What is a Smartphone?   A Smartphone is termed as a mobile device phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality (PC-mobile handset convergence). For most of the population, a Smartphone is simply a phone with advanced features like e-mail, Internet and e-book reader capabilities, and/or a built-in full keyboard or external USB keyboard and VGA connector. In other words, it is a miniature computer that has phone capability.

Currently, it is estimated that there are 240Million Smartphones in use and 56% of US Smartphone users are using their phones for news and information (web/internet and social media), while 50.8% of US Smartphone users are using their phones for email. The US is far and above Smartphone usage in other countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, who on average have a 30% usage of Smartphones for Web/internet and social media accesses.

Based upon Smartphone usage and the amount of units that are available in and in use in today’s market, is your web site Smartphone friendly and providing users access to your site and site information via the Smartphone?

Sites can be developed that provides users with easy access to content and navigation through the site. (Take CNN, ESPN, or Home Depot). These sites have been set up specifically to allow for Smartphone user to access, search and navigate throughout the site effortlessly.

Applications and applets can be developed that enables you with the ability to provide users ease of access to content, updates, and relevant materials found on your site.  There are approximately 50,000+ apps available for iPhone user, with an ever increasing amount of apps availalble for other Smartphone users as well. These provide users with quick and easy access to informtion, from inventory, to marketing/sales information, etc. These can also allows users the ability to subscribe via RSS feeds to newly posted information and provide your publications via Smartphone download and access, as well as member interaction and forum posting are advantages that can be offered to members or potential new members.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to provide members with a Smartphone app that provided them with newly released member updates and information that is delivered directly to their smart phone? Wouldn’t it be great to deliver upcoming events to registered users (whether members or not), notifying them of upcoming events and providing them with options to order the event via their phone and or log in and order via their member access?

Quick and easy is the term and phrase for the future, and providing data to users in a quick an easy method provides you with the leading edge in user interactivity with your site, thus increasing users and their overall experience.

Over the past several months, I posted a few articles relating to strategies and establishing a social media goal and presence. These were under the title of the Social Media Adventure. While the information contained within these articles are relevant and useful to beginning with social media you will still need to plan for your overall success.

To be successful in Social Media there is an investment of time.  Social Media is exactly as it sounds – being Social through media streams such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, blogs, etc.  What a lot of people & organizations forget and fail to recognize is that the main point in Social Media is being Social.  The definition of Social by Websters.com:

• relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society 
• tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others of one’s kind 

Investing time is how you will be successful and how you will learn and grow in the social media community.  There have been some great posts with information and suggestions on how best to handle the social media tools and tips to help organize the various social media items.  Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I’ve included a few of the most helpful to me below:

• A Quick ‘n Dirty Guide to Setting up Social Media Monitoring -http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/02/18/a-quick-n-dirty-guide-to-setting-up-social-media-monitoring/
• Get More Comments with a Better Discussion Experience http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/get-more-comments-with-a-better-discussion-experience/
• Twitter tools for every one http://etsygreekstreetteam.blogspot.com/2009/02/twitter-tools-for-every-one-for.html
• Choosing Social Networks -http://mashable.com/2008/12/16/choosing-social-networks/

These are only a few tools that will provide you with ideas and information on how best to set your social media monitoring.  Try a few to find what works best for you then establish a schedule.  Don’t forget, social interaction is important and is the key to your overall success.

Last month I decided to begin a Social Media Adventure by starting with a new company that did not have a web presence.  Well, the one company has turned into several and everything has become so very exciting.

The tools and tips in the first two posts were definitely the starting points.  The referenced sites and materials which are included in the first two posts are definitely worth a visit and read.  Click here to return to the first post and here to return to the second post.

One very important key factor is STRATEGY.  To be successful and to learn/know your target audience and peers, you need to be aware of their needs and their interests.  By devising a strategy, you can determine these needs and target your goals more effectively.

Your strategy should include:

1. Social Media Presence – create your Social Media Presence by creating Profiles in Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, etc.  There are numerous social media sites where profiles can be created, select the ones that best fits your needs. Search/see where your target audience has a presence.
2. Look, Watch & Listen – search the social media sites where you have profiles for keywords relating to your industy, your company name, competitor company name and groups that fit your profile.
3. Join the groups where applicable and watch the interaction. See what people are saying and asking – find out their needs and how you can help.  Begin to log this information for further research.
4. Search – search for blogs that are similar to your service or product.
5. Contribute – Contribute when you have something to offer that provides information or helps with a post or comment.

This strategy will help as you begin to explore social media and all that this encompasses.  So, now that you have a few strategy items, it’s time for action.  Below are a few tools that will help with the items listed above:

• Setting up your profile in Twitter – I recommend you visit http://www.twitip.com.  Read the information and sign up to receive the posts.  This is a great site that has a wealth of information that you won’t want to miss.
• http://search.twitter.com.  Enter keywords for your industry to see who is tweeting and what they are saying.
• Use a twitter tool – There are quite a few to select – TweetDeck (my personal favorite), Twitteriffic, Twhirl, Spaz, etc. Check out all of the available apps at http://twitter.com/downloads.
• Don’t forget to click on the link at the bottom of the page for the Twitter fan wiki.  Amazing applications listed here that will make your head spin with all that is available. So very cool.
• Facebook – you can search for a specific term in Facebook and select to narrow the results down by Group, Events, Applications, Web, etc.
• LinkedIn -   you can search for People, Answers, Jobs, or Groups.
• Alltop – an “online magazine rack” which is better than a magazine.  It is updated each hour with the hottest stories on any topic, category, name, etc.
• Google Blog Search – searching for blogs can be done by entering “blog” behind the search term in Google. As an example, if you want to search for blogs on WordPress – enter “WordPress Blog” and hit search.
• Technorati – good site that provides the ability to search blogs by various categories, words and view the top 100 blogs, most popular, etc.

These are a few strategy items and tools to get you started.  If  you have questions or feedback, please feel free to post comments or contact me.