making’ remains the main purpose of marketing communications, the strategy needs to change from broadcasting to instead, interaction within digital communities (Deighton and Korenfelt, 2007). Marketing is now less a matter of domination and control and more a matter of fitting in, with control shifting from the marketer to the consumer and a need emerging for less directive marketing styles. Social media can be in the form of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, blogs, user reviews and anything that is user generated content.

Interactivity has given consumers greater power via social media and has forced marketers to pay greater attention to social factors challenging many consumer information processing models, creating the attitudinal change from a consumer to a ‘prosumer’. However, it has to be considered how the invention of this new technology and route of communication will affect society. Andrew Keene (2007) warns that culture will be destroyed if people refuse to pay for media and free methods take over, such as social media as everything is being lost in the clutter and ‘noise’ with any amateur  being able to post online. Technological Determinism is a theory which “points to technology being the force that shapes society” (Chandler, 1996) with the development of new technologies being the primary cause for social change. This theory can provide some explanation for social media changing the way consumers and marketers communicate and interact within society, however, there are many other factors other than technology that have to be considered. Social media has also been considered to play a part in Social Constructivism which is defined as “a learning theory that emphasizes that learning is an active social process in which individuals make meanings through the interactions with each other and with the environment they live in” (www.wikipedia.com, 2010). This learning can be done collectively through social media and interaction through these outlets laying foundations for social constructions of knowledge. Carl Anderson demonstrates this by using Twitter, the social networking site, and sharing information about a book.

Even though the invention of the internet and social media has led to loss of control for marketers, it can be used to increase the effectiveness of advertising through its complimentary nature combined with traditional media. The phenomenon has led to consumers trusting each other’s opinions more than that of brands, which means if brands can create earned media for themselves encouraging fan generated content it can have a positive effect.

Even politicians have embraced the trend towards social media, an example being Barrack Obama’s social media electoral campaign that convened with supporters and not attempted to control them, which is the mature way to use this particular media (Appendix 1, p 7). The campaign, which used social networks, email advocacy and online video, has been attributed as a major contribution to his victory showing the sheer power that social media can have (www.edelman.com, 2009). Trust was a factor that needed to be addressed to make the campaign a success especially as Politicians’ are one of the least trusted groups by society, and with close obedience to The Crawl, Walk, Run Methodology for Social Media (Appendix 2, p 7) the campaign secured itself a high degree of trust. On 15 social networking sites, the campaign had 5 million ‘friends’, there were 2 million blog profiles with 400,000 posts and nearly 2000 official YouTube videos with over 80 million views. From measuring the social media it is clear that it played a fundamental part in the success of the campaign as a whole.

Measurement of social media is key and vital to its success (Brake D.K and Safko L, 2009., Zarrella, 2010., Evans, 2008). The internet and computer systems have made it easier to track everything that passes through a system whereas “measuring ROI, or responses using conventional marketing, has always been difficult” (Brake and Safko, 2009).  The simplest way to measure is to use ‘eyeball’ numbers which are unique visitors, views and hits but this is not considered accurate enough as much social media activity happens in places other than a businesses’ own site. Twitter success can be measured by the amount of followers you have which ultimately indicates the potential reach. However, this doesn’t measure how engaged followers are with tweets so to much better understand twitter engagement it is better to measure the amount of mentions or replies your tweet receives. Retweeting would be the most accurate although hardest measurement, as sharing someone else’s content would suggest it is seen as “valuable and worth sharing” (Zarrella, 2010). Facebook and LinkedIn metrics are focused on pages and groups. Essentially earned media is measured through the number of mentions in blogs, traditional blogs and social media that was not paid for.

Social media has revolutionized the way marketers communicate with peers, customers and potential customers. It could be argued that every brand in existence has now incorporated social media into their integrated marketing campaigns and the fight is on to create the most innovative uses for it to differentiate and extensively personalise a brand. As Kapferer (2008) has stated, no brand can survive without adapting to its changing environment, and in today’s marketing landscape it would be a huge challenge to find just one brand that does not have a social media presence.

Word Count: 991

References

Anon., 2010. What is Social Media? Greenmarketing.tv. Available at: http://www.greenmarketing.tv/2010/07/09/what-is-social-media/. [Accessed on 12.04.2011].

Anon., 2010. Social Constructivism. www.wikipedia.com. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructivism. [Accessed on 01.04.2011].

Brake D.K and Safko L., 2009. The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools and Strategies for Business Success. John Wiley & Sons Inc: New Jersey.

Chandler, D., 1996. Technological Determinism. www.atschool.eduweb.co.uk. Available at: http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/trinity/determin.html. [Accessed on 13.04.2011].

Deighton, J.A. and Korenfelt, L. , 2007.  Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing and Consumers.  Harvard Business School Working Paper.  Available at:  http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5783.html. [Accessed on 04.04.2011].

Delahaye Paine, K., 2007. How to Measure Social Media Relations: The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same. Institute for Public Relations.  Available at: www.instituteforpr.org/downloads/92. [Accessed on 01.04.2011].

Evans, D., 2008. Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day. Wiley Publishing Inc: Indiana.

Kapferer, J. N., 2008. The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term. Kogan Page: London.

Keen, A., 2007. The Cult of The Amateur: How the Internet is killing our Culture. The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group: NY.

Lutz, M., 2009. The Social Pulpit: Barrack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit. www.edelman.com. Available at: http://www.edelman.com/image/insights/content/social%20pulpit%20-%20barack%20obamas%20social%20media%20toolkit%201.09.pdf. [Accessed on 03.04.2011].

Zarrella, D., 2010.The Social Media Marketing Book. O’Reily Media: Canada.

Week Nine: Being Social

So, I've come to my last short blog post that DCS requires of me. And I'm quite happy that it is on the topic I probably find the most interesting out of the whole unit....Social Media. It has forced us as advertisers and marketers to change the way we communicate with consumers...can we even call the public that anymore?! Now more 'prosumers' as there is a significant power shift that has emerged through the evolution of social media. But there are some worries about how powerful this new phenomenon is becoming within culture and everyday society. Andrew Keene (2007) warns that culture will be destroyed if people refuse to pay for media, such as social media as everything is being lost in the clutter and ‘noise’ with any amateur  being able to post online. He called for regulation of social media with any user in the whole world being able to spread whatever they wish as far as the other side of the world aided by social media and professional labour being replaced by audience/consumer labour through user generated content. Well we have seen a step in that direction recently with the ASA, the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media, on the 1st March gaining regulation of websites. This includes "marketing communications on companies’ own websites and in other third party space under their control, such as Facebook and Twitter, will have to adhere to the “non-broadcast advertising rules” as set out in the CAP code" (Jennings, 2011) - See article here. This is a big step towards regulation of social media but surely it would be impossible to regulate all user generated content on the whole of the internet?! It would also create activism and problems with 'freedom of speech'. 

             There comes another problem with how accessible and unregulated social media is - user's privacy. Dataveillance is "the systematic monitoring of people's actions or communications through the application of information technology" (Clarke, 2003). Facebook records who has been on a page, and all of the users demographics including age and gender. 

It uses this to do Data Profiling which is collecting information about a particular individual or group in order to create patterns in their behaviour.

              However, I am in agreement with Albrechtslund (2008) who theorises that "to participate in online social networking is also about the act of sharing yourself – or your constructed identity – with others". Everyone is aware of this when they make a social networking profile and enter all the information about yourself. 

If people are that concerned social networking sites don't hide what they record, they state it such as Twitter has here: Our servers automatically record information ("Log Data") created by your use of the Services. Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type, the referring domain, pages visited, and search terms. Other actions, such as interactions with advertisements, may also be included in Log Data (Twitter Privacy Policy, available at: http://twitter.com/privacy)

         I think that the public need to understand if they want to take part in user generated content and interact through the use of social media they need to deal with the fact that some of their details, such as IP address, may not remain private. 

           

 

Week Eight: Digital Activism and the Web Ecology Project

Activism consists of intentional action to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism is usually in support of, or in opposition to, one side of an often controversial argument (See lecture 16). Digital Activism can be potentially positive or negative for a brand. Digital Activism can be defined as “the practice of using digital technology for political and social change” (Mary Joyce, Meta-Activism Project). 

The first thing I am going to look at defining digital activism better as I don't know about you. but the term confused me slightly at first. The following model aided me in understanding the emergence of digital activism (See article here). 

I'll just give you a quick explanation of the model: Though there are many sub-categories digital activism can emerge from three groups - doers, builders and thinkers. The size of the bubble represents the relative size of the group, with doers being the largest.  Areas of overlap refer to multiple roles: a person who is both a builder and doer, a thinker and builder. Doers is the largest and potentially most complex group, who create digital activism through their practices such as strategies failed. blog posts. tweets and uploaded videos. "It is through them that the infrastructure of the builders is tested (in the case of activist platforms) or appropriated (in the case of commercial ones) and the ideas of the thinkers are applied.  It is from their actions that thinkers create theories and interpretations about what digital activism means" (See article here). Builders create the infrastructure that allows digital activism to take place such as platforms, software, organisations and injections of money. Next comes the thinkers who are the smallest group yet potentially the most critical in defining what digital activism is.  They act as the filter through which the tactics of digital activism are analysed, shared etc and digital activism practice would never move forward, always acting on past methods without them. Digital activism is said to move forward easiest when all levels of analysis are interlinked and closely integrated with practice. Social networking has made it extremely easy for members of the general public to become involved with digital activism. With  the click of a mouse, they can permeate the doer category.

This leads me on to concept that theorists are calling 'Clicktivism' that, in their opinion, is destroying activism. This is the "obsession with tracking clicks" (See article here). 

Start Quote

"The end result is the degradation of activism into a series of petition drives that capitalise on current events. Political engagement becomes a matter of clicking a few links. In promoting the illusion that surfing the web can change the world, clicktivism is to activism as McDonalds is to a slow-cooked meal. It may look like food, but the life-giving nutrients are long gone." (White, 2010).

Tim Hwang has an interesting insight into the world of online activism; "I want to argue that where digital activism is concerned, an understanding of web culture is absolutely key to effectively operating online" (See article here). He believes that activism relies on engaging "the underlying forces of communication and culture at work in a particular media or space". The thing I found most genuinely interesting whilst reading around the subject of digital activism was in 'Digital Activism Decoded' and the chapter 'Digital Transforms Activism: A Web Ecology Perspective' by Tim Hwang. It speaks of the Web Ecology Project formed in Boston in 2008. They are an emerging research group who want to approach the challenge of gaining a better understanding of cyberspace by embracing a serious study of the underlying social forces  that are at the root of both cultural fads and more serious activism against established authorities. 

This gave me new insight into the topic - I would have thought social media would make work easier for activists to spread their opinions online; however, it is in fact the opposite, making it harder for activists to get the proper information to the right people one the spotlight of attention is on them. This means  that activists need to find a way to sift through information as well as raise awareness. The web can be a flurry of reposting, commenting and spamming where actionable content often becomes increasingly obscured referred to by Hwang as 'memetic entropy'.  "In an era of social platforms that are tightly networked, the bar to merely getting a message out from a circle of activists into the public sphere is much lower". So although at first  the subject seemed straight forward, I feel I have actually learnt the most from this topic than any other so far. And I will leave you with what I think is a huge problem that needs to be overcome on popular social platforms: "the period between when a conversation becomes widespread or trending and the point at which it becomes "polluted" with a high amount of noise in the form of spam and tangential conversation is rapidly shrinking". 

Week Seven: Gladverts...Invasion of Privacy?

          Digital has made an advertiser's job a whole lot easier. It is no longer a case of the widely known saying "everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" but in fact, as Banksy suggests "In the future everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes". With rapidly developing technology and advances of the digital presence in all industries, it has led to a wide debate of privacy issues, with consumers feeling their person privacy is being violated further and further. With no regulation/legislation currently in place to effectively deal with the digital communications environment, activists are springing up everywhere campaigning for their rights to privacy. Not only is there the personal invasion, but also the dangers that exist such as phishing, online/physical stalking, identity theft and the list continues. Research conducted in the US found email Phishing attacks 4 times more likely to be successful when send using personal information gathered from social networking profiles.

        

Privacy can be defined as “the claim of an individual to determine what information about himself or herself should be known to others….This, also, involves when such information will be obtained and what uses will be made of it by others” (Alan Westin, 2003)”.

         And it looks like digital privacy activists are going to have something new to protest against. According to a BBC report released last month, 'Minority Report' like ads will be soon appearing in the UK (See article here). A DIGITAL ADVERTISING REVOLUTION has been forecast for the near future, the technology being called 'Gladvertising'. The first step to this is going to be adverts that reflect our moods. The technology uses emotion recognition software (ERS) and provide an advert based on how you feel. It is the intention of advertisers to further the technology so that it can read age, gender and even interests, possibly using social network profiling or from existing market research. Privacy campaigners are already kicking up a fuss about this 'scary' technology and it has developed due the industry so far existing unchallenged. 

Start Quote

We have a situation where the boundaries between our online and offline worlds become even more blurred and we currently have no regulatory or legislative regime in place to deal with these dangers.”

Alexander HanffPrivacy International

       Dr Shaw, of Future Studies, has said there will naturally be research into 'gladvertising' to consider the publics concerns and anxieties but believes the public will become increasingly comfortable with the new technology. I am torn between my views as a consumer and as an advertiser. As an advertiser this creates hugely exciting new opportunities and ways to target potential customers....from the view of a consumer I can understand the privacy issues involved. I guess the only thing to do is wait and see what the new technology in the digital age has in store for us...

                   

Week Six: The Daily Mail's Success & The SEO Pyramid

           

   "Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is defined as a form of marketing on the Internet that businesses and organisations seek to gain visibility on SERP's through paid or non-paid means" (Moran and Hunt, 2005 cited at See Journal Here). Therefore, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines, and SEO tactics may be incorporated into website development and design. It considers how search engines work and what people search for, involving editing a website's content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to removed barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. 'Search engine friendly' is a term used to describe website designs, content, images, videos and menus that have been optimised for the purpose of search engine exposure. An example of this is the Daily Mail website. They are an unlikely website to have mastered the marketing

 tool of SEO, but with a total of 40, 500,667 unique users the website broke online records in April 2010. This has been puzzled over, as The Daily Mail reaches no where near these figures with sales on the newsstand. Easy access, quality content is the cornerstone for the websites success - housing most popular sections high on the first page for celebrity-obsessed browsers. Down the right-hand column of the page is the latest celebrity gossip in small sections that help the website get picked up by search engines. Keywords chosen especially to optimise the chances of search engines finding the site can be seen within the copy. All the stories on the Mail's website are short and accurately detailed to encourage people to click through. 

 The SEO Success Pyramid

            The model was adapted by Matt McGee (See Article Here) and goes through the process of making great websites that earn traffic and convert visitors into customers. I feel that it is an interesting way of thinking about Search Engine Optimisation and could be applied to any company who wants to use SEM as a marketing tool.

                           

                                                             See Larger Version Here

            I think, we as marketing students, have had drummed into us that Word of Mouth is such a powerful marketing tool - this is also true and must be remembered when using this model. As you get further up the pyramid, buzz/word of mouth marketing and community play a huge part in making the process of SEO much faster, the human element being the deciding factor as to whether a company is successful in the search marketing arena. 

              According to McGee's model, the success of SEO depends on:

Commitment: The team working on the project, whether it is directly the marketing team or an external SEO specialist team must be enthusiastic and engaged.

Planning: Setting goals for the SEO Campaign and developing a set of strategies and statistics is essential just like any other marketing campaign.

Product/Service: The product/service being marketed needs to have potential and quality for the marketing to work.

Education/Information: The search marketing industry changes rapidly so information needs to be up to date and ongoing as this is also just as rapidly changing.

Patience: Search marketing takes time to implement correctly even though it is rapidly changing. This makes the marketing a hard task.

Design & Usability: The website needs to be attractive and easy for the visitor to use without any hard technological ways of entering it.

Keyword Research: This is a hugely important part of SEO - keywords need to be researched carefully and can never be too specific or overused. 'Longtail' keyword phrases may also need to be looked at.

Analytics: Measuring, analysis and adjusting a company's SEM is the only way that it can be deemed if the strategy is effective or could be improved in any way.

Tools: Using SEO tools can give a company an advantage over competition, but more importantly the skills to interpret this data.

Crawlability: A search engine cannot index pages that its spider cannot crawl such as Flash movies, complicated DHTML and javascript.

Content of the Website: Can be blogs, articles, videos or user generated content such as product/service reviews. 

Links: Great content needs links to get a better rank on search engines.

Social/Local Findability: Social Media Marketing and Local Search are essential and will be dictated by the size of a company which one  you emphasise more. The company want customers to be able to find them as easily as possible.

Reputation Management: This is extremely important at a time when social media is such an effective vehicle and the public have a growing influence over user reviews - these can have a huge impact on how your company is perceived.

Trust: Is at the top of the pyramid, and the Number 1 goal for any company is creating a trusting relationship with its consumers. Trust = Power so when a company achieves trust from users and search engines, according to McGee it is on its way to marketing success. 

Week Five: The O2: A Seamless Brand

            

            Most people in our society are fascinated by advertising media whether it is TV, press, radio or digital. Everyone loves experiences and being involved in something - from festivals and gigs through to shopping and community activities. Media convergence has become a necessity for brands if they want to survive in the rapidly ever changing times we live in and recently, we have seen many brands using cleverly targeted new ideas using a combination of all media channels to drive engagement of their audience through giving them 'unique experiences'. Digital has penetrated and changed the lives of the average consumer, giving marketers many opportunities to create emotional connections and relationships with consumers on many levels. It is important that brands realise that if they want to be effective they cannot treat digital as a separate channel to other marketing activities; there is a real need to integrate digital branding strategies into the already established activities to provide positive brand experiences and capture the consumer, building a long term and loyal customer base. Cummings (2011) feels that "the focus should be on delivering a consistent and seamless brand experience across all media including, if relevant, the physical environment" (See article here). Furthermore, he feels that this is becoming ever more important with time, as the digital platforms and indeed the consumers using them are becoming more sophisticated and demanding. By creating exciting and engaging brand experiences, the evolving digital community can be used to create hype and word of mouth, an extremely powerful promotion tool if it can be generated effectively. 

    "Instead of trying to spread inside-out brand-first positioning messages, 

     they search for an outside-in community-first 'social heartbeat' that

     connects the brand values with the passions shared by the community

     members" (Mishra, 2011).

         Mobile technology advances are predicted to create even more seamless brand engagement in the future through convergence. This is why I have chosen to look at O2 as a brand to demonstrate the innovative new ways brands are creating a 'seamless brand experience'.

           O2 as a brand stands out, for me, as a huge innovator and leader in its industry in terms of audience engagement and relationship building through the convergence of existing marketing activities and digital branding strategies. I, myself, am an O2 subscriber so have experienced first hand some of the brand's strategies. I'd also like to share that, in my opinion, they work extremely well especially for creating brand loyalty and when my mobile subscription finishes at the end of the month I can safely say I will be renewing it with them. O2 has been recognised as a leader in 'mobile music and event base mobile interactive services'; with its rewards to customers for brand loyalty, its use of the latest mobile technology and its commitment to music and entertainment. The brand accomplishes this by not only being a mobile network provider, but as we all know, owning the O2 Arena in London and also O2 Academy music venues across the country. I think the biggest use of convergence in terms of brand loyalty for O2 has been the creation of O2 priority ticket services for all O2 venues and premium customer status at the O2 Arena (for me this is the biggest perk for being on O2, being a huge music lover). This service allows all O2 subscribers access to purchase tickets for any events at the venues 48 hours before general release with options only available to them through their O2 network handsets. 

       As an O2 subscriber there are also many other perks when you visit the O2 Arena. Firstly, a promotional code allows you access to the Blueroom (pictured on the right) which is a VIP lounge for O2 users only. I can speak for O2 when I say it really is a huge advantage; it's A LOT quieter and more relaxed than the rest of an arena on an event night, there are no queues at the bars compared to the huge queues you face at the other bars on location and the experience genuinely does make you feel special and a valued customer. You really are rewarded for your loyalty to O2 with the experience. In the VIP bar there is also a Jukebox where users can user their handsets to choose tracks from plasma TVs, where they will receive a text. At the O2 they have created an installation giving customers the chance to create a personalised music video. By using a touch interface visitors can choose the video they want to appear starring in and perform in the green screen booth. The video is then sent to phone or email enabling them to upload this to a social media channel. 

Judges of the Mobile Interactive Group where O2 won 'Best Use of Mobile' in 2007 said "the campaign was ground breaking and encompassed all touch-points to fully engage the audience! and that !it manages more than any other UK mobile campaign to put mobile at the centre of the overall experience" (See article here). 

The O2 has also created interactive installations, alongside interactive agency, New Toy, called 'SnapBooths' in O2 Academy venues across the country. They allow for visitors (O2 and non O2 subscribers) to share their gig experience with their friends and family after the event using experiential, digital, mobile and social networking platforms. The fan is invited to take their photo in a booth with a touch screen interface, where the photo is then sent to a photo wall with a set of digital screens displaying revolving images. It is also sent to their mobile phones and afterwards uploaded to the venues Facebook group so their experience can be shared online using social media. 

Another example of O2's convergence of digital media strategies into their marketing is the sponsorship of the iPhone, Android and Blackberry App, Shazam. It allows O2 to deliver highly targeted ads for its Priority Tickets service to Shazam users by advertising pre-sales based on the music they have tagged through the App. The ads are delivered through a variety of formats including standard banners and integrated links. Shazam is the leading music discovery app, achieving global success with over 50 million users - this made Shazam a natural choice for O2 wishing to engage with their music loving audience.

O2 have managed to create an extremely strong brand position in many markets by convergence, using traditional advertising methods with mobile, digital technologies, experience and have seen the opportunities in creating great customer experiences that will engage consumers who use social media that builds the brand reputation.

The world of advertising and marketing is about to get even more exciting, and with its rapid change and rate of innovation, students like myself as  the future of the industry need to keep learning and stay well informed if we want to be in demand.

Week Four: Mobile Communications, Advertising and Marketing

 AT&T introduced its first network to approximately two thousand customers in 1977 – this was the beginning of mobile phones (Oneupweb, 2005 cited here). According to Reportlinker.com it is estimated that there will be over five billion users subscribed globally by the end of this year, highlighting mobile technology as “an outstanding phenomenon that has forever changed society” (See article here). It is predicted that by 2015, the mobile will replace the PC as the most used method of access to the internet (Findel – Hawkins, www.mobithinking.com).

The ‘Digital Divide’ refers to the huge variation in present adoption levels of technology across countries. The digital divide for mobile technology is defined slightly different to other technological advances...the digital divide in mobile technologies is how advanced one’s technology is rather than does or does not have the technology (Wikipedia.com). Mobiles have an uneven penetration rate across countries and regions; generally the wealthy and powerful countries predominate with low income countries having 4 per cent penetration and high income countries having nearly 77% (Goggin 2006 cited at See journal here).

Statistics on Mobile Subscribers per 100 habitants (ITU Digital Access Index, (See reference here)

Country	Mobile
Sweden	88.9
USA	47.3
Canada	37.7
Australia	64.0
Italy	92.5
Chile	42.8
Brazil	20.1
China	16.1
Egypt	6.7
India	1.2
Vietnam	2.3
Kenya	4.2
Bangladesh	0.8
Nigeria	1.3
Mali	0.5
Niger	0.1

Below, show the overall divide between the Developed and Developing World’s subscriptions to mobile phones.

               

The first generation of mobile phones (1G) was cellular networks, the first being launched in Japan by NTT in 1979. It used multiple cell sites and had the ability to transfer calls from one site to the next as the customer travelled around. The first UK mobile call was made by Vodafone on 1 January 1985. Second generation (2G) brought digital networks in the 1990’s where digital was used rather than analogue and the industry saw a massive explosion on subscriptions. This introduced the new variant of communication, SMS, where people could send text only content. The first full internet service was made possible and introduced in Japan in 1999 and the first downloadable content sold in the form of ringtones. 3G was introduced after mobile phones had become so integrated into people’s everyday lives bringing protocols that made data connection faster. These new high speeds meant it was now possible for media streaming to happen of radio and television to mobile phones. It became clear very quickly that 3G networks would become overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth intensive applications such as streaming media so in 2009 the industry introduced 4G technology that meant speed improved over ten times from 3G. 4G uses an all-IP network rather than the 3G circuit switching.

                    According to multiple analysts, Mobile Marketing and Advertising will explode from just a couple hundred million dollars in revenues in 2008 to $3 – 5 Billion by 2012 (See article here). Mobile Marketing has many advantages for businesses; the advertising can be targeted extremely effectively and made personal to the mobile user, it is done using the most up to date information and technology, it is easily trackable and an excellent way of reaching consumers as people have their mobile phone with them all the time, anywhere and everywhere they go within their daily lives. However, the concept is still in its infancy. Text messaging marketing has been used for a few years and is a used widely when it comes to mobile marketing. According to a study by Comshore 25% of users participate in at least one (and up to ten) SMS marketing programmes marketing(See article here. This is extremely popular in the fast food joints, clothing stores and the nightclub scene. Texting is also proven to get seven times the response rate of email. Local media is also starting to be offered via text message and producing mobile versions of their content to increase advertising revenue. Retailers are working to enhance the shopping experience with the use of mobile communications. Fast food places such as Burger King, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell have introduced mobile sites , texting programmes and apps that allow consumers to order food to pick up. Localised smartphone apps such as FourSquare and Yowza are being experimented with by companies and Starbucks are even testing a Starbucks Card Mobile scheme where customers can pay in the shop for their coffee using their mobile phone. 

Twitter have announced this week that they are concentrating on their growth, especially on mobile. Twitter’s Chief Executive, Dick Costello, has said that the service needs “deeper integration” into smart phones and also to be made more available to basic phones (Wakefield 2010 - See article here). Costello commented that “40% of Tweets now come from mobile platforms” showing the huge potential that mobile communication has in this digital age.  

However, even though there are many opportunities to be exploited for marketers when it comes to mobile marketing, there are also challenges to overcome. Research by Forrester has found that  “Consumers aren’t impressed with apps that provide little utility and only clutter up their phone decks” (Parrish 2011 - See article here). App downloads are also hard to measure as downloads are not a representation of who is using the apps as many are deleted within a short time. Another problem marketers are facing is measuring the ROI of the advertising as there is a lack of advertising standards. Privacy is also a huge issue with consumers when it comes to mobile marketing.