In the world of content marketing, the chatter about mobile has reached a fever pitch. Every industry publication and blog seems to be saying, “Gotta have a mobile strategy! Gotta market to smartphone users! Gotta talk to tablet owners!” Point taken, marketing world — and most businesses, large and small, have some kind of plan for mobile. Yet the whole thing can feel sort of vapid and dull. Are we just pumping out more digital engagement and harassing more consumers in new ways or are we actually doing something worth a darn via mobile marketing? The 42nd President of the United States recently had some surprising perspective on technology which could help shed some light on this heady topic.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, former President Bill Clinton challenged attendees to think of technological gadgets as tools to help one another.
“The world has huge challenges which I think technology can help to overcome, that are not economic,” said Clinton during his 20-minute speech in Las Vegas at the Venetian Conference Center. “The three biggest challenges the world faces are vast chasms of inequality and education, health care, access to capital, access to jobs that pay a decent living, instability on everything from the financial crisis to vulnerability to terror and the looming crisis of climate change. None of them can be solved unless we are committed to a positive vision, one of shared prosperity and shared responsibilities when we meet with our challenges, and a shared sense of community that embraces our diversity. And we’re not there yet.”
While Clinton undoubtedly got paid a boatload to speak at this shindig (which was sponsored by cellphone maker Samsung), perhaps he’s on to something. He says the neutrality of mobile and Internet communication can open the doors for honest communication about difficult topics and that the channels of social media can be incredibly powerful when used objectively.
In online marketing, we’ve found this to be true. The branded blogs, company Facebook pages, and sponsored Twitter pages that use the channels creatively are the ones that rise to the top and make the webosphere a more enjoyable and enriching place. With mobile marketing, this power is even more immediate. Branded messages now reach consumers everywhere… and the ones that have something to say, provide a real laugh or present an unforgettable image are the ones smartphone and tablet users remember. Brands that might not have been found before can now reach new followers across the globe, so why not use this power to do something incredible, to say something interesting or to, as Clinton puts it, “bridge the remaining divides in the world?”
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