Ask anyone on the Gartner for Marketing Leaders team, and they’ll tell you the last few weeks have been a production blitz. We’re all putting finishing touches on our conference presentations (May 7-9, San Diego… more on that later this week ;-)), but we’re also keeping pace with our normal publishing cadence. When I found myself nursing the early pains of carpal tunnel this weekend, they were well earned.
On top of all of this, there are the webinars. If you’re not taking advantage of those little freebies of insight, you’re missing out. They usually feature 1-2 analysts, presenting 45 minutes of research, with the opportunity for Q&A. Our team hosts them regularly on recently published research, or topics that seem to be generating a lot of recent inquiry to our analysts. On Thursday, Mike McGuire and I will present on how to get “Better Insights and Action from Mobile and Social Investments” (register here, and while you’re there, take advantage of the two free research pieces available on the topic). Why these two disciplines, and why now? Other than the fact that it gives me a chance to work with Mike (which is always a plus), the following is true of social and mobile marketing:
- They’re at similar stages in their marketing maturation. Just like two moms will throw together two kids for a playdate because they’re roughly the same age or grade, the social and mobile marketing disciplines play well together because they’ve reached similar developmental realities in the digital ecosystem. Both are central to how consumers engage with one another and with brands today, but neither has been perfectly mastered by the marketer to the extent that measurement strategies are precise, insights are obvious or widely accepted, investment strategies correlate to known measurable value, or paths forward are infinitely clear.
- Their futures are linked. We know that much of the time spent on mobile devices is spent on social networking activities. We also know that social networking is increasingly mobile first. And if that isn’t sufficient evidence of blurring lines, consider the note I just finished discussing five emerging social networks, and how they’re being used by brands. In my research, there were multiple moments where I pondered where we drew the line that differentiated social networks and mobile engagement. On the social to mobile continuum, where do you put Instagram? Snapchat? Line? While your social team is still going to lead strategies around engagement on these platforms, you can bet you’re going to want to keep your best mobile minds close – only together do you have all the insight needed to understand how your consumers will engage through these sites while on the move. If your social and mobile discipline leads are not holding hands already, they probably should be.
- Knowing what works is key to what comes next. The silos are not only crumbling between social and mobile marketing, but among all channels. Marketers investing in customer experience initiatives will be crafting experiences to align to customer journeys that cut across permeable barriers between channels. They’re not going to be thinking about a customer’s social journey – or mobile path to purchase – they’re going to be thinking about tweets and texts as simple messaging units, designed to fire to the right customer, at the right moment, with the right offer, via the right channel or mode of communication, in an orchestrated multichannel journey. Social and mobile marketers need to get smart about how and when their constituents interact with their brand to prepare for the time when channels are equal in terms of how they serve the customer experience, and understanding and insights are required to plan effectively.
If any of this sounds familiar – or if you find Mike and I remotely entertaining – then Thursday’s webinar might be for you. Join us at 10AM, or later at 1PM Eastern. Until then….
The post The Hard Work of Getting Better Insights from Social and Mobile Investments: Why You Need to Do it Now appeared first on Julie Hopkins.