Archive for November, 2009

QWASI brings together Mobile and Social Networks for Real Estate

Share your next home on Facebook and Twitter with CellSigns. Buyers and Agents can now share real estate listings via Mobile and on Social Networks FaceBook & Twitter.

PHILADELPHIA, November 19, 2009 – CellSigns, Inc., the leading provider of mobile tools and services for real estate, announced today the addition of new social network features to its CellSigns Property Marketing and Mobile Agent solutions. CellSigns brings together two very powerful forces: mobile and social networks.

`Continuing its leadership within the Real Estate Industry, CellSigns brings new ways for Home Buyers and Real Estate agents to tag and share their properties on social networks. With the addition of FaceBook and Twitter connections, home buyers can now tag a home and share it with family & friends on social network accounts. It’s become vital for REALTORS and real estate agents to reach across social networks like Facebook.

According to Parenting Group’s research panel of 5,000 moms, 60% of moms report having used a social network in the past 24 hours. Of that group, over 80% are online with Facebook. According to a recent eMarketer survey, “mobile social networkers” will total 56.2 million by 2013 in the United States, accounting for 45 percent of the mobile Internet user population and highlights the importance of using this media to reach Gen X and Gen Y as a means of communication.

Agents using CellSigns Property Marketing and Mobile Agent can easily extend their area of influence through mobile and social networks. The services can also distribute and syndicate their listings, automatically. This allows agents to provide greater reach for their listings and reach new buyers and sellers in the process.

- Automatically distribute listing content to FaceBook or Twitter

- Allows FB and Twitter friends to see full details of the listing content

- Data automation available through MLS Feeds (IDX or RETS) and Direct Broker Feeds

The first client to launch with these new features is the Allen Tate Company. Allen Tate, the Carolinas’ leading real estate company and the 11^th largest broker in the country, is making real estate text messaging available throughout the Charlotte, Triad, Triangle and Upstate South Carolina regions. Properties with mobile texting capabilities will be identified with sign riders, indicating the unique property ID and text messaging number. The mobile texting technology is compatible with all types and brands of cell phones.

“The power of mobile search, mobile marketing, and social networks come together with the CellSigns mobile real estate service,” notes David Geipel, COO of QWASI, Inc. “Mobile is not a trend or fade but a way of life in real estate. It’s a ubiquitous activity that encompasses search and discovery. What we’ve done with our services is to tap into the strengths of mobile and social networks. Allowing home buyers, for example, to pull up to a home for sale, search via their mobile phone using SMS (text messaging) or even Mobile Web (WAP) and then share that property with their family or friends is very instinctual. It gives the buyer a chance to let others share their thoughts on that home directly with others.”

Home buyers can sign up for Mobile Agent by visiting http://www.mymobileagent.com.

CellSigns has also introduced these features to its popular mobile IDX service Mobile Agent. Mobile Agent is the only mobile real estate service that allows buyers and agents to search and interact via SMS & WAP. The CellSigns real estate text messaging service and mobile search tools were awarded the “Most Innovative Technology of the Year” award in real estate from Inman News.

ABOUT CELLSIGNS

CellSigns (www.cellsigns.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of QWASI, Inc. company, is a leading mobile applications company providing interactive solutions and mobile marketing for businesses via text messaging, SMS, MMS and WAP. Supported by every major wireless carrier and working on over 99% of all cell phones, the company offers Mobile Agent real estate search, private label mobile search tools, mcommerce, SMS Chat, Text Ordering, Mobile IM (MIM) applications, customized alerting and the only interactive property marketing service for real estate. CellSigns powers over one million real estate listings, 1.5 million mobile ads and mobile alerts.

VIDEO: CellSigns and Mobile Agent – the power of Social Networks

November 19, 2009 in Press Releases   |   No Comments

Google Android leads Web & Data Usage in recent Study. Smartphones also will be Majority of Cell Phones By 2011 – according to Nielsen.

Over the last several weeks, new phones have hit the cell phone market and have landed in consumers pocket. The latest was the Google Android “DROID” phone by Motorola. The smart choice for today’s consumers is a amart phone: iPhone, BlackBerry, Droid or other Android-powered device.

What’s most revealing is that the Android phone also outpaces Mobile Web and Data use over the iPhone which has been quickly adopted by consumers looking to use their iPhone Data & Web plan through the use of Apps, Text, MMS and Mobile Web. Here’s how web and data consumption fares among the leading smartphones:

SMARTPHONE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Nielson projects that the majority of mobile phones by 2011 in the U.S. will be smartphones, with the devices used by half of cell phone subscribers, or 150 million people, by mid-2011.

“This shift could happen much faster with the right conditions such as continued competitive price points on devices, lower ‘all you can eat’ data packages and the increasing consumers who need to be connected anytime, anywhere,” according to a post Wednesday on the Nielsen blog by Jerry Rocha, senior director of the online division.

In just the third quarter of 2009, Nielsen estimates that smartphones accounted for 40% of new phones sold in the period, up from 25% in the prior quarter. And in the third quarter, for the first time, more people accessed the Internet from smartphones than regular phones. “If this trend continues, we’ll see more than 80% of the devices accessing the Internet being these advanced phones,” wrote Rocha.

MOBILE INTERNET via a SmartPhone Device
Assuming that 150 million people will be using smartphones by mid-2011, that means 120 million will be on the mobile Internet and 90 million, or 60%, will be watching video, according to Nielsen projections based on current data trends.

As of the second quarter, Nielsen has previously reported that some 15 million U.S. mobile subscribers watch video on their phones for an average of three hours, 15 minutes each month.

With the launch of the Motorola Droid by Verizon Wireless last week, Nielsen also compared data and Web usage between the iPhone and Android devices. The results were roughly even, with 92% of Android users accessing the Internet compared to 88% of iPhone owners, and 76% of Android customers using applications versus 74% on the iPhone. Given Apple’s 10-to-1 advantage over Android in the number of mobile apps offered, the parity in usage should be welcome news to Google.

MOBILE VIDEO
When it comes to watching video, Android had a clearer edge over the iPhone, at 47% to 40%. But iPhone and Android users separately outstripped smartphone owners overall in Web browsing, video viewing and using apps. The Android phones helps accelerate adoption of the mobile Web and content, especially of popular Google programs like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Voice.

“The trend in the U.S. is more interaction, more consumption, and more connected devices,” wrote Roche. “While not a competition killer, the Droid is the next logical step in a market with a wide array of rich media devices.”

November 13, 2009 in Blog   |   No Comments

Google/AdMob – new focus on Mobile Advertising

Google Inc. is acquiring AdMob, a mobile display ad technology provider, for $750 million in stock. AdMob offers a variety of mobile advertising tools for creating, serving and analyzing emerging mobile ads formats.

“Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time,” said Susan Wojcicki, VP of product management at Google in a statement. “AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup — generating impressive year on year revenue growth — and we’re excited to welcome this talented team to Google.”

AdMob brings an extensive network of display ad inventory on 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications for iPhone and Android along with mobile web banners. To date, AdMob has been one of the largest (if not the largest) mobile ad network for in-app ad inventory on the iPhone. This has brought new implications for demographic targeting and audience segmentation to Google. The combination of AdMob’s display and in-app advertising coupled with search adverticing makes Google king of the hill again in mobile.

What does this mean for Mobile Marketing and Advertising?

First, it’s clear that Google is serious about mobile advertising and sees the space as a growth market. We too are excited about the space and the future mobile advertising holds for marketers, brands and consumers. Google also brings credibility (think about online advertising BEFORE AdWords). The ease of use AdMob is able to demonstrate with it’s platform will also lead to a better advertiser experience when researching and placing mobile advertisements. This deal also brings better ad formats and options to Google – something Google knows very well how to monetize.

In addition, Google will ad focus to this emerging market opportunity of self-service advertising. Google will help bring mobile to an entirely new audience. Google has been testing mobile advertising for several years with their own mobile search, banner and in-app ad networks and now mobile analytics.

What Admob did was to help businesses and agencies navigate the space with a platform that is easy to use and has evolved from text links to interactive banners and in App advertisements.

Next, this move will lead to a shift in mobile acquisition and bring new investment to mobile. Let’s face it, it’s great to run a mobile ad, but to covert traffic is an entirely separate event. Then to resell or market to these new prospects and finally, lead them to water – the Holy Grail – a purchase or some sort of transaction. This will also lead to greater focus on Mobile Analytics too over the entire mobile ecosystem.

This purchase is very similar to other acquisitions made by AOL (Third Screen Media), MicroSoft (TellMe and ScreenTonic) and Yahoo (Actionality and RightMedia).

With Google sitting on top of the mobile advertising scene, it still leaves other competitors to focus on their edge over the other companies. These companies include Quattro Wireless, Millennial Media, Jumptap and 4INFO to name a few.

Mobile Advertising Projected Growth

Gartner projects that the worldwide revenue for mobile advertising will be $13.5 billion in 2013, up from around $500 million in 2008. This includes mobile banner ads, SMS, text links, search and maps, ads in applications and games, ads in videos and TV shown on a mobile phone. Until now, Google has focused mainly on search advertising, but this deal signals that it has its sights set on other areas as well.

Focusing on display, search and messaging-based advertising, eMarketer predicts that U.S. mobile advertising spending will grow from $320 million last year to $416 million this year to more than $1.5 billion by 2013.

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QWASI brings results to your mobile advertising buy. Contact us today to learn more. Call us toll-free at 877-747-9274.

November 10, 2009 in Blog   |   No Comments

Mobile Marketing versus Email Marketing

Many companies getting into Mobile first ask the question: where does mobile fit within our organization. Well, it first depends on your company structure, next your current marketing structure and finally, and most importantly, your marketing strategy.

A few years ago, several organizations outsourced their mobile campaigns through their ad agency. Early results showed huge promise. Customer adoption followed with phones & devices that got more personal. And the demand for interaction increased. Today, consumer’s view mobile and social communication as their primary form of communication.

Corporate websites and email marketing helped organizations prepare for today’s interactive boom. Having a website was not enough without constant growth in traffic. Driving web traffic focused on natural, organic search marketing and email marketing to communicate with customers.

Then SPAM infiltrated email as people received unsolicited email. People were getting more and more upset and technology was put into force to protect customers from these emails. This lead to  decreasing open rates and response rates from email. Most companies tested email campaigns with great success, but over time, even email lost it’s luster.

Then mobile marketing entered the marketing mix. It resembles email in main ways to corporate executives. However, while it too is trackable, mobile is near real-time, extremely responsive and viral, ubiquitous (accessible anytime, anywhere) and requires dedicated resources and a budget.

Unlike mobile, email marketers have to address a high turnover rate of email addresses. Within a year, it is reported that 33% of email addresses in your opt-in list of email addresses are no longer valid. However, mobile phone numbers have a far lower turnover rate. Many people keep their cell phone number for life.

While email suffers from deliverability issues, mobile delivers on delivery (carrier-grade messaging ensures your message is delivered). Today, nearly 100% of cell phones SMS enabled and more people have a cell phone than a television or computer. Finally, most text messages are read within 30 minutes versus up to 48 emails for many emails.

In order to receive high response rates, there is a need to have an educated mobile marketer. This is someone who understands the strengths of the mobile channel and how to build and execute a mobile marketing strategy. Since mobile is opt-in, a good mobile marketer will work hard to keep the messages targeted, relevant, and provide value to their customers through the mobile communication channel.

Some other important considerations:
* The ideal first step in a mobile strategy is to provide access to a mobile touchpoint.

* Create incentives that are unique to mobile users.

* Provide customers the ability to double opt-in to campaigns.

* Manage customer expectations using the proper type of messages they will get, using the frequency you communicated (1x daily, per week, per month) and provide them with a means to opt-out.

* Promote the mobile channel in everywhere. Integrate it with radio, television, online and email.

* AND use email to promote mobile to existing subscribers. Mobile is central to your marketing mix.

The success of mobile marketing lies in ability to empower the customer. Be sure to have someone educated on mobile marketing and today’s mobile consumers.

QWASI’s team of mobile consultant’s are ready to help you get mobile. Contact us today @ 877-747-9274.

November 2, 2009 in Blog   |   No Comments