Before you continue with this post, in your heart, name 3 things that you have to bring before you leave your house….go!
Ok. Now go through your list, and I will guess one item for sure you have on that list. Is it…your mobile phone? I am pretty sure I guessed it right!
We are living in that digital era that we cannot go anywhere without our mobile phone. We do everything with it, from getting a cab to ordering food and even for entertainment while we are on public transport. Mobile phones are the centre of our lives, it makes things easier for us to obtain information and to perform tasks. With such heavy reliance on our mobile phone and how much attention it gets from us daily, it is no doubt that mobile phones offer a new form of marketing platform; mobile marketing. And that’s why, we are all carrying a tracking device that marketers can reach us anywhere, and anytime.
Mobile marketing mostly revolves around the idea of exploring how social media can help marketers to gain exposure to a greater crowd through a bigger geographical reach. With such a powerful tool to venture into, it is important to choose the right social media from the vast variety to ensure that the message is being conveyed in the desired way to the right audience.
Andreas Kaplan had designed a classification of mobile social media applications through the social media’ location-sensitivity and time-sensitivity, that enables marketers to decide which type of social media that they should pick for their mobile marketing.
Quick-timers
Quick timers applications that transfer of traditional social media applications to mobile devices to increase immediacy. They allow users to share information or post immediately. This information that is being transferred can be done anywhere, however, the relevancy of the content is time-sensitive, which utilizes the convenience of mobile devices.
These apps are the typical ones that we use, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, that allows users to post content that can be shared immediately to their friends and family through the application, and they can do it anywhere they are.
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Space-timers
Space-timers are applications that allow the exchange of messages with relevance for one specific location at one specific point-in-time. These messages are location-sensitive, that means the users have to be at a certain place to be able to tag themselves in that location, and sharing exactly what time they were they.
Applications are like Facebook Place or Foursquare, allows users to tag their locations wherever they go to, and the time that they were there will be noted when they share the location of the application and other users are able to see when and where they were.
Slow-timers
Slow-timers are applications that allow the transfer of traditional social media applications to mobile devices. Such information is not location-sensitive, which means that you can post it at anywhere you are, and also, the relevancy of the content is not time sensitive.
YouTube is an example of slow-timers. There is no location relevancy, meaning that the content has no location-specific to it, and users can post about anywhere. Additionally, messages exchanged on YouTube is not time-sensitive, which means that other users can view it anytime that they want.
Space-locators
Space-locators are applications that allow the exchange of messages, with relevance for one specific location, which is tagged to a certain place and read later by others. They are location sensitive, which means that it has to be about a certain location that you are in, however, the relevancy of the content is not time sensitive.
A great example would be Trip Advisor. Users share the experience on certain the accommodation that they had been to and write reviews (good or bad), for other users to read and be part of their consideration to book the accommodation. However, the reviews can be view and read without any time sensitivity, meaning that users can read it anytime they want.
So…why is Mobile Marketing important to me as a marketer?
When it comes to mobile technology in the changing market, users are setting their expectations to be where they want to be, in a short amount of time. The virtual world had brought people closer together and shorten the distance between destinations. With just a click of a button, users can be at anywhere, anytime.
A pixel of your thoughts…
Share with me in the comments below if you cannot leave your home without your phone like me! And also, what is your view on mobile marketing? Do you think it is a crucial platform that helps marketers like us to reach to a bigger audience? Let me know!
Remember, there are no right or wrong answers, just personal opinions. 🙂
Thank you for reading!
Gordon's Pixelated Imagery. 
Good read! Indeed Mobile is an essential items as part of my life, maybe equalliy important as water. since most of us surf news through smartphone, it is no brainer that Mobile Marketing is one of the best strategy to maximise their target audience.
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Hey Jun Wei! Thanks for leaving a comment after reading! I do agree mobile marketing has play a bigger and more crucial role in marketing. It is such a great tool that allows marketers to reach out to its audience with greater exposure and reach!
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Haha the 3 things before I have to bring before I leave my house are mobile, money and key! Mobile is the most important one that I need to bring. And yes, I cannot survive without mobile. I absolutely agree that mobile marketing should not be ignored when doing digital marketing.
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Hi Sharon! Thank you for sharing! I feel that we are the same when it comes to what we have to bring with us when we are out! Hahahaha! And yes, mobile phone being one of them, it creates a good platform for marketers to tap into as it is more accessible to the audience, no matter where they are.
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I totally agree mobile technology is the trend in the world as it is with me at all time. I am always exposed to advertisement inside whenever i try to watch a video!
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Hey Dervish! And I am the same as you! I don’t really mind the advertisement when I’m watching videos on YouTube, but I think it does dilute the viewer experience when there’s too much advertisement, especially when I’m on my mobile. But just a little insight, the number of advertisements in a YouTube video is determined by the content creator. So with more advertisement, they are getting paid more!
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BINGO, I cant leave the house without my phone too!! I’m sure you too yeah? It’s scary how we can live without our mobile phones but i guess we create a platform for companies to target consumers easily. It’s still evolving and there will be new things in mobile marketing along the way.
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I am like you too! The nature of marketing, in general, is that it is an adaptive measure that evolves based on consumers’ lifestyle. And because we can have access to the world with such a small device, it is seen as a marketing potential, considering that marketing’s main objective is to reach to its audience as much as possible. And I do agree with you, mobile marketing is an evolving movement, and it will keep on changing to adapt to consumers’ behaviour like any other marketing strategy.
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I am like you, I couldn’t live my house without my phone! And wow…I just realized through reading your article that the power a small mobile phone has on me. It is shocking how even when I am scrolling my phone for purely just entertainment, I am actually exposed to marketing campaigns. Good to know!
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Hey Zachary! You are like me! Hahahahaha! And yes, it is really amazing how a small device can give us access to this big virtual world that allows us to be exposed to so much information. I do feel very lucky to be born at this era where technology is thriving and advancing I do feel that I have the world at my fingertips!
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