IS MOBILE MARKETING THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL ADVERTISING AND MARKETING?

Answer is YES ! 

Let me elaborate - We are living in a world where smart phones will out number PCs. If you're a company that uses advertising in any meaningful way, you'd better buy your mobile cruise tickets before the boat leaves without you...

According to Benedict Evans as of December 2013, there are slightly more than 1.6 billion PCs still 'hanging out,' around 1.3 billion smartphones and about 200 million tablets. It's a pretty clear picture of things to come. Website owners would be fools to ignore what they've been seeing for the last three to five years: Mobile Traffic is slowly and steadily increasing as compared to Traditional PC traffic.

Despite this being the age of the Smartphone, it's a strong indication that mobile still has a long period of growth ahead, due in part to the fact that many just haven't been taking the latest tech changes in stride.

Many experts from the world of mobile still believes that customer engagement and satisfaction are two powerful motivations to get pumping with the mobile scene. "Social media and Mobile are evolving at alarming rates," says Marc Fischman, co-Founder of Hyperactivate. "Attention constantly shifts to new platforms. Brands need to learn how to spread the word using apps and social media effectively."

One of the issues Fischman pointed out that's common to many marketers using apps and social media, is that they either don't bother or don't know how to engage followers, even when they have them. Fischman suggests that it's not just the message that counts, although that too is important. But it's also critical to measure engagement and promote your message in a way that creates viral reach. "First you've got to have the tools to catch the consumer eye," continues Fischman. "Then you have to learn how to make use of the results and continue to create engaging, viral campaigns."

Some Tips For Mobile Marketing

In order to understand the trends, it's important that you understand the nature of the beast: diversity, quality, innovation, experimentation and influence. Only then can you chase consumer  with an eye for scoring well within the medium. There's no way to cover everything within one article. But here are some pointers to give you a head's up from those who know.

1) Diversity: The variety of mobile tools make it almost impossible for failure when it comes to reaching your target audience. Don't choose one app or one method and assume it's the answer to all your needs. Before you invest in a pricey app, make sure if can be made to work for you, not the other way around. Use the right analytics, integrate your efforts and make it social.

2) Quality Counts: There are mobile marketing tools for every budget. This's why it's important to perform due diligence. The last thing you want is to put money into something that's nearly impossible to use or that doesn't work well. And don't forget to make sure your message contains a powerful call to action. Why should your audience make the purchase? What's in it for them? Discounts? Credits? Buy one get one free? Ask yourself--how robust is your message?

3) Accelerate Your Innovation: Mobile designers are running an Olympic race to leverage information and advancements in an effort to reduce complexity yet provide compelling services. You almost can't blink without seeing the mobile boundaries grow and change shape. Marketers need to keep their eyes on the innovative game, as well as on the way mobile is changing peoples lives. Every purchase, every 'like" and every share is a message. Listen and respond wisely.

4) Content is Queen, Influence is King: Have you taken the time to learn about your audience? With more and more people learning how to use the web in a more personalized way, and with mobile poised to surpass television as our means for connecting with all media, it's vital to learn how your target audience experiences everything from life to relationships, and from entertainment to making purchases. We've come to rely more and more on other people's referrals and reviews. You have to ensure that people not only connect with your message, but pass it along, too.

Not having a mobile strategy is a "recipe for disruption", with a dash of eventual panic thrown in. The age mobile is still young enough for brands to get on board with it. That means larger budgets and greater focus on the road ahead. Even if print becomes less expensive as that medium tries to survive, that doesn't mean you should ignore mobile.

How PPC Marketing Works ?

What is PPC?

Pay per click ads usually appear in a coloured box on search results pages and are separated from the regular search results on most major search engines and portals. Some portals (such as Ask Jeeves and AOL) are not clearly separating the ads from the regular search results. Many of the larger PPC networks have many search partners and broad sweeping contextual advertising networks. Who Owns the Largest PPC Networks? This is a rough estimate, but between 10% and 30% of purchases which originate from search come from pay per click ads. Currently Google Ad Words and Overture are the two largest pay per click search engines.

Risk Involved with PPC? 

Pay per click search engine marketing has no risks involved other than the money you are spending buying the clicks. This means that you do not need to worry about your site getting banned from a search engine for PPC services. The recurring costs for PPC marketing can be expensive since you pay for every click. Some competitors may click on your ads to cost you money (this is more prevalent in high margin industries). It is important to track your ads and report suspicious behaviour.

How PPC Works ?

With pay per click marketing you buy search engine traffic based on relevant keywords bought in an auction model. (Some smaller pay per click engines charge by category.) You pay for every click so targeting is important. You can view Overture click costs for your primary keyword phrases using the Overture view bid tool. Google hides bid prices and factors ad click through rate into click cost.

Why Should I use Big PPC Networks? 

There are many smaller pay per click networks, but I recommend starting off with the two largest to ensure you are buying quality traffic and that your business model is sustainable. Using these networks will also provide your business with a rapid feedback loop. Overture vs. Google Ad Words The trick to doing well in Google Ad Words is encouraging a high click through rate which will lower click costs. Google created a free PDF report offering tips on how to use Ad Words effectively.Overture also recently created a free “how to” PDF. The trick to doing well in Overture is to use many different variations of your keywords since they place exact match listings before broad match listings. This means if you bid on the exact term someone is searching for and someone else bids on a different variation of a similar term your ad will appear before theirs, even if your bid is significantly cheaper. Some people will do better with Overture and other industries are better using Google Ad Words. I recommend trying both. PPC vs. SEO Pay per click marketing may provide a quick cheap alternative to investing in a full service SEO program. This will help you test your business model before investing into quality SEO services. Over time good SEO is likely going to be cheaper than most pay per click marketing, though the value of each depends on a market. A person selling a report about using Google Ad Words would find Google Ad Words as a great place to market their product.

Many PPC Ads Lose Money !

Like anything else there is a learning cycle associated with PPC marketing. Many people who use pay per click marketing lose money, so you should not assume your competitors know what they are doing especially if they are a large corporation (like Wal-Mart). Many business models cannot support pay per click marketing, while others rely on PPC marketing. Many successful marketers and web masters use both PPC and SEO with each other.The only way to be sure of the value provided by each is to test and track the results.

HOW TO CREATE COMPELLING CONTENT THAT RANKS WELL IN SEARCH ENGINES

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Once upon a time, there was something called SEO copy-writing. These SEO copywriters seemed to have magical word skills that allowed them to place just the right keywords in just the right places and amounts, and even in the densities that were just right for miraculous top rankings. And that’s all you needed . . . or at least that’s what was advertised. There’s no doubt that the location and frequency of keywords is still critical. Search engines work by keying in on the word patterns people are looking for and returning relevant content. But that’s not all there is to it.

Here’s the deal . . . much of what determines the ranking position of any particular page is due to what happens off the page, in the form of links from other sites. Getting those links naturally has become the hardest part of SEO, which is why we've seen the mainstream emergence of social media marketing as a way to attract links with compelling content.  That’s why a good SEO copywriter is also a writer who has a knack for tuning in to the needs and desires of the target audience. And because links are so important, those needs and desires have to be nailed well before that content will show up prominently in the search engines. The same emotional forces that prompt people to buy can also cause other people to link from blogs, and bookmark, vote, and re-tweet from social media platforms. The context is different, as are the nuances, but it’s still a matter of providing compelling benefits in the form of 

content. “Ask yourself what creates value for your users,” sayeth Google. Their brainy engineers continue to diligently create smarter search algorithms, while people powered social media sharing delivers links and traffic as a reward for compelling content.

To sum it up: A good copywriter needs to have a flair for writing content that’s inviting to share and to link to. He/She needs to have top-notch skills to optimize the page, so search engines know what it’s about and who might want to read it. And he/she needs to know how to write copy that converts readers to buyers. That copywriter will become a vital (and well compensated) member of any serious marketing effort. So, if it’s all about what happens off the page, does the “SEO” in SEO copywriting still matter?
Absolutely, and here’s why.

Search is still the biggest game in town

“Pick your survey, search remains one of the top activities on the Internet and has been for over a decade,” says search industry legend Danny Sullivan in a recent conversation. Danny pointed me to one such survey that shows search is the most common online activity after email, and that fact cuts across generations. “People make billions of unique searches each month,” says SEO guru Aaron Wall via email. “And unlike Facebook fluttering, those people are in focus mode.” In other words, compared with most Internet traffic, searchers are the most motivated people who hit a website. This is important. If they’re looking for a product or service, there’s a good chance they’re looking to buy it. If they’re searching for information and your site provides it, you’ve got a great chance of converting that drive-by traffic into long-term attention with your content. And of course if you’re a professional web writer, whether freelance or with an agency, this discussion is purely academic. Go ahead and tell your client not to care about Google traffic, and let me know how that goes.

So, search traffic is clearly important, as long as it’s targeted search traffic. Before we look at the elements of modern practice of search engine optimization, however, let’s make sure we understand how search engines work.

How do search engines work?

Search engines have become an indispensable aspect of modern life. But most of us don’t have a clue about how they actually work. I'm just guessing you don’t want to dive into complex mathematical algorithms. That’s OK. You just need a high-level understanding of the basics. So let’s look at the three major components that power search engines, and the general approach to “spoon feeding” them so they understand our content and rank us the way we want.

1. Crawling

You've likely heard of search engine “spiders” that crawl around the web looking for content. These are actually bits of computer code that find information on a web page, “read” it, and then tirelessly continue along their journey by following links from your page to other pages. The spider periodically returns looking for changes to the original page, which means there are always opportunities to modify the way a search engine sees and evaluates your content down the road. If for any reason the spider can’t see your content, or doesn't understand what it’s about, your page can’t be indexed and ranked. 

2. Indexing

The spider is not just casually browsing content, it’s storing it in a giant database. This is called indexing. The spider’s goal is to save every bit of content it crawls for the future benefit of searchers. It’s also gauging how relevant that content is to the words that searchers use when they want to find an answer to something.

3. Ranking 

The final critical aspect of search technology is the way the engine decides to deliver the most relevant results to searchers. This is accomplished by jealously-guarded algorithmic functions. That’s a fancy way of saying that search software follows a complex set of rules. These are the ground rules for a duel between your content and other content that might satisfy a searcher’s keyword query. Why you have to spoon feed search engines? 

Search engines have come a long way since the early days of the web, but they’re not as sophisticated as you might think. It’s not that search engines are dumb; it’s more like they’re bright little toddlers who need information delivered to them in a way that works for them. Think of it this way. You wouldn't set a bone-in ribeye and steak knife in front of a 4-year-old and expect him to have at it. You’d present the food in easily chewable bite-sized chunks with appropriate utensils.

Likewise, you might write an article about “green widgets” using metaphors, entertaining analogies, and smart synonyms. You know you’re writing about green widgets, and most reasonably intelligent people know it too. But if you don’t use the words “green widgets” in certain locations and frequencies along with other SEO copywriting best practices, both you and the search engines are out of luck. The toddler goes hungry and you’re frustrated and likely dealing with a mess. That’s not to say you want to serve up keyword stuffed crap with less appeal than mashed beets. That would be a really bad idea. On the contrary, you must create that rib-eye-steak content that engages people first and foremost, while also spoon-feeding search engines what they need. The end goal is always to let other people find you with the language they use when searching.

Why India is failing in it's war against Cyber Terrorism ?

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 With the rapid growth of  internet technology, cyber threat has increased more than ever. This unprecedented growth in cyber security threats has forced companies globally to seek the help of more and more cyber security personnel, but this strategy is also failing as firms world wide are facing a shortage of such professionals, a research study by CISCO said.
India especially has become the center of such cyber attacks, according to the ASR (Annual Security Report) 2013 was a "Bad Year " as the total attacks increased by over 14% as compared to 2012! This is a particularly bad percentage, especially considering the fact that India produces more than 7.5 lakh engineers from its 3394 engineering colleges each year, and most of them remain unemployed.

Mr Diwakar Dayal (Cisco Leader Security Business) said, that these attacks are higher than ever. Reports of cyber intrusions were the highest in the last 13 years. An even more embarrassing is the fact is that Indian government websites have been breached over A Thousand Times in the last three years !! The more you think about it, more serious this matter becomes. Is anyone really safe online? Is our information in the government servers safe? These figures don't really inspire confidence. India is facing a shortage of more than 4 lakh cyber soldiers, and the government is not paying any attention to the matter whatsoever.

Photo Credit - topnews.in

Reports also suggested that attacks on web hosting servers and database centers have also increased. Top platforms to be hacked where Androids and Java. Problem with these platforms is that they are opensource with endless iterations, making them an easy target for malicious coders. 99.2% of malicious attacks are against Android platforms.

These reports are based on SIO (Security Intelligence Operations), its critical in cyber threat evaluation and elimination. SIO inspects thirty million network connects, Ninety three billion emails, and Four lakh IP addresses daily.
This matter of cyber security is an important issue which must be dealt immediately. We need to anticipate these complex and sophisticated attacks on our networks and retaliate with precision.Only then we can be sure of our safety online.

Why Facebook's New Algorithm for Newsfeed not a good idea!

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So, Facebook recently updated it's own News Feed Algorithm. According to the new algorithm, users would see more posts with "High Quality Content" produced by businesses, rather than the useless "Memes & Posters" hosted on some other websites. This might be a good strategy to show the users more prominent and useful data/links but after analyzing the impact of this update on my own news feed, I am forced to say that its not a big improvement at all.
Let's rewind a bit and think why all of us joined Facebook in the first place? Was it to see the "High quality paid links" suggested by facebook? Certainly not! The reason behind most of the people joining facebook was simply to stay connected to friends and family. With this new algorithm all the updates from your family and friends would disappear because their posts won't have enough likes and comments to be deemed "Useful" by the Fb's new algorithm. After detailed analysis on this new algorithm it has been found that only those posts which have many likes and comments on them are visible, in other words only the posts by business pages would be visible, it may even be shown more than once on your newsfeed! But the posts by your friends and others might not be visible at all. Hence, in trying to provide more useful content to its users, Facebook lost its original purpose, which was to help people stay connected. Now with the evolvement of this new algorithm FB's "social connectivity" is decreasing and it is becoming more of a business tool which is used to generate traffic for Big Brands only.

Here's what Facebook has to say about this update - "Why are we doing this? Our surveys show that on average people prefer links to high quality articles about current events, their favorite sports team or shared interests, to the latest meme," says Facebook software engineer Varun Kacholia in a blog post. 
"To complement people's interest in articles, we recently began looking at ways to show people additional articles similar to ones they had just read," Kacholia adds. "Soon, after you click on a link to an article, you may see up to three related articles directly below the News Feed post to help you discover more content you may find interesting."

While this might seem like a valid justification, but in reality its only an excuse to promote business pages and generate more traffic for these business websites. In a nutshell, if you want to share your own stories and stay connected with your friends, without being bothered but business posts, Facebook is no more the place to go. Sad to see the most useful place to socialize has been reduced to nothing more than a paid blog!!

How Social Media Has Changed the World

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 What is Social Media ? 

With today's population of more than 2.4 billion users of internet and social media, this question seems redundant. But according to a popular survey, a huge amount of people are still not aware of the power of social media and what it can do for them . So, just to clarify Social media (from hereon mentioned as SM), is essentially a group of people sharing information they want with each other. Remember the real life versions of such get together!, No, of course you don't. SM has completely changed how we interact with people now. Its not over a glass of wine over at a dinner party, its through posts ,tweets,likes, and tags. Some people might describe this transition as a negative impact on our social life, but is it? These days if we want to share information, it is as easy as a click of a button. If we want to invite someone to an event we can just do so by tweeting about it or sharing on Facebook. Its easy, fast, reliable and has the potential to reach a larger audience. So the question you have to ask yourself is, "Is Social Media a Bad thing"? Surely, if you a have a teenage son or a daughter who is spending the better part of his/her life glued to a laptop on Facebook or Pinterest, you might think otherwise. But, on the other hand, if you have a small business and you want to compete with the bigger players in the market, Social Media is your best bet ! If you are working for a good cause and want the people to know about it, SM is the way to go ! Hence, in its essence SM has the power to do both good and bad , but we, as users have the responsibility to choose which one! Lets see the evolution of Social media in more detail.

A little history lesson in SM !
What was the first Social networking site you recall?
 Is it Facebook?, Twitter?, or if you are of some age then perhaps its MySpace or even Orkut ! 
Truth is Internet has always been social. Yes ! that's true. From 1969 Compuserve's dial up connection to 2013 Snap chat , idea has always been the same i.e information sharing between users. However that idea comes in different shapes and sizes now. It's branched in blogs, microblogs, Vlogs(video-blogs), Social bookmarking, Social Networking, News, digitized - storytelling ,image and video shared , podcasts, writing communities and many more. The very first blogging platform that comes to mind is indeed 1997's "Sixdegrees.com". It was the first new age social networking site which allowed users to create profiles and become friends . It had about 1 million users. At the same time AOL also threw its ball in the proverbial social media court with its Instant messaging, which empowered users to chat with each other in real time!. In 1999, Blogger was launched and it became an instant hit with the users. It gave us a personalized space to write on the web . Its still is a very popular blogging platform. In 2002, friendster was launched which had decent following till Facebook came into the market in 2004 and created history. In 2013 it has evolved into something more than a typical social media site. It has become an essential part of every user's life. People use it to share every thing in their lives from vacation photos to work blunders! Another effective social media site was Twitter. Not so popular at first but with time users began to love its idea of 140 character shout outs that enabled them to share information more effectively than ever before .

Photo credit - Anurag Tripathi

It's Impact on our lives 

Ever wondered how life was without the Internet ? It's almost impossible to imagine, Right? This is because Social media has found its way into our lives and its their to stay. And its a good thing too , in Aristotle's words "Man is by nature a social animal". This quote by aristotle could not be more correct. As we are, in every sense of the word "social" by nature. proof is the large amount of time we spend on our social profiles. Seeing the increasing involvement of people in social media , businesses have decided to utilize the power of social media in their marketing strategies. So, if you love social media, you can make a career out of it by being a social media marketer for companies and handling all of their online presence, increasing brand awareness and getting the right kind of information to the right kind of people, at the right time. Now that, is certainly a use of social media only a few people saw coming .

Social Media for Business 

As mentioned above, anyone can have a career in social media. That means businesses have started realizing the power Social Media holds and how much useful it can be for them. These days Social Media Marketing is popular among big corporations, as it helps them spread awareness about their brands and involves reaching new audience .With the advancement of technology, now they can target a specific group of people that are relevant to their Brand - this practice is called target audience . Blogs are a good way of telling the customers what's new and provide information for all the latest activities, cause the website is not so effective when it comes to updating the consumers about the latest updates about the company on a daily basis but a blog is. Companies also use paid advertising to promote their brands by paying popular social network sites. So the next time you find an advertisement that is relevant to your needs and requirements on your Facebook page, remember its not by chance !

Conclusion 

When all is said and done , what is the one most important thing that matters to the users is the practicality of any Social media tool or website. How is it going to impact their personal and professional lives? How they can connect to more people that share common interests in a better way? The people don't need another photo sharing website, they have enough of those already . What they need is a better way of connecting to others and use those connections for mutual benefits , be it financial, educational, personal or emotional. So at last I would like to point out that, it is us, the users who has the power to use Social Media in a way that would be beneficial to all .