Before the launch of the 3G iPhone, I wrote an article titled, Maybe It's the Device. The article surmised that this could be the year that mobile finally takes off because we now have a device that makes the mobile web…well more like the web.

I commented that marketers need to plan more proactively for mobile and take advantage of new devices. In addition to creating a better canvas to make a mark on, the iTunes application store really has some hidden potential for marketers.

Here is a quick look at a few of the apps I downloaded and what they did for me:

• CalorieCheck.  I am a diabetic and need to know nutrition information (especially when I travel) in order to take the correct amount of insulin. CalorieCheck helps me do that.
• SportsTap allows me to see scores and news from around the world in real time, so there’s no navigating or draining my battery to get onto ESPN.com.
• Yelp helped Laurie (wife and I pick a few good restaurants down in Inner Harbor, MD when people at the hotel were no help.
• The NY Times app lets me read the newspaper while travelling or when I don’t want to fire up the laptop.
• The Google Maps app helped me get to meetings in Columbus, OH and Dearborn, MI, as well as find my hotel in Washington DC. While my wife knew where we were going the whole time, but it was still cool to watch my movement from street to street on the phone.
• The Twitter and Facebook apps let me do what I do with those applications while in offline situations.

I also search…a lot. So as you can see, I am on my iPhone and you Mr. or Ms. Marketer are missing your chance to get me.

Where is ESPN? Where is a nutrition company? Where is the Washington Post? Why doesn’t somebody figure out a way to add voice to the Maps feature? You have this information and just need to wrap it up into an app so that I can get it on my phone.

iPhone users’ are said to be searching and using their phones more frequently than other mobile devices. Therefore, we are exposed to more apps and more “web-like” experiences.

Marketers should begin looking at mobile as an extension of their web properties and not as a standalone tactic. Here are some simple ways to leverage apps:

• Additional revenue source. I used to carry around this CalorieKing booklet that I would buy every year for $12.99. I would pay more than $12.99 if I could get it on my iPhone and have that information at my fingertips.
• Bring me to your website. The apps are great, but since I am connected to a 3G network, you can push me to your website when it makes sense. This will also help you gauge the success beyond sheer downloads.
• Don’t bring me to your website. The NY Times does a great job of giving me the news without forcing me to go to their site. However, since downloading the app, I read the web version of the Times more frequently than before. They also didn’t miss out on monetizing this offering by having The Westin sponsor the pages.
• Create a game. Or better yet, sponsor a game. Get a developer to make a great game that you can label and integrate a message into. Think of an app as a TV show.

Remember that iPhone people are loyal. Once I decide that an unbranded app is the one for me, it will be very difficult to get me to switch. In the first 30 days of the application store, there were 60 million app downloads. Where will you be in the next 30 days?

Article by Joshua Palau

The other day I was out with a client talking with them about social media strategies. They got what I was saying fundamentally but registered a little confused. Finally he mustered up the courage to ask me, “How exactly do social and SEO go together?”

It was a question I thought was odd because the answer seems so obvious to me. But I remembered that I live this world every day, while social and SEO are just a part of this person’s day-to-day. Companies are not only struggling with figuring out whom should manage social but also how they approach it.

Allow me to explain the concept around Social Search Optimization (SSO) and how it can fit in the SEO world.

It’s Another Asset
Since a major part of SEO is optimizing all of your assets for the web, consider your social programs as optimizable assets. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Video, a Wikipedia page and News all can show up in the organic listings. This strategy needs focus around a theme or topic. You cannot develop an SSO strategy for each of your keywords but rather for the overall brand and particular themes. This should increase your share of top 10 listings, which should help increase your traffic.

One of the measures that we look at with clients is “secondary” traffic sources. This may seem like a no-brainer, but when you realize how many people do not have their analytics set-up properly, you get a better understanding as to why you can’t take this for granted.

While so many clients focus on rankings and organic referrals, they often don’t look at traffic being brought in from other SEO efforts. If you are getting traffic from an optimized Twitter profile or video that ranked organically – isn’t that SEO traffic? Additionally, if you are linking your campaigns together you will be able to make gains on link popularity and drive more link value. Speaking of links…   

Link Value
I discussed this concept a little when I covered Twitter buying Summize back in issue #104. As you develop a social strategy you will no doubt make “friends” with others in your space. Some of these people will link to your products or programs. Now your social strategy is helping you to develop quality links…which is kind of important.

What is a Search Engine Anyway?
The more we blur the lines of sites we use, the more everything becomes a search engine. I am on Facebook, and I like comics (I did not date much in high school). While on Facebook I searched the Dark Knight to see what other losers – I mean people – were out there. Of course I was able to find the Batman Begins/The Dark Knight fan group. I didn’t use Google, Yahoo! or Live. When I was interested in finding out the real deal on iPhone 3G problems, I went to Digg.

After walking through this, my client was more inclined to understand why the SEO guy was talking to him about SSO…and hopefully so do you.

Article by Joshua Palau

Speaking of Social Media, AOL decided to buy socialthing!
 
It may seem like SEO has been around forever, but it hasn’t.  Let’s look at the Evolution of SEO.

AA|RF engineer Brian Cosgrove spoke at SES San Jose at a session titled, Identify, Analyze, Act: SEM by the Numbers.