Satinder Panesar

Mobile applications are increasingly being recognized by marketers as pretty powerful tools to help solidify relationships with customers and create very loyal followers in the process.

It is however important to realize that mobile applications development is not as easy as it may sound and it requires special skills and a deep understanding of exactly how it works best for your interests in reaching out to your customers.

To start with it is important to recognize the unique advantages that mobile phone applications bring to the table. People usually carry their mobile phones wherever they go.

What this means is that as a...

Social CRM strategies and technology offerings should complement, but not replace traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software — the platform businesses have traditionally used to hold and analyze customer data. While many traditional CRM solutions are highly regarded and excellent at automating processes, managing the customer data and provide management reports to track sales, Social CRM focuses on the relevant conversations taking place online and offline. Social CRM not only addresses how you will respond to this new kind of customer and the demands that he or she puts on your company, but also how you can engage non-traditional industry influencers like bloggers, independent analysts and customers who are passionate about brands.

How, when and where your business needs to engage with your customers has changed significantly and rapidly due to the...

When it comes to business – and most importantly social media – measurement is still a vast, ongoing discussion that’s fraught with questions. Many of those questions start at the very beginning: How do I know I’m setting the right goals? As we’ve said many times before, the right goals for you are going to be heavily dependent upon your business. But, what we can talk about are the underlying reasons that most goals exist: to solve a problem.

One of you will undoubtedly point out – and you’d be right – that goals can often be set in order to create or capitalize upon new opportunities. But when you break down that opportunity into it’s pieces, what you’re again left with is a set of problems or challenges that need to be solved in order to put you on the path toward that opportunity. So when we say problem, think in terms of “thing that needs solving” versus a heavily negative connotation. Problems aren’t always bad things.

In a...

Although the number of people who own cell phones is similar to last year’s, people use much more of the phones’ capabilities than in 2009. Of all cell phone owners in the study:

• 54 percent have used their phone to send a photo or video.
• 23 percent have accessed a social networking site by phone.
• 20 percent have watched video using the phone.
• 15 percent have used the phone to post a photo or video online.
• 11 percent have purchased products using their phone.
• 11 percent have used texting to make a charitable donation.
• 10 percent have used their phone to access a status update service such as Twitter.

Not surprisingly, young adults (18-29) are most likely to use more of their phones’ capabilities (95 percent use mobile phones to text, 93 percent use them to take photos, and 20 percent use them to make purchases). But use of mobile capabilities is growing rapidly in the 30-to-49 age demographic. Among this...