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Understanding the Many Paths

within the Mobile Channel

As you know, a smartphone really isn’t just a phone. Sure, you can make calls with
it and engage in social practices, just as people did with the old landline phones.
However, the telephone capability is just the tip of the iceberg. Today’s mobile
devices are capable of so much more. In fact, for many people, these devices are
the primary method of personal communication, social interaction, and even
commerce.

Figure 23-2 illustrates the many paths you can use to reach the mobile phone.

FIGURE 23-2:
The paths
through the
mobile channel.
Courtesy of iLoop Mobile, Inc.

The term used to interact with consumers through all these paths is mobile channel.
The mobile channel refers to the collection of companies and systems, wireless
networks, mobile phones, application providers, marketers, and so on that make
it possible for you to interact with an individual audience member directly through
a mobile phone or wireless-enabled device. Each of these paths — SMS, MMS,
email, voice and IVR (integrated voice response), Internet, mobile web, proximity,
and applications — is unique.

Keep in mind what media scholar Marshall McLuhan taught us in 1964: “The
medium is the message.” Each of these paths changes how your message is
received and accepted. In the social media context, this is important because if
your message isn’t accepted, it certainly won’t be talked about and shared.

CHAPTER 23 Building an SMM Mobile Campaign 335