3 Free Ways To Engage Customers On Their Mobile Devices

Are you looking to get your business started with mobile marketing?

This article will help increase mobile customer engagement and provide some great free mobile marketing tips. We want your business to take advantage of these powerful devices even if your not ready for something like your own app!

The best part is these are all fun, easy and free!

1) Mobile Social Networking

Luckily, this is one you’ve probably been doing for a while now, but let’s face it, people are social networking from their mobile devices and not their computers. You need to make sure your basic social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+) look good not only on a computer, but on customers’ phones as well.

Consider the fact that many people will find your social networks before they find your website. Your social networks need to respresent your brand appropriately, below are a couple of great examples.

We were probably being slightly objective when we chose the Lakers.

Use the large open space to the right side of your logo to add something creative. Also, note how the three boxes towards the bottom of screen can be filled with images, this can be accomplished by adding pictures, locations and events to your Facebook page.

Twitter is a little different, in this app the logo is centered in the header image. Ryan Seacrest uses his face as the logo then the header background is the rest of the photo that creates an interesting affect. Check out how the Four Seasons Boston and Delta Air also do a great job of showcasing beautiful, unique and relevant backgrounds on their mobile Twitter accounts.

Unfortunately, LinkedIn and Google+ are a little behind in terms of the visual appeal their apps offer. However, it is still crucial all the information about your business is still easy to understand and that you are posting relevant, insightful information regularly. Maybe use the lack of color to your advantage and use bright, eye-popping images when you post articles to your news feeds.

Another massively popular social networking app is Instagram. At first glance it might seem like a pure social network with no place for marking. But when used correctly you can reach a potentially massive and engaged audience. Social Media Examiner did a great article on how you can use Instagram For Marketing. Be sure to download the app and get signed up! It’s easier than you think.

Below are a couple more suggestions for free social networking apps you can sign your business up for. Remember it’s up to you to decide where to build a presence.

Pinterest Business is a great place if you have a lot of visuals like hotels, retailers and restaurants. Be sure to Re-Pin, Like & Comment on relevant images to help drive interest to your page. If you’d like to learn about Pinterest in more depth, Hubspot has a great e-book you can view here.

FourSquare is a social network that allows customers to use their smartphone to “check-in” to different places using the GPS inside their smartphone. This is a great network for smaller, local businesses to share location based coupons and bring people into your business who wouldn’t have found it any other way. They make it easy for you to claim your business, get started then get discovered.

While Yelp is not a typical social network, customers will use apps like Yelp to decide where they will spend their time and money. The page below gets you started on Yelp so you can start responding to customer feedback and see what people are saying about your business. Yelp by now has become a go-to resource for customer reviews, if you are not signed up yet, you need to be.

Be sure to check out different social media management tools to help make posting and managing your networks easier. We highly recommend using Hootsuite or Buffer which are both free and packed with great features.

2) Sign Up For Free App Services

There are a ton of free apps in the app store that help people make buying decisions, all the way from clothing to hotel rooms. You need to ensure that your business is signed up in the appropriate places.

Hotels

Hotels should sign up on Hotels Tonight, it is one of the most popular impulse booking apps. If your hotel is not listed, you will be loosing business to the ones that are. With just recently passing 4 million downloads this is quickly becoming one of the largest booking apps available, don’t get left behind! Sign up here.

Another highly popular app for hotel, restaurant & attraction discovery is TripAdvisor which has 60+ million travelers access it’s database per month. Make sure to get signed up there too and get found!

Retailers

You should consider representing your products on Red Laser. So when customers scan items your business sells, but are not in your store, the app will list your business as an option.

Another widely used app is Etsy where you can sell unique individual items and create buzz for your business and products. You can’t sell your entire online store here, but it is still a great service to help generate interest in your brand while people browse on their mobile devices.

Another new but quickly growing app called Swirl lets shoppers find top rated styles and local sales based on their location. The businesses using their service seem to be benefiting and love what it does. You can learn about their partnerships right here.

Retailers should also look at GILT which is a great service to partner with and showcase your premium apparel and generate interest in your business. There app is widely used and regularly at the top of the app store. Get started here.

Here are some other popular app services that will put you in customers’ pockets!

• Sign up on Google Places so people can find you when using Google Maps or Google+.
• RetailMeNot is an online & mobile resource where you can share & promote coupons. Check it out here.
• Groupon let’s you sign up and get a coupon featured to local subscribers. Learn more here.
• While Amazon is not free, the potential for putting your products in front of new customers is huge. If you sell less than 40 items it’s only 99 cents per sales. Find out more.

3) QR Codes

Qr codes provide a way for customers to scan an image (the QR code) and then receive or be sent to information. QR codes are a great way to get customers to take out their smartphones and respond to the call-to-action you put in front of them.

QR codes can be used to view a video, receive a calendar event, dropbox link, social network links, map locations, coupons and more!

The best part is, you can simply work them into your current advertisements and marketing, which creates new mediums for your customers to get information and interact.

We want to walk you through a very simple and quick step-by-step process to help you create and start using QR codes!

Step 1: Go to http://www.qrstuff.com

Step 2: Choose what kind of information you’d like to share and enter the information. Like we mentioned the list goes on and on, it is up to you to decide what your customers will be most interested in scanning and what you want them to accomplish once they do.

Step 3: Using a simple color picker you can change the color of your QR code. If you or another team member knows how to use basic photo editing software or something more advanced like Photoshop/Illustrator, then you can do some pretty interesting things with your QR code marketing.

Step 5: Once you have saved the QR code to your computer you need to organize & share!

See that wasn’t too bad! However, step 5 is the most important step. You need to share and use QR codes in places that will engage customers.

Here are a couple of ideas to get you started.

• Storefront displays
• Your email footer
• Business cards
• Scavenger hunts
• Product labels

Want some ideas? Check out this article on 7 Creative Ways to Use QR codes.

While we did say these services are free, doing this correctly will require a little bit of time, but when executed properly and signed up on the right services, you’ll be a mobile ninja in no time.

Be sure to check out Pocket Your Shop if you have what it takes to bring your mobile strategy to the next level!

If you have any other ideas on free services you use, please feel free to share them in the comments section.