What Are They Teaching Students About Mobile & Social Media Anyway? @marybethmccabe

Mary-Beth-McCabe-PinterestWhat’s the curriculum for mobile marketing and social media in colleges these days? How can you teach something that’s moving that quickly, and is there anything entrepreneurs can put to use from the course work?

The key lies in giving the students not only what they will need tomorrow to be successful, but to also give them the strategies they will use for years to come to improve their job performance and advance their careers.

Dr. Mary Beth McCabe is the lead faculty in Marketing at National University. She has developed a concentration in Mobile and Social Marketing as part of their MBA program, and shares in this episode some of the areas she feels are vital to the students taking this course in order to ensure future success in the field of Marketing.

Keep reading!

Mobile Marketing with Greg Hickman

Greg HickmanMobile Marketing isn’t the next big thing, it’s already here. 

Mobile websites, mobile email, mobile apps, text messaging, SMS, MMS and more…all ways you can reach and engage your ideal customer…but where do you start and how do you move forward?

To answer those questions we reached out to Greg Hickman, the man behind Mobile Mixed, a blog and podcast all about mobile marketing.

Mobile is too big to be ignored, and it impacts your search visibility, your social engagement, and just about every other aspect of your digital marketing.

If you’ve wanted to jump in, but you’re not sure where to start, you’ll want to tune in to this week’s episode of The Marketing Agents Podcast.

Big Ideas:

  • Reason One You Need a Mobile Site: If you’re already engaging people on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels, likely you’re engaging them on a mobile device. That means they’re one click away from your website. If it’s not mobile optimized, you’ve lost them.
  • Reason Two You Need a Mobile Site: Google is penalizing websites that don’t have a mobile-friendly experience. Even if you don’t think your audience is arriving via a mobile device, you may be hurting yourself by not being prepared.
  • Is Responsive Web Design (RWD) Right for Your Site? RWD may not be right for you for small business. You may be able to cater to a mobile user better with a mobile-specific site, rather than a RWD site. 
  • When is RWD Right? RWD may be best for content centric businesses, where all the content needs to be mobile optimized.
  • How Does Mobile Impact Email Delivery and Opens? We often use mobile devices as a last line filter against unwanted or unnecessary emails. To overcome this, put your best keywords right up front in the subject line, and test send times to avoid being a victim of early morning mobile purges.
  • Should You Use Text Messaging? Text messaging has an immediacy and deliverability rate that’s unlike any other. It can also reach feature phone users. Treat it like an email opt-in list for best results.
  • How Should You Use QR Codes? You can’t build a list via QR codes directly. Use them to provide additional value to the user if you want to build trust. 
  • Should My Small Business Build an App? Only consider an app after your mobile website is built, and only if you have “loyalists,” people who need regular updates/contact with your business. And don’t just duplicate your website into an app.
Big Links:

Rich Brooks
Going Mobile….

13 Ways SlideShare Helps Build Your Business

SlideShare Marketing: 13 Ways SlideShare Helps Build Your BusinessSlideShare Marketing: How to reach and engage professionals, generate leads and build your business with SlideShare.

One of my favorite new content marketing discoveries is SlideShare, the underappreciated content sharing platform owned by LinkedIn.

It’s actually more of a re-discovery, as I’ve been using the platform for years. However, with some new lead generation tools, measureable ROI (return on investment) for users, and a surge of interest from marketers, I’ve been dedicating more time and resources towards SlideShare over the past couple of months.

If you’ve never heard of SlideShare, think “YouTube for PowerPoint.” However, even if you don’t generally get up in front of a crowd or put on webinars, SlideShare is a powerful platform for reaching more of your ideal customers.

In this article I’ll show you why you need to be using SlideShare, and how to get the most out of it.  Keep reading!

5 Reasons Why Responsive Design is Wrong for Your Business

Is Responsive Web Design Wrong for Your Business?Responsive web design is the darling of the web design industry…but is it right for your next project?

By 2014 more than half of the web traffic will be delivered over a mobile device. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, most of these visitors will bounce from your website like a quarter on a military cot. 

If you talk to just about any web developer these days about developing a mobile website, they’re going to try and sell you on designing a responsive site. But what’s good for them might not be right for you.

If you’ve been considering a responsive website, read on…

Keep reading!