Articles

Get Social, Think Mobile, Spend Local!

by Sakshi Sharma Mobility Strategist

Savvy entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their market reach need to leverage the mobile advantage effectively -   especially when digital advancements are increasingly blurring the lines between in-store purchases and on-the-go shopping, and taking local searches more readily to the mobile user.

 

Mobile Website—the kickoff point

 

Small business must at the very least ensure their website renders well on mobile phones, and mid-sized businesses should aspire for something more than a mere vanilla mobile presence. The point being: if your business website isn’t well-reflected on a mobile screen, there is no account of the massive business opportunities going untapped.

 

How numbers add up:

 

Local mobile searches on Bing have shot up by 50% from 2011. Black Friday sales coming through smartphones and tablets are up 10% this year. Mobile, as a platform, is growing on localized business searches.

 

Bottom line: businesses, especially small-medium businesses seeking niche captivity, have lots to gain from mobile websites which bring about flexibility in shopping and mobile transactions. 

 

SoLoMo:

 

In an age of inventive marketing memes, ‘SoLoMo’ (social, local, mobile) happens to be the new digital marketing paradigm centered on the massive social media and mobile proliferation in local markets. SoLoMo has come into favor because of location-based apps, and smartphones and tablets with geo-location facilities. The precise location-finding capabilities of apps and devices have enabled search engines to attune ‘local search’ more in line with the geographical location of the user.

 

For small businesses, nothing can be as productive as being readily discoverable to their niche markets. With search engines getting progressively particular about localized search, small businesses should think ‘SoLoMo’ through leveraging Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Foursquare etc , and scaling up further with a business app as and when possible.

 

The SoLoMo shift hasn’t escaped the eyes of Google or Facebook either. Both have rolled out their own products from a localized marketing perspective. Facebook Offers, for example, allows local US businesses to hand out promotional coupons and offers directly through their news feeds. When the offer gets claimed by a user, it is flashed across his news feed, creating good advertising value for the brand.

 

Google followed it up with Google Offers, a Google Maps update for Android which made it possible for local businesses and merchants to advertise daily deals and offers, much the Groupon way. The deals would pop up in real-time on Android Google Map users. 

 

That’s why for businesses, this is the time to get social, think mobile, and spend local!

 

 

How are you integrating social, mobile, and local into your small business? Need some help straightening out your strategy? We, at Softwaredevelopersindia can help you get on track. Our integrated mobile solutions serve a global clientele in forms ranging from fluid mobile websites to user-friendly business apps. Direct your queries now to team@sdi.la, or visit www.softwaredevelopersindia.com and create your own mobile story.


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About Sakshi Sharma Innovator   Mobility Strategist

27 connections, 0 recommendations, 77 honor points.
Joined APSense since, December 31st, 2010, From California, United States.

Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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