I’m heading off to participate in the Mobile Response Unit’s Triple M Mobile Marketing Think Tank tomorrow and I’ve ben asked to come prepared with a couple of thoughts on mobile and social….
So the two things that keep kicking around in my head are
- Apps matter. And in an off-deck or multi deck world, apps with social traction will matter the most. Because the mobile networks are going to gradually lose their control over access to audiences, apps will need to gain users because they are good and because they have some level of ‘socialbility’ or network effect, in other words they get better the more people that use them. We’re seeing this (partially) with the iPhone and it is only going to exacerbate as the Android platform gets its act together, Ovi grows etc etc.
- That the collision of geo-specific nature of mobile that is already informing apps and the huge uptake of social networking (including via the mobile) is going to be a significant factor in the development of both.
I was also asked to comment on;
- What role for advertising; minimal I’d argue
- What role the mobile in customer journey; integral I’d argue
- And future trends; I think it will include APIs as marketing tools, not advert campaigns
C’mon, tel me I’m wrong or add your thouights. Think Tank is 9AM tomorrow at Redwood.
Leo – Whilst social underpinning Apps and other mobile properties will work for some client objectives, overt reliance on social to spread the app virally is a dangerous route. The new advertising will be the marketing of apps – with 92k on the App store now rising 10k every day, getting headroom and visibility is crucial. The fact is today you need to tell people the app is there, even if the functionality is amazing.
Secondly I’d also point to mobile being different from other platforms due to ease of monetisation of content/services through simple user journeys (e.g. iTunes). So niche markets could support apps with social underpinning through monetisation.
Thirdly – converged devices have proven that gaming is the killer app category. The social aspects of gaming and play are just being explored on mobile, in the casual arena (e.g. Playfish, plus network). This may be the area that social network effect has the most unexplored potential and also the greatest relevance to marketing *if* we can start to really understand the ROI of user engagement.
Really pleased the nipper is doing well. Congrats again!
The converging trends of this generation (and probably the next) are towards social cohesion and environmental protection / sustainability. People care more (certainly more than our 80s ‘Me’ generation). People want their mobile to keep them ‘connected’ to the rhythm of life around them. People want to feel that their choices matter in and to society at large. The apps / platforms / whatever that can tap into those drives will be ‘ahead of the curve’ in the next wave of advertising’s evolution. Ad campaigns of yesterday are history. Word of mouth, and all that it entails, is a powerful medium that the Mobile is ideally placed to exploit. How will you do that? (That’s why they pay you the big bucks, Leo.)
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