Social Media Headhunter

Mobile marketing isn't taking off. At least, it's not taking off the way it should.

I know some of these guys. They can set up some really radical promotions that combine social media tools with viral marketing and have an impact far in excess of the money you spend. But no one does it.

Partly, it's the risk factor. If you think finding a social media marketing consultant or employee with experience is hard, wait until you try to find someone who has run a comprehensive, integrated mobile plan with solid results. I think I'd have to charge 30% on a retained search to tackle that kind of position. Without the right personnel, and the right infrastructure, and the right product, mobile can be hard.

People are touchy about their cell phones, and since they actually pay for them, they're not too keen on the traditional ways of advertising on them. You can run banner ads on Twitter or Gmail, but if do so on my phone, I'll be finding a new carrier.

So what do you do? You use a social media solution. Mobile marketers do a lot of talking. And surprisingly, they do it on text, in blogs, and in forums. As it's a new industry, there is a lot of sharing of good information. Education is still the difficult part of the sale, so the more success mobile marketers see, the better off the whole industry is.

As a start, I'd recommend a few of the following blogs