I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I do know that businesses everywhere are taking notice to this technique. Measuring how many impressions your ad campaign or anything else is making is a huge selling point for clients. I had a recent grad, Matt Hetrick, come to my Media writing class to talk about his work at Branigan Communications. As far as Analytics for their campaigns, he says more and more agencies are creating a separate analytics department within their agency. 

I had no idea that this field even exsisted before talking with Matt that day. Once he started talking about the possibilities that this field could show clients about the work the agency is doing, more people started to raise their hand and get involved in the subject.

Sure, by having an analytics team to show the client how well their ad is doing, they are able to make productive decisions. But in talking to the class about it, I wondered, is it harder to do analytics work for a mobile site?  Is the power of a "like" on Facebook or a retweet on twitter just as valuable when you are on your mobile phone? Is it more valuable than being inside your house on the computer? 

Recently, Facebook has created their own analytics for their site, in showing how advertising with Facebook will create a vast amount of impressions. People are speculating though, that they are magnifying the impressions that are made in order to make them look better. In my opinion, a "like" on Facebook is hardly worth an impression. It is very common to like something, without really taking the time to read it through. Very often, a friend will "beg" you to like a post from work in order for them to get a pat on the bak from their boss. The way that Facebook is using analytics in my opinion, is manipulative and misguiding for a potential client.

In order to answer the question involving the different structure of analytics on mobile, I want to specify it with a company like Facebook. When you are on your phone, are you more or less likely to like or comment on something? For me, I know that unless I feel very strongly about it, I tend to keep to myself when it comes to social media on my phone. Their is something about posting on Facebook when you may not have all the details that is scary.The small screen sometimes inhibits my ability to get the full surrounding story, and I may go back to look at it on my computer to make a more accurate posting.

I know it sounds silly, and I may be the only one who micro-manages things like Facebook and Twitter, but it is an interesting thought. That being said, with my own experience, I see that getting impressions when it is made through a mobile phone is much more meaningful, and in most cases, more engaging!

My dad is not into technology. In fact, he has stooped so low in to even asking me how to send an email. But my dad also is a successful small business owner and he knows if he wants to keep his customers in tune, he needs to be involved in the 21st century. 

When I told him I was taking a Mobile Communications class this year, he was over the moon. "You can help me with my new website!" he explained. The thought of going home for fall break and playing around with his website was dreadful, but I knew one thing. With a website, comes a smartphone that is trying to reach that website. And if my dad's website wasn't mobilely optimized, he was in trouble. I quickly got on my smartphone did give it a look.

Fortunately, he had some help in making the website, and the programmer explained that he made it optimized for a smartphone. I was pleased to see that it fit to the screen and you didn't have to scroll left or right. Unlike the website on the computer though, the links to different pages were not as visible. They were in the same place as the computer, but scaled down. If I were a client, I would find this frustrating because the "meat" of the website was essentially hidden. 

All of the links to the pages did work, but I had to zoom in and out to click on them. The text was small, and needed to be zoomed in as well. These problems could be easily solved, and make for a better experience. One of the best parts of his website is the forum, where clients can comment on the work he has done for them. This is where my dad really shines, and you can see how amazing and passionate he is. I know that when a consumer is on a mobile site, they don't want to go digging. I suggested he put this on the pop-up page, right when people go to his site. 

The reality is, people don't want to go digging on a mobile site, and by making small changes, I was able to talk to his programer, and explain how to make his mobile website more efficient.

http://www.exceleratedlearningsystems.com/?page_id=500 

Whenever I tell people that I am majoring in advertising, they comment on how the industry is suffering due to new technoogies. People can fast forward commercials, readership of magazines and newspaper is down, and it is becoming easier to avoid ads on the web. This puts advertisers is a tricky situation. How do we reach the client in the year 2012? 

That is where mobile advertising comes in. Even more effective, LOCAL mobile advertising. The possibilities in using local mobile are endless, and frankly, it is the new IT thing. So when I read on mobilemarketer.com that local mobile advertising is taking on a slower start than expected, I was stumped. How are these companies not jumping on the opportunity to create ads that go directly to the consumer they are after, without a way for the consumer to avoid it? I guess if I take a step back, I get it. The whole smart phone phenomenon can be scary and confusing for companies that are not familiar with it. Since they have been using the same media outlets for years, they feel comfortable there. But this is NOT the time to be comfortable. Once these companies realize that adopting a new media outlet is key in this changing world, I think the local mobile advertising will sky rocket.

Overall, the research company BIA/Kelsey expects U.S. mobile ad spending to grow from $1.62 billion in 2011 to $9.92 billion in 2016, and locally targeted mobile ads are expected to account for 58 percent of overall mobile ad spending in 2016, up from 41 percent in 2011 (mobilemarketer.com). These number had to be adjusted from earlier predictions in thinking that everyone and everything would be jumping on this band wagon. I do have faith that once the word spreads, the new way of reaching the consumer will spread like wildfire.