Mobile Marketing

Is it ethical to hire a ghostwriter to post updates to your social media accounts? Take a quick turn around the internet and you’ll find the majority of the people crying “no!” Words like authenticity and transparency get thrown around along with trust and honesty.

The American Marketing Association recently published a report titled, Social Media Ethics Shades of Gray: GhostTweeting and other Dilemmas. In it, Wayne Hurlbert, host of Blog Business Success on www.blogtalkradio.com, says that hiring a ghost is a grievous error.

“If you’re pretending to be someone else or pretending to be an organization that you’re not, then all trust is lost.  People prefer to do business with those who they know, like and trust and if you remove those factors from the social media world by trying to shade it into gray areas, you will not succeed.”

This seems like good advice, but let’s get real. Your average company doesn’t write their own press releases, they don’t write their own copy for a TV ad and they probably didn’t even come up with their own tagline or logo. No one, not even consumers, cry foul when a company hires an expert to handle their marketing, but for some reason, this logic doesn’t cover Twitter accounts.

I’m not saying anyone should out-and-out lie to consumers. If your Twitter account features a celebrity spokesperson, then that celebrity should be tweeting – even if they have an assistant actually hit the send button. But most business social media accounts are set up as an entity and not as a person. It’s Twitter.com/Gap, not Twitter.com/GlennMurphy. As a consumer, I’m there for the deals, so it really doesn’t matter to me if someone sitting in the corporate office typed in the words or if a WAHM from Boise is doing the deed.

Still, marketing mavens everywhere say no to ghostwriting. Valerie Maltoni put the question out to her Linkedin contacts and posted the results on her blog, Conversation Agent. Several of the respondents returned to the same issues of authenticity and personality. Many take the stand that social media isn’t really about marketing, so the same rules that allow you to hire a marketing company don’t apply.

Not everyone was against the idea, though. Those on the “pro” side, said that outsourcing your social media to a ghostwriter makes sense if you don’t have the time to properly nurture your accounts, or if you’re new and don’t know where to begin. Everyone agrees that under any circumstance, the company must ultimately take responsibility for what goes out over social media, making sure that it is consistent with the brand and is delivering the right message.

The AMA report is right about one thing. Their experts say that social media is about conversation and that is all the more reason to hire a ghostwriter. Social media marketing isn’t just posting a tweet a couple of times a day. It’s about responding to Facebook comments, approving or banning Twitter followers, wading through pages of Tweets in order to find reTweets that will connect your company to important decision makers. It is about giving your company a human face, even if the face has to wear a mask while doing it.

Your turn. Do you think it’s ethical to hire a ghostwriter for your Twitter or Facebook account?

While Valleywag seems more interested in how Google’s new ad for Google Instant might ruffle Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ feathers, I find myself enjoying the actual ad.

That’s not always been the case with Google’s TV ad attempts, but I think this mashup of Bob Dylan’s 1965 hit “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and Google Instant is a cool way to reach both young and old.

EDITOR'S NOTE: There is no better time to get involved in Mobile Advertising! Visit our website for complete details on how you can offer SMS text message advertising or our new App4Ads, available with SMS, or without, for world-wide use! ~Susan Gifford DeLeon

In a new survey commissioned by Luth Research on behalf of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), it was found that 60 percent of respondents have noticed an ad that allows a mobile response, and 39 percent have noticed at least one within the past week.

The survey, entitled the “June 2010 U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing,” is the MMA’s monthly survey of U.S. adult consumers about their mobile marketing behaviors and opinions. The results stem from a “demographically representative sample” of more than 1,000 U.S. adult consumers and was conducted June 28 through July 2. The survey asked consumers questions about the usage of their mobile phone and some of its features, including the make of their device, their carrier, preferred mobile response mechanism and when they last noticed an that allowed a mobile response.

The results show that Apple iPhone owners and young adults ages 18-24 are the consumer groups most likely to have seen an ad with a mobile response option. The survey also found that 70 percent of mobile users who noticed ads with a mobile response capability saw them on TV, with desktop and laptop PCs being the next most common media channel, followed by radio.

“The Consumer Briefing shows that the mobile channel is a highly effective way for brands and others to obtain responses from U.S. adults,” said Peter A. Johnson, vice president of market intelligence, MMA, and author of the study. “This effectiveness includes extensive reach across all adults and within certain demographic groups, such as young adults and Hispanics. But brands and agencies should pay close attention to which media outlets offer the best mobile response opportunities.”

Other finding of the survey include the following:

>>Among those who noticed a mobile response ad on TV, one third responded. Asians, Hispanics and adults ages 35-44 were the most likely to use their mobile phone to respond to a TV ad.

>>Response was highest in the media outlets with the lowest ad awareness. At least half of those who noticed mobile response ads in the cinema, in a print newspaper, in a print magazine or through direct mail had responded.

>>Texting a keyword to a short code and calling a number were the top preferred methods of mobile response. Texting a keyword was most likely to be preferred by young adults ages 18-34, and adults ages 45 years and older significantly preferred calling a number.

>>Asian mobile phone users were most likely to prefer sending an e-mail response, while Hispanic mobile users were most likely to prefer texting a keyword.

... focused on one of four innovation segments: social media, mobile marketing, place-based and retail experiential marketing, or digital video or gaming. ...
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In brief: What do Brazilian millennials want from mobile marketing? We wrap up this two-part virtual roundtable with three digital natives with a deep-dive ...
www.msearchgroove.com/.../podcast-part-2-brazil-youths-rev...

SUMOTEXT solutions to control Mobile Marketing, SMS Alerts, and Text Message Giving programs via Short Codes.
www.sumotext.com/news/Mobile-Marketing.html

Latest news, breaking news - Mobile Marketing Association announces repositioning.
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The MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) (www.mmaglobal.com) has announced the launch of its Certified Mobile Marketer Programme: MMA Track in Singapore, ...
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The MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) (www.mmaglobal.com) has announced the launch of its Certified Mobile Marketer Programme: MMA Track in Singapore, ...
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The MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) (www.mmaglobal.com) has announced the launch of its Certified Mobile Marketer Programme: MMA Track in Singapore, ...
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Upon looking at a number of the latest statistics about mobile phones compared to the web, it is much too apparent that the cellular marketing and advertising.
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Google Instant Will Change, if Not Destroy, Search Engine Optimization.
Mobile Marketing and Technology - http://www.mobilemarketingandtechnology.com/

NEW YORK—-Lime Cellular today announced thе launch οf іtѕ self managed, ԁο іt yourself mobile marketing service geared tο small аnԁ medium businesses. Wіth thіѕ nеw platform, local businesses, retailers аnԁ others саn simply log іntο ...
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Upon looking at a number of the latest statistics about mobile phones compared to the web, it is much too apparent that the cellular marketing and advertising.
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