Smartphones are quickly taking over the mobile communications market, with more and more customers adopting high end phones. Nowadays, smart phones allow users to access the web, as well as take photos and videos and effortlessly share them with others. As more users adopt smartphones, companies are also taking note of this shift by adjusting their marketing campaigns. In order to effectively market to this changing audience, it is important that businesses utilize smartphones to its full potential.

5 Ways to Connect Smartphones and Marketing

Marketing to smartphone users has taken a number of different methods, oftentimes in unique and creative ways. The following examples are ways in which companies have made the connection between smartphones and marketing:

1) Online Searches

More than ever, customers are relying on local, online search in order to find and review the best product for them. As a result, customers are incredibly likely to make a purchasing decision before they actually see the product. In order to stay ahead of this trend, many companies are using utilizing the power of smart phones in order to market their products. For example, businesses create mobile-friendly ads and websites optimized for smartphones, in order to stay relevant in local search.

2) QR Codes

QR codes are a barcode image that can be embedded with a variety of information, ranging from URLs, videos and other content. In order to read a QR, the user needs to utilize a smartphone that can scan and analyze the data. Many businesses are using QR codes for their marketing endeavors, ranging from retail stores, museums and restaurants. QR codes are used in a variety of ways, including scavenger hunts and giveaways, allowing businesses to engage and interact with their audience.

3) Social Media

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a social network that is not optimized for smartphones. Furthermore, there are a number of social network platforms that completely rely on smartphone use, such as Foursquare. Foursquare allows users to “check-in” in a variety of locations, allowing them to score badges based on how often they register at a venue. It is vitally important that businesses understand which social networks have the most potential for their smartphone customers.

4) Emails

A common activity among many smartphone users is to check their email. Given this trend, it is critical that businesses tailor their emails specifically for their smartphone audience. Aside from the practice of optimizing emails for smartphones, there are a number of creative ways in which businesses can utilize email marketing. One way is to use coupons that do not require any printing, instead simply requiring the users to present the coupon in-store.

5) Advertising

With the increasing number of smartphone users, it naturally stands to sense that advertising would follow the similar trend. Mobile advertising appears in a variety of different forms, such as video ads and banner ads in mobile games. According to a Google infographic, roughly 82% of smartphone users take notice of mobile ads. Businesses would do well to take advantage of the high impression rate and utilize mobile advertising.

Many businesses, especially small, local businesses, may be skeptical of the potential of mobile marketing. However, it would be foolish to ignore the increasing numbers of users who are purchasing smartphones every day. Stay abreast of competitors and gain an edge in the market, by using the connection between smartphones and marketing.

Author Bio: Rachel Hyun Kim is a writer on topics ranging from electronic medical billing software to payroll services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including telemarketing services for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.

In an era of technological innovations, many businesses are embracing the trend of online marketing as a tool to augment their business model. That is all well and good but there are many common misconceptions businesses hold about online marketing.

Apart from the understanding that online marketing requires creativity and technological expertise, time, effort and money need to be devoted to the cause. Search engine optimisation is also integral to the success of an online marketing strategy. Here are five various misconceptions businesses hold about online marketing and myths that may be stopping them from achieving success in the cyber arena.

This will take no time at all

Success does not come overnight – ask Steve Jobs or any successful entrepreneur. The same principle applies to online marketing. It is not a quick method to make large amounts of money. There are many a people enjoying hefty profits and reaping the rewards of online marketing but it is important to note that they had a long term plan and followed it strictly.

You may have to spend several hours each week or employ a designated person to manage your website and your internet marketing campaign. Good SEO, an attractive yet functional website and consistency throughout your website are good starting points and will give you the solid foundation you need to position yourself highly in search engine results and entice visitors.

I am a market leader, my product will sell

You may be the industry leader in your field but to establish a strong online presence, it is crucial that viewers find you in search engines. Word-of-mouth advertising is not sufficient in this day and age and search engine optimization is vital. To increase your site’s chances of success in the online realm, you should have a concise yet descriptive website title that aptly describes what services your site provides. The title appears in a search engine’s result page. Content of the website has to be relevant and has to repeat specific keywords throughout for SEO purposes.

Avoid Flash as generally HTML increases search engine optimization. As Flash sites often take a longer time to load, the lack of speed may also deter certain customers. Internal lining within the website is a great way to get your website noticed by search engines and to increase the ranking of internal pages.

My site looks great therefore it’ll be profitable

Your website may have an aesthetically pleasing homepage and funky graphics that would captivate visitors but all count for naught if your website is not being clicked on. Websites do not sell themselves and if they are nonexistent on search engines, they won’t generate traffic and your products and services will not be known to anyone. Invest in proper search engine optimization to ensure this is not the case.

Social media is a fad

Many people talk about SEO, rankings and traffics when they discuss online marketing campaigns. The phenomenon of social media however beckons forth its integration into online marketing campaigns, despite naysayers who insist it is a trend.

There are many opportunities for business to tap into the emerging trend and use it to augment their business. If used properly, social media has limitless opportunities for customer growth, it is cost-effective and it is one of the most effective ways to promote marketing campaigns to a target demographic.

I’m successful, I can stop now

Never be content with what you have. Your site may be getting plenty of clicks and unique visitors, it may be selling product and services at an escalating rate everyday but always remember – competitor companies are not far behind and you can never rest on your laurels.

Constantly keep your website relevant, fresh and up-to-date because online marketing is all about perseverance, commitment and diligence. Businesses suffer when they start to neglect their websites as new concepts enter the online realm every day. It is your job to stay up-to-date with these developments.

Mobile device security should be a major concern for those who own and use smartphones. When you obtain a new phone, a few preliminary security steps should be taken to ensure that your data is secure and your phone is safe. The folks at Veracode have put together an infographic called “So You Got A Smartphone for Christmas,” that is complete with some essential security steps that a smartphone user MUST perform to protect the phone from hackers and other prying eyes. Though the steps on the Veracode site primarily address Android and Apple iOS phone operating systems, these steps are great advice for any brand of smartphone. New smartphones are not set up with these security precautions when they are shipped from the factory. You must actively perform a few actions to make sure your personal data and your device are protected and secure.

1.) Immediately change (or set) the password on the phone, as well as for your voicemail account before using the device. The phone password will either be set to a factory default password, or the device will not have a password configured. Most phones will walk you through setting the device password through the initial setup application. The voicemail password will be set when you initially configure your voicemail account for first use. Be sure to perform this step even before making your first call.

2.) When you set your phone and voicemail passwords, be sure to use a PIN or password that is difficult for hackers to guess. Do not use your birthdate or any other information that might be easy for others to discover and use to access your phone.

3.) Disable wireless connections, such as Bluetooth, if you do not use them. Open wireless connections may provide a hacker with open access to your phone and data. Only set up and save WiFi connections that you use.

4.) Configure the time-out settings on the phone so that the device is password protected after five minutes of inactivity. Even though you will need to enter the password each time you use the phone after it has set for several minutes, your data and phone will be much more secure by implementing this step.

5.) Do not install apps from sources that you do not know and trust. Be careful when installing freeware or trialware to your phone. You may be installing a backdoor access mode for a hacker along with the application. It is a good idea to read reviews about apps before your install them just to make sure that others have had positive experiences with the apps. Apple reviews and approves iOS apps for access through iTunes. Occasionally, Apple will disapprove a previously-approved app if the app does not perform well or is questionable in any way. Through this process, Apple is able to further protect their iOS operating system users from harmful and buggy apps.

6.) Immediately install mobile security software to protect your device. Veracode suggests a security application such as Lookout for smartphone protection.

7.) Mobile device management software is necessary for not only managing data on the phone, but to access additional security features, as well. For example, Apple’s iOS management software will enable geolocation for your phone in case the phone is lost or stolen. Also, if you phone is lost or stolen, you are able to wipe all of your personal data from the device using the management software.

8.) Be sure to back up your phone to another storage location on a regular basis. Should your media card or phone hard drive become corrupted, you do not want to lose all of your valuable photos, music and files.

9.) Whenever using a public WiFi connection, never log into your bank account or access any other personal data. Hackers may easily access sensitive data when sent over a public WiFi connection.

10.) Update the firmware on your device as soon as upgrades are available. Often, firmware is upgraded to close security holes and fix flaws in previous versions.

By taking these steps as soon as you get a new smartphone, you will make your device much more secure and inaccessible to hackers and others who seek to obtain your personal information.

Author Bio: Stacy Gianakura writes for Brainloop, a company specializing in on-the-road secure document compliance solutions that travels with you.

Social media has exploded in recent years due to sites such as YouTube, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and thousands of other social marketing websites. What really stared the trend was in 2004 at a web conference the term “Web 2.0” was coined by Tim O’ Rilley. Web 2.0 is a way for internet users to directly interact with other internet users on the web via social networking sites, social bookmarking sites, social media sites, blogs, etc. When internet marketers realized the potential of these social media sites is as a way to gather customer information they began to join social and actively participate in these networks. There is a goldmine of information that customers share on social media websites.

All these new means on communication created new jobs in the internet marketing field. There are now companies desperately seeking out designers, programmers, internet marketers, and social media gurus to maintain and grow the company’s presence on the web. Businesses even have entire departments devoted to social media marketing specialists that spend all day interacting with others on the web. This has become a full time job and if your business is not participating in social media marketing strategies then they are falling behind and losing customers to their competitors.

What does all this mean for you? It means there are many job opportunities available in the field of social media marketing due to the influence of the internet and the trillions of websites that have emerged. All these websites are potential employers and many of these businesses are very lucrative; while the majority is unfortunately failing. This is where internet marketing, specifically search engine optimization and social media marketing techniques come into play. If you are looking to get a job involving social media there are endless opportunities out there; from start ups looking to make a name for themselves to established businesses that are looking to boost their presence on the web.

Most social media jobs do not require formal schooling or college degrees, but rather prefer to see that you have had hands on training and experience in the field of social media. You have to love internet marketing and always stay up on the latest trends and topics because what works today may no longer work tomorrow. The internet evolves at a rapid pace so formal education does not play a role in the hiring process; although it is always a good idea to get a college degree in Business Marketing. If you are looking for upper level positions you may want to inquire a MBA program in your local area.

MySpace was once the largest haven for marketers, musicians, and people to visit. That lasted for a few years and then Facebook emerged. Facebook changed the game completely with the live stream, chat features, image and video tagging, and many other innovative features. A few years later Twitter emerged as a micro-blogging platform and has become a favorite site for most internet users. And do not forget about YouTube, which is the second most popular site on the web. All these changes happened so quickly and unexpectedly that to be a successful internet marketer you need to always be reading social media news.

Many job boards have emerged in recent years such as Monster, Indeed, Career Builder, Craig’s List, and many others. These are like social networking websites that allow employers to post jobs and employees to seek out jobs related to their expertise. Another useful way to find a job I to go to the website and search for employment opportunities or a contact us page. This will lead you on your way to finding out who is hiring and how the selection process works.

June 30 is the day celebrated as global Social Media Day. Social media is a revolution by itself. It is changing every bit of life right in front of our eyes. Thus on this day the technological advancements and developments were celebrated the world over.

It is rather simple to answer the next question – how to celebrate the Social Media Day? By Socializing! Follow the ‘smday’ hash tag on Twitter or Flickr, or Instagram and YouTube for that matter. More than six continents hosted about 1,419 meetups which were attended by 8,500 people on the social media day. What more could a two year old revolution ask for. Nine US cities and one US state have declared the day as an official one!

And that is not all, read on to follow. Guinness Book of World Records released new records on this day commemorating the breakthrough. Dann Barett, the community manager at Guinness Book of Records noted highest ever social media records. This record was simply created by liking or disliking a movement or a cause. Stunningly, Facebook page achieved the highest record of most likes with 47,194,601 likes, followed by Texas Hold’em Poker and rapper Eminem.

On Twitter Lady Gaga is the leading lady with 11,259,372 followers. She has a new record of surpassing the 10 million followers’ benchmark on May 15, 2011.

That’s the story at Guinness Records headquarters in London. Surprisingly, Linda Sherman had an altogether different strife she has been working hard towards. She wants the laid back population of Kauai, Hawaii to join the gang and befriend the most upbeat thing – social media. She feels that social media is a great platform to voice opinions and feelings. It’s been ages since people paid heed to each other, now when they are doing its time to speak up.

Amazing yet so true, right in front of us, social media has altered the way of living completely, with so many people relating to each other, connecting old lost friends, reuniting schoolmates, and creating a consensus over a pivotal social or a political issue.

Social media by all means is a revolution, and this day that marks the beginning of an upsurge, certainly needs a round of toast. The advancements of technology have always served human beings for their individual good, but this time it’s for a larger community called the ‘World’. Social media has touched the lives of millions of people and certainly brought about remarkable changes that only a revolution could.

Facebook has taken a lot of flak over the years for its ever-changing privacy and security policies. The popular social network originated as a way for college kids to connect. As the website grew and accumulated millions of users—and advertisers—developers had an opportunity to expand its original capabilities.

Changes aren’t widely accepted by users. Typically, when Facebook unveils an overhaul of its security policies or news feed layout, users take to their status updates to voice their disgust and distrust. Still, they continue to remain loyal and active users. Whether this is due to habit or the fact that many friends and relatives are easy to contact through Facebook, it’s not likely that the company will see a drastic decrease in active users anytime soon. In fact, most major changes are generally accepted after an acclimation period.

Some of the changes Facebook has implemented may increase security risks to users, at least in theory. At one time, Facebook elected to share certain characteristics with advertisers in order to provide more targeted advertising, thus increasing advertising rates and company revenue.

Don’t Share My Personal Data!

Users were clearly unhappy with the idea that their private information could be shared with advertisers. Many Facebook users spread the news like a virus, advising friends and contacts to update their privacy settings to prevent the company from utilizing uploaded images for use in advertisements. Further, most users have opted to withhold their personal information, including place of employment, birthdate, email address, phone number and photos from view by any person not approved as a contact by the user.

According to AllFacebook.com, one-fifth of all Facebook employees are dedicated to handling and preventing security issues. It’s important to have a strong defense system in place due to the vast amount of private information shared readily by many users with friends and acquaintances.

Facebook’s New Ticker Fails To Please Users

One of Facebook’s more recent updates includes a revamped news ticker, which sits in the upper right portion of the screen. Users criticized the change immediately, pointing out that everything they do appears in their friend’s tickers, including activity on non-mutual contact’s pages. While this change doesn’t necessarily pose an added security risk to users, many were unhappy with the idea that Facebook was publishing their every online move.

The Facebook Timeline, rolled out at about the same time in Beta version, poses a larger risk by creating a timeline of a user’s life—from birth. Personal information is more likely to appear here, such as birth date, place of birth, year of high school graduation and other data that potentially provides hackers with the necessary information to breach an online account, whether on Facebook or elsewhere.

Even more upsetting to users, according to HP’s Input/Output blog, is the comforting fact that Facebook, using its API and browser cookies, continues to track your every move around the web, even when a user is logged out of Facebook. Naturally, most people prefer to exert some level of control over what information is shared publicly with their hundreds of Facebook contacts.

Facebook Is A Hacker’s Paradise

Most troubling is the idea that Facebook’s explosive growth has made it a hacker’s paradise. A successful security breach could reap a literal goldmine in millions of users’ personal information.

That aside, Facebook’s constantly-changing privacy settings and updates make it difficult for many users to stay on top of protecting their own data. Our advice? If you use the social network, keep abreast of changes to format, timeline and privacy, and educate yourself on how to protect your data from non-contacts.

Author Bio: Fergal Glynn is the Director of Product Marketing at Veracode, an application security company that offers Web security testing tools.

The New York Times recently discussed a study published by researchers at Cornell University who analyzed posts by more than 2 million Twitter users in 84 countries and found that there seem to be biological mood rhythms common to people across the entire globe.

It makes sense that there are biological rhythms common to all people and places – mornings can be refreshing (especially for those early birds out there), though moods tend to dip as the day wears on (we know the 3 p.m. slump all too well) and late nights can be particularly rejuvenating for those night owls out there.  Also not surprising is that people’s moods sour at the beginning of the work week and increase until reaching a peak on the weekends.  Researchers on this study did not find a difference in overall mood in winter versus summer months, although posts trended more negative around the fall equinox when the shorter days descend.

Certainly you need to take into account the various ways that people tweak their true feelings to fit their online personas – how many of us take to Facebook to lament about the worst parts of our days versus our ‘check in’ at a trendy club or restaurant so all of our ‘friends’ know how fabulous we are?  Tweets are often fired off quickly in response to something taking place in that very moment.  The ‘Think Before You Tweet’ mentality is seriously lacking among many Twitter users, celebrities are perhaps the worst  – and most overt – offenders.  Nonetheless, seeing global trends in daily and weekly mood shifts poses interesting questions for targeting your social media marketing.

If you use Twitter to promote your brand to customers and potential clients, should you try to focus some of your activity prior to nine in the morning, before people have a chance to get tired and cranky throughout the day?  Or maybe wait until after dinner when people seem to be more relaxed and happy?  Perhaps tailoring your message in a way that will speak to the common mood of the moment will spike more interest in your brand or product?  Of course, in our global economy, your followers will likely be in multiple time zones, however this study presents interesting data to consider in adapting your marketing strategy to match our ever-changing moods.

Nicole Yelich is a writer for Impact Dialing, a web-based power dialer and hosted predictive dialer that helps small business market to new customers and nonprofits launch successful telefundraising campaigns.

Some new features have been added to the popular social media marketing and networking website Facebook. Some of these features have been incorporated, keeping in mind the growing importance of Social Media Marketing (SEM). Anyways, these latest features are likely to bring in fundamental changes the way people use this website. Nearly 500 million users of Facebook will gradually see the use of these new features. Here we briefly discuss about some of these features.

Access Facebook as Your Page

With the addition of this feature, you will be able to receive notifications for your page. This will help you view a News Feed for your page and you will be able to post on other Pages as your Page. With this new feature, you will be able to interact on other Fan Pages as your Fan Page.

Facebook Sponsored Stories

One of the most important new features added to Facebook is of course the sponsored stories. With this new feature, brands can be extended to the distribution of activities.  This new feature is likely to boost adoption rates and increased proactive behavior on the part of brands.

Facebook Credits

With this feature you will be convinced to take part in branded games. These credits work as incentive and can drive up activities among players of social network games.

Facebook Deals

With this feature, you are offered discounts as a part of the group, based upon finding required number of participants.  Socialization of deal, is however very strong in case of Facebook.

Facebook Send Button

The main intention behind the creation of the send button was to develop the functionality of groups. It works effortlessly with fellow group members and Facebook friends. This can be used by using a drop-down menu.

New Look and Feel

The look of Facebook has also changed a lot. A default set of photos now features at the top of the application tabs. You can now find the application at the left hand column. All these have been done to make it more user-friendly.

anSocial Media as a concept has been flipped several times, and surprisingly has revealed varied faces. In a broad sense of a term Social media is a medium of connecting and drawing communities together in an engaging activity or discussion. A process occurring the other way round with communities being drawn together first and then being cumulated into a social group will also refer to Social Media.

There is another facet to Social Media, it is although a marketing tool, and it involves a number of technology giants to get social media solutions. This marks the coming together (to clash or to merge is a big question) of two different fields of operation – Technology and Marketing. While Social dynamics drive purchasing and branding, technology enables branding and further activities.

In general social media is the common thread that blends technology and social interaction, resulting in creation of value. Social media is a communication instrument that not just provides information, but also interacts by the means of comments and likes or dislikes. Social Media is also different from the usual one way media instruments such as reading a newspaper or a magazine, without the writer or creator of news being unaware of user comments or opinions. Social media contrarily is a two way communication process.

Social Media is a frequently tossed phrase, and there are various social media websites with varied motives and functionality. There are Social Bookmarking websites like the Del.icio.us, Simpy etc; Social News websites like the Reddit, Digg etc; Social Photo sharing websites like the Flickr and YouTube etc; and the most famous of all Social Networking Websites like Hi5, Facebook etc.

Today’s society is being taken over completely by Web 2.0, human existence boiling down to network computers. Internet and its usages have changed drastically, so has the way human beings interact and use it. Web 2.0 is the force that brings people together over a wide platform – the Internet, through the medium of social media. Web 2.0 is thus responsible for creating a wider and a much interaction friendly web that receives and responds. It makes this harnessing of interaction easier thus making it easier for everybody to use and interact.

Social media is thus a wide perspective, unfathomable by mere descriptions of social websites. It is a revolution that is changing its tone and intensity with every passing second, revolutionizing lives of the entire human community as whole, which belongs to the World Wide Web.

Now, just have your Ice Cream Sandwich with the topping of a Sony Ericsson Xperia Play game zone too. That’s for keeps as Android operating system 4.0; nicknamed Ice Cream Sandwich is going to upgrade Sony Ericsson smartphones offered this year. That simply means a great option with a promised potential of combining a smartphone and a portable gaming console. Sounds wonderful? That is a story written almost when they were thinking of multiplying a computer’s usage. A need to make the computer more users friendly was felt. The story is now being re-read with smartphones. Google has started integrating mobile phones on its Android platform to allow greater freedom to users. On its way, the company integrated several HTC smartphones as also Samsung Galaxy Nexus when it launched Ice Cream Sandwich in October this year.

Google’s idea was welcomed with hurray by gaming enthusiasts. So, the entire range of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia products and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman is going to be upgraded to Android OS 4.0. If you are thrilled only with huge gaming options on your phones, then the scheme is loaded only for you. And, with Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, it’s simply going to give you whale of a time each time you take it to yourself. Just get behind the wheel of a racing car and enjoy gaming to the hilt. Challenge and awe those peeping friends.

However, it’s a matter of just some time now. Sony is busy in experimenting the whole plan. A note from the company promised to make all the features and specs known as and when the thing is complete. In the meantime, it’s been known that Xperia Play is going to be available from both Verizon and AT&T.

Counting one more good that the new scheme is going to do, one has to see google’s promise of carrying both previous features of the smartphones and tablet PC’s in its new operating system. In fact that means a greater user interface and goodies from Android Gingerbread edition too. Indeed it’s going to be a whammy many times more than that as Sony has already promised to keep upgrading the preloaded games, additional titles and apps. Does that take the story of those old times synching of e-mails and editing office documents on the go? Absolutely…!

In a note on the official blog of Sony Ericsson, the company made some of the features of its new offering known. The company has tried to do away with some of the cumbersome buttons. The software’s interface integrates the functions of physical buttons. It looks more users focused and calculated to ensure better traction for the company’s products.

Lastly, one has to note that very surely, a lot is going on in Android – bigger internal flash, more memory, hardware acceleration and all those steps have improved the platform and thus apps too. It’s all being done to serve customers better.

Alia Haley is very passionate when it comes to blogging and writing. She is a gadget freak and loves to write on technology. Her articles include various aspects associated to tech help and currently she is working on a blog on tech games and Urban Design.