Mobile Groove

With billion-dollar and exclusive usage rights in place, the Olympic Games have always been about big money and feverishly policed by lawyers on behalf of brands, content owners and media giants. But the advent of mobile and social — which allow us all to mash up content the way we like and share it with anyone using YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other properties — make me question whether anyone (even high-powered lawyers) can hold back the tide.

The advance of user-generated content and con…

Mobile is global. Everywhere on the planet companies and merchants are using mobile in new ways to market and drive results. Innovation and inspiration can be found at the fringe, and across the four corners of the globe. Keeping an open and curious mind is essential. Best practices, key learnings, and real-life experiences are all around us. The hard part is identifying what we can (and should) apply as we seek to supercharge our own mobile marketing strategies.

To start us on this journey I have col…

[Spoiler alert: The answer is co-publishing!]

You’ve been invited to share your expertise and passion with a live audience. Congratulations! Every time you present — whether it’s to a dozen people, or a thousand — social media gives you the opportunity to better engage your in-person audience and effectively reach people around the world [beyond just your “live” audience] who are interested in your topic.

Thank you for your question. At the risk of hyperbole, it is impossible to overstate the importance of social media in magnifying both the reach and the impact of your content, regardless of whether it is a formal presentation or your regular blog post (like this one!).

In episode #9 of M-Pulse I examine a recent report from analysis firm Ovum that claims social messaging applications cost mobile network operators US$13.9 billion in lost SMS revenue last year.

Ovum expects the decline (nearly 6 percent of total messaging revenue in 2010 and 9 percent in 2011) to continue as the popularity of messaging apps continues to grow. Ovum warns operators to rework their legacy services if they want to secure their future position in the messaging market.

How can mobile operators hold their ground? Neha Dharia, consumer analyst at Ovum and author of the report tells us collaboration, not competition is the way to succeed.

Evolution, not revolution. That is what I witnessed first-hand as I walked around South By Southwest (SXSW) , the festival and conference hailed as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies.

In 2010, the Next Big Thing was location-based social networking, a mobile-megatrend CNN reminds us was led by the likes of Foursquare and Gowalla. Last year it was all about group messaging services such as GroupMe or Beluga. And this year the excitement is all about “ambient location” and “social discovery” — a new category of interaction that brings together all the GPS-enabled mobile apps that run in the background on our devices and alert us when like-minded people are nearby.

On the heels of SXSW it’s clear that SoLoMo is a fact, not a fad. I catch up with BJ Emerson , VP of Technology at Tasti D-Lite, the frozen treat chain with a cult following among health-conscious consumers as well as celebrities. The company doesn’t just get So Lo Mo — it has literally written the book on it, and will be releasing The Tasti D-Lite Way :Social Media Lessons for Building Loyalty and a Brand Customers Crave a bit later this year — so watch this space.

BJ, a champion of SoLoMo and an authority on the ways companies can and should harness mobile and location to super-charge Social CRM, spoke at dozens of industry events in the last year, where he discussed the importance of moving beyond mobile integration of loyalty and rewards programs to really understanding the emotions consumers feel and want to express as they engage with brands on this deeply personal level.

The approach certainly delivers results. This last year went on record as the “greatest growth” year in the history of the 24-year old brand. The brand —whose popularity has grown largely by word of mouth — is a veteran when it comes to customer engagement and social media marketing. Beyond U.S. growth, Tasti D-Lite is also expanding internationally, opening locations in Mexico, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.