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Are mobile applications the best investment for SMBs with limited funds for social media efforts?
Q: I work with small and medium businesses. They are confused by the velocity of change and whether to invest time/money in Social media (Facebook, Twitter). It seems mobile apps might be a better investment of their limited funds?
This question was asked during the Focus Interactive Summit: Overcoming Cloud Computing Challenges during John Taschek's presentation "The Velocity of Change and Competitive Advantage"
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2 Answers
Its important to think about Social media and Mobility as not being mutually exclusive.
In fact, depending on the specific nature of your business and your audience, you may well be forced into both.
Think about Mobility as vehicle to engage and social media as an engagement venue.
If your really feel you need to pick one then look at the view from the customer first, internal needs second.
Your budget priority from a customer view would suggest you need invest in social media first.
If you're looking at accelerating how you interact internally and externally with your clients, then invest in mobile.
That said, i would find a way to divide and conquer both.
Got to agree with Bob that Social Media and Mobile Marketing are not mutually exclusive. To really be successful - you really do need to be holistic in your approach, combining the Social and mobile with your other marketing activities (e-mail, web, and print).
The good this is that Social Media is mostly free (from a straight cost perspective) - as all it really takes is TIME to keep your facebook, twitter, etc updated and relevant with fresh content and contests (I know time isn't free, but your not paying for the tool itself).
As for the Mobile piece, you're best off designing your current website to be mobile friendly, rather than trying to spend money developing a mobile app. According to this article (and others that I found) - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/29/designing-for-the-future-web/ - Most mobile users prefer using the mobile web rather than an app.
Mobile is a big thing - by 2015, most people (over 50%) will be accessing the web via a mobile device over a desktop/laptop computer according to - http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/mobile-web-stats/
If your website was designed to best-practices to begin with - it should be mobile friendly now. But if you use a lot of Flash, or your website utilizes a lot of "by pixel" dimensions - it might need some help.
Good Luck
Ryan
http://MassachusettsWebDesigns.com
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