How Fast Are You?

image by josef.stuefer

Between instant messaging, Twitter, all the real time Social Media monitoring tools, mobile and even cable companies with DVR boxes and Smart remotes, how fast is your business?

• How quick can you respond?
• How fast can you engage your customer/fan/client?
• How fast till the project is done?
• How fast till you know someone is talking about you?
• How fast till you do something about it?

I saw today that Verizon is showing off some tools at movie theaters, where you text in a reply, watch a commercial or video promoting a Verizon product and then all the results of the texting show up on the movie screen. That's fast.

I mentioned that Grooveshark answers their fans near instantly.

In a recent campaign, I wanted my client to play pop culture text message trivia with patrons while the waiter or server got their drinks and put in their order. You don't have to wait. You don't have to go home and enter codes. You play at the table with your phone. If you win you get a coupon that you can use instantly. Not on your next visit. Not on certain dates in the future, instantly.

Clients are impatient. They want to know when their product is ready, but they want it ready faster than you can produce it. Show them things. Make them feel the project is getting closer to having their hands on it.

Clients also want results. They also want them today. They want traffic and conversions now. Is the content you are creating Digg worthy? Is the traffic Digg brings results worthy?

Mark Krupinski and I have been talking about Social Media Measuring tools. We did this over a conversation and then on Twitter. Within minutes, Mark had set up demos with Radian6 and Techrigy.

On my end, Radian6 started following me on Twitter before I knew they existed. They proceeded to join Doterati, a Central Florida Interactive Marketing Community I am helping to build and market. The CEO then sent a direct Tweet to me.


Let's quickly add that I got a comment on my last post from someone at Collective Intellect, another Social Media monitoring too. It's good to see all these companies using FAST as a selling point.

That's fast!

How fast are you?

-Greg Rollett

Why Mobile Matters More than Internet

photo by shapeshift

We’ll have one mobile phone per child before we ever have one laptop per child.

– Inspired by Jason Grigsby’s talk, "Going Fast on the Mobile Web," at WebVisions

I saw this quote today and was blown away by it. Why? Because it is so obvious we overlook it.

Take a look at your friends. Go ahead, turn around, look in your "cell phone" contacts and really take a deep thought to how many of them have laptops vs. how many have cell phones. I would dare to say that all have phones and a good percentage have MacBooks.

Everyone has a mobile phone. Web and mobile strategist Jason Grigsby states that there are currently 3.3 billion mobile devices versus 900 million PCs. (FastCompany.com - Look in the comments)That's a big gap. And with phones getting smarter and smarter, and marketers getting more creative with mobile advertising, the phone is where it is at.

Heck, people with iPhones, and even some Blackberries, have no use for a computer. MP3 players are declining in sales due to cell phones being the supreme being. (At least Apple has the iPhone - a Zune phone anyone?)

Wait until coupon companies get it right as well. GripOffs has a great idea in place where users will click into the Grip Offs mobile site from your mobile-web favorites, browse for coupons based on your location and preference (movies, food, oil change, etc) and then you can show your phone to the business to get your discount or free-be.

Google offers free 411 style information through texting. Just text a query to "Google" or 466453, and get results via SMS almost instantly. Fandango mobile kicks ass when you are on the road on a Friday night and need those tickets before all those high school kids do.

I already mentioned how Papa John's is using cell phones to order your favorite pizzas.

What about Qik for video and Utterz for photos? Instant mobile uploads and live streaming and only getting better to boost. No need to carry around a video or digital camera anymore.

With the rate that Gen-Y, business professionals and stay-at-home moms are on the go, mobile needs to be in your future business plans.

How are you using mobile to grow your business? Is your blog mobilized? That just moved up on the priority list for me.

-Greg Rollett

FloTones-Musicians Sell Your Music and Backgrounds to Mobile Phone Users

This is an amazing tool for musicians. I put together a quick profile in minutes and am in the process of getting the user agreement signed and all that good stuff. From what I can tell, this is a totally legit way for mobile device users to get your music as ringtones and use images as wallpaper. Visit Flotones.com and set up an artist profile. Once there you can upload your files or specify where they can be found on the web. Flotones takes about a 50% cut, but 50% is better than not having your ringtones available. There is NO set-up cost, which is great and you can also set up an affiliate program so your fans can sell your ringtones and make decent profit from it.

Once you have everything ready to go, flotones allows you to have an artist page, much like any other profile page you have everywhere on the net. But what is very beneficial is the ability to put html code into your outside pages (myspace, facebook, blog, etc) and sell your ringtones direct from those pages.

It looks like FloTones has a great thing going, one I am sure to put to the test in the coming weeks. Check back for a full review soon, but in the meantime I advise you to get your music uploaded and start making some easy cash. The number of mobile users is huge and increasing everyday! Have great night!

Once again the link is FloTones

-g-ro