We’ve been hearing SoLoMo for a while now so I wanted to take some time to clarify. It means Social.Local.Mobile. We all know optimizing social media, mobile, and local listings; such as Google Places are three key areas we as marketers have focused on in the last 2-3 years. If your company has not started addressing these by now you’ve missed the boat and need to catch up quick. There’s good news though. Thanks to the rise of smartphones these three growing marketing tactics (social, mobile and local) are converging into one integrated strategy with the goal of improving the online and offline experience that customers have with a brand or store.
Even with the growth of SoLoMo over the last couple of years many marketers still struggle with how to utilize these tactics for their business and industry. Originally, this movement really gained momentum with deal sites like Groupon or Living Social to provide great deals to drive in store traffic. The SoLoMo marketing trend has evolved beyond just brick & mortar stores and coupons to now providing a mobile online experience that bridges the gap between the old PC experience and the new mobile trend.
What do I need to know?
- The era of the PC as we know it is over –you don’t have to be tethered to your desk with a cord to go online
- There are no more “Crackberry” addicts - people are addicted to their smart phones and tablets to connect online with social platforms like Foursquare and Facebook not just to get emails
- Social media is now consumed not only on a PC via a browser, but by smartphone applications and mobile web interfaces
- Physical locations are not dead – although the marketing may be online, physical stores can still utilize these social and local mediums to drive more traffic to an actual location or to enhance the customer experience within the store
A great example of utilizing mobile to enhance a customer experience occurred when I was recently in my local running store. It was a nice spring day and they were swamped. It’s a rather small store with only one register so there was a long line to check out. But, they recently set up their iPad to accept credit cards. All I had to do was just pick out the shoe, swipe card, and run out the door. How great is that?
What do I need to do?
- Recognize how your customers are consuming your content and create content that can be consumed on various electronic platforms
- Use SoLoMo tactics to enhance a customers interaction with your brand whether the interaction is all online or a hybrid of both online and offline
- There are so many possibilities with social, mobile and local that what works for one company may not be right for another
- I hate to use a cliché but think outside the box to find the right way to engage your customer base