So you think you need a mobile campaign?  Well you probably do.  Web browsing and searching is exploding on so called smartphones that contain fully functioning browsers.  This includes, of course, the iPhone but also phones which run on Google’s Android operating system.  The iPhone was first, but according to Macworld, Android based phones will duke it out with Apple for smartphone dominance.  This is not only a rosy outlook for Google’s Android operating system, but also for mobile marketers. 

So should you market to mobile users, here are five quick steps to take to help you answer this question:

1. Do you have a mobile website? I know what’s coming next.  With the exception of the iPhone and Adobe Flash, today’s smartphones have full browser support and can render websites, so why do you need a mobile site?    The answer is obvious if you look at your 1024×768 website on a 4 inch screen – it looks terrible. If you don’t want to develop your entire site for mobile devices, at least offer a bridge to mobile users:  A few key pages: home, contact us form, about us, locations and click to call functionality, so that users of mobile devices can easily learn more about your company and services.   Code this mobile site with Google Analytics so your referring data doesn’t fall into a black hole.  The last thing you need are referrals from /mobile or mobile.yoursite.com in your GA data.
2. Log into your Google AdWords account; segment your campaign keywords and ads by “device”. Voila! If you haven’t previously excluded mobile devices from your campaigns; your AdWords data is now broken out by computer and mobile device.  I’ll bet there are more impressions and clicks than you expected!
3. If you aren’t using AdWords, or even if you are; log into Google Analytics and select “Mobile Traffic” from the advanced segment dropdown.  Booyah!  Here you’ll see only the mobile traffic and how mobile browsers are accessing and converting on your site.
4. If you have any mobile data after completing steps 2 and 3, and don’t have a mobile site, then build one ASAP. If you have a mobile site and no mobile campaigns, then build a mobile campaign.  That’s right, change your campaign settings in you current campaigns to target only “computers” and then build a new campaign that only targets mobile devices.   When you get started on your mobile campaign, there are many options that include device and mobile service provider.  Skip these for now and target all mobile networks and devices.  Once you’ve collected some data on performance, you can optimize with real data and not hunches that Verizon users will buy more than Sprint users.  (The exception is if you are selling, for example, an iPhone app; then please select iPhone and AT&T here please.) 
5. Measure and Optimize.   Building a search marketing campaign properly is only the beginning.  Collect data, analyze and optimize. 

So if you’re still not convinced, remember that mobile search can happen in ways that desktop search cant.  It happens away from the office, at times of inspiration or worry.  It happens prior to imminent purchases as buyers ensure they are buying the best widget at the best price.  And it happens, for the most part at a lower cost.  That’s right; I saved the best for last.  Depending on your campaigns and keywords, there is generally less competition on mobile and in my experience; a properly optimized and targeted campaign can get you the same click for less.

Okay, so’ “Bing-ified” isn’t a real word, but I’m not sure how else to explain the new Google Image Search.  When Bing was launched fourteen months ago, we discussed some of the interesting features in a MoreVisibility Round Table post to our YouTube channel. 

One of the features that stood out to me at launch was the image search functionality in Bing. It’s one of the areas that Bing scored a clear victory and a better search experience over Google.  Google Image search was very paginated and offered little in the way of segmenting results.  Contrast that with Bing’s free-flowing, one page layout and filtering capability; it was a win for Bing. 

Fast forward to July 20, 2010; Google announced a new interface for Google Image Search which seems to borrow heavily from Bing.  In the official post, Google mentions “… some heavy-duty algorithmic wizardry…”  to make it all work; which seems to hint that perhaps some of the technology is borrowed or leveraged between Google Image Search And Google Goggles.

If you’re not in the I-phone or Android set, Google Goggles is a smart phone application for the Android which allows you to search Google using an image taken with the phone’s camera.  Hypothetically, if you are at the Miami Seaquarium and want to learn more about the dolphin you are about to swim with; snap a photo and Google could return more information about habitat, range, diet, etc.   Currently, as with most Google Products, Google Goggles is in beta and the functionality above does not exist, yet.  It will however, translate menus, search landmarks or tell you more about the bottle of wine on the shelf in front of you. 

In their post announcing the new image search, Google mentions that it can even look at the spots of a leopard and return the proper subspecies.  That statement reveals the awesome power and future of Google Goggles and image search.  The possibilities are staggering, and the applications could help law enforcement or allow you to learn everything about your daughters’ beau with one click.

Google also announced that image search can be targeted separately for AdWords; so for advertisers there are some immediate benefits.  If you’re selling image related products or “Free Lindsay Lohan” t-shirts; you can target those gawking at her in Google Image search. 

In my last post, I chronicled my first seven days on Facebook.  Since that post I’ve added my profile photo and reached out to only two people to request their Facebook-friendship.   Both were old colleagues, who were suggested to me, and we also ran in the same social circles.   Even with that level of in-activity, I still acquired 70 friends in a month (And 14 pending.) 

One of the engaging components of Facebook is the ability to connect and stay in touch with most of the people that you’ve met.   This is also one of the worst features.

Remember that guy that wore the flowered thong to the beach party?  Guess what:  He wants to be your Facebook friend.   And your ex-girlfriend from High School: She’s here too and she wants to know how you’ve been.  What about all those nameless faces with whom you’ve crossed paths over the years?  Yep, they’ve “friended” you and can’t wait to re-live old times.

So choosing with whom to be connected can be a challenge and a barrier to making Facebook your friend.  Which invitations do you accept?  Does your landlord make the cut?  And do you want him to know about the “kegger” at your place this weekend? And that old high school girlfriend:  Didn’t you break up for a reason? As I recall, it was a bad breakup and she has a lot of dirt to scatter into your Facebook life.  But, that innocuous request and the “How have you been?” may prove too much for the social animal within you.  As for the rest:  Who are these people and why can’t you remember them?  Does anyone have any Ginkgo biloba?

We are all very inter-connected and Facebook helps prove that point on a global level more so than any other social networking site.   If you’re not yet a true-believer, read what happened this past weekend at London’s Liverpool Street Station.   With a simple post to his friends, a Londoner caused a mass gathering that shut down this critical hub in one of the great cities of the world.  From a marketer’s perspective: therein lies the power of Facebook.  Should you have the creativity to craft a well received campaign; it can quickly spread like wildfire through the parched kindling of Facebook profiles everywhere.

As for the guy in the flowered thong, reach out to me on Facebook and let me know if I should accept or ignore his request.