Is this the year for mobile?

The results from Strongmail’s mobile marketing survey conducted on its behalf by Forrester Consulting in June this year shows consumers are largely open to receiving promotional messages via email at least once a week, 52 per cent overall and 65 per cent for smart phone owners.

But when it comes to SMS and in-app messages, interest in receiving these decreases. Sixty per cent and 63 per cent, respectively, never want it.

It also revealed that nearly a third of smart phone users (32 per cent) have made a purchase after receiving a promotional email; however, purchases after SMS or in-app messages decreases to 9 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

Smartphone owners also experience the most technical challenges when attempting to interact with their brand via their device, with top offences being bad links (28 per cent), non-mobile optimised email templates (28 per cent) and network connectivity (23 per cent).

Selling goods via social media has also taken a battering from the people that are seen to be on it the most – students. According to the survey by youth marketing agency The Beans Group, 91 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds say they are not interested in buying products or services directly through Facebook and many are worried about online shopping in general, with 43 per cent saying they are concerned about security.

However its not all bad as newspaper Metro has created the new role of head of insight and social media, to lead and develop its new social strategy. The free-sheet is aiming to make insights from its social channels as important as traditional market research by analysing reader conversations on its Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms to help inform brand, product and marketing developments.

Perhaps the true era of mobile is yet to come, but at least social media keeps on trucking.