Last year’s online marketing buzzword was responsive design, but for 2013, you’ll be hearing plenty about SoLoMo. So what is it?
It’s short for Social-Local-Mobile. Catchy, eh? As trends in user behaviour are moving to more mobile devices, we’re using our smartphones and tablets more and more to access information and communicate socially. The main benefit of these devices is their mobility, and their GPS functionality. SoLoMo brings together social media, local information, and mobile communications.
When searching for information online, you want the most relevant results. When looking for a fruit and veg shop, you don’t want to see results for shops 100 miles away. You want relevant, you want local. Google’s search results are tailored on mobile devices, as it can track your current location. This is why registering your business on Google Places is critical.
How to make SoLoMo work for your business
It should be obvious by now, but if your website is not responsive or mobile optimised, you’re pushing away your mobile visitors, and losing potential customers every day. Make sure you are catering for this significant and growing user base.
The traditional direct mail technique has been used for many many years as a way to reach your target market that are local to your business. It is more blanket approach than targeted however. By sending your leaflets throughout your locality, you have no idea if it will be read, if the decision maker will receive it, or if they are ready to buy.
Consider this alternative. Your website offers something of value (eg. a money-off voucher, a whitepaper, or an entry to a competition), and requests that the user fill out a short form. One of the form fields allows the user to select their locality. You can use this information to send targeted newsletters or promotions, greatly increasing the conversion rate.
Your imagination is the only limitation for providing local data to mobile users. Here’s a great example; one of clients has a free Wi-Fi service at their premises. The Wi-Fi can be set up so that when someone connects, it automatically brings them to a specific web page. You could easily create a focused landing page on your website, a dedicated microsite, or online tool to forward these Wi-Fi users to.
The beauty of this solution is that user’s needs are very different when they are physically located at your business, rather than browsing your website from their couch. The page could have information about current offers, how to navigate your premises, or show photos of key customer service staff!
What about social media?
Facebook have already dabbled in regional promotional activity, with Facebook Offers. This includes vouchers, freebies, and check-in deals. Google maps, a regular touch-point for mobile users, is becoming more integrated with Google+. There are plenty of other dedicated apps and networks, such as Foursquare, that allow users to access information, reviews, and rich media your about business.
What is LAMP?
A great example of appreciating the power of local/mobile is the LAMP project, which is being created by St. James Street Hospital in Dublin. LAMP stands for Local Asset Mapping Project. Basically, a team of students will map the locations of all of the health-related points of interest in the Dublin 8 area. This could be grocery shops, gyms, GPs, physiotherapists, optometrists, etc. This information will be made available to the public on a mobile app, which will raise awareness of valuable resources around them. It is a trial, and may be rolled out to other areas, but the concept has already been proven in Chicago, USA.
So when planning your next campaign, or redesigning your website, think SoLoMo.
