Mobile social media marketing.
First a definition: that doesn’t just mean mobile phones. Tablets and laptops, any device that can be ported and connects to various Wi-Fi sources come under ‘mobile marketing’. For Kaplan (2012), this specifically means ‘the exchange of messages with relevance of one specific point-in time’. This of course ‘requires two actors: (1) a sender who is willing to share information and (2) a receiver who is willing to listen to it.’
Why would anyone willingly share information about their location? One reason is the concept of self-presentation and self-disclosure: people will happily share information about themselves if it is consistent with the way they would like to be viewed by others. One example is someone happily checking in at Saks Fifth Avenue but not letting everyone know when they’re down at the Walmart Super Centre on Staten Island for the weekly grocery shop. Another reason could lie in impulsiveness theory, all about people struggling between long-term control and giving in to short-term temptations.
Why do others read and react to this type of mobile information? For friends, it may be because they like the ‘ambient awareness’. For marketers, it allows messages to be distributed that are relevant for only specific time periods /and or locations. An entertainment character in these messages can create value for customers quite apart from a favourable financial outcome.
Here are the four “I’s” of mobile social media marketing according to Kaplan (2012): Integrate, Individualise, Involve and Initiate.
1.Integrate. This is the opposite of ’Annoy’. Do Not Annoy the Customer. Their privacy is paramount. If a customer checks in at your location or installs your app this shows Trust. Don’t abuse it by spamming them with irrelevant sales messages. They can disassociate from you with a click of their finger.
2. Individualise – this means customise the message or, such as a burger chain, allow customers to customise the product.
3. Involve the user in some sort of interactive story or game, or even in an old fashioned discount. This can become something shared between the user, the company and the user’s social network.
4. Initiate the creation of UGC. A favourable restaurant review is a good example and worth loads more than a company touting its own wares.
Back to you as a customer. Why do you disclose your location? Is it about self-presentation and self-disclosure for you? Or is it more a question of the struggle between long-term control and giving into short-term temptations?
Kaplan, A.M.
(2012) If you love something, let it go
mobile: Mobile marketing and mobile social media 4 x 4. Business Horizons
55, 129 – 139.
