SMC Chicago panel discusses mobile apps

Mobile App Discussion Panelists

On Tuesday the Social Media Club of Chicago (SMCC) held a panel discussion about mobile apps and ads. ITA/TechNexus made their office space available and +Ramon De Leon provided a ton of delicious Domino's pizzas, as he so generously usually does for SMCC events. The panel consisted of the following five individuals who work in the tech field and are all quite knowledgeable about mobile marketing:

• Todd Shingler, Founder of Mobile Perspectives (@toddshingler)
• Dane Drotts, President of Genexus USA (@ddrotts)
• Hugh Park Jedwill, President of Heartland Mobile Council (self described long-haired Asian, @mobilebranding)
• Jessica Connors, Director of Business Development at Techweek (@thetechweek)
• Michael Sheehan, Director of Sales at Adaptly (@michaelsheehan1)

The panel was moderated by SMCC Board Member Carolyn Martin. Attendees began piling in around 5:30 p.m., eager to get out of the brisk Chicago weather. Miller Lite and Chicago's 312 were served along with white and red wine. These events are always so much fun. You often see new faces mixing with the social media professionals who never miss an SMCC event. Some of the people who usually attend, and who came out on Tuesday night include:

Darcy Schuller
David Lasker
Hope Bertram
Tim Piotrowski
Jeannie Walters
Rashid Temuri, also known as ChicagoCabbie
Ryan Zieman
Patrick Bachelor
Gordon Dymowski
Jon Kee
Felicia Yonter

I had the pleasure of meeting Sabrina Fruehauf, from DePaul's social media club and marketing consultant Chris Rollyson. In addition to Carolyn, the other SMCC board members that were there were Elly Deutch, Caleb Gardner, and Jeff Willinger.

When asked about their favorite mobile apps, the panelists said Flipboard, POP, Spotify, ESPN Watch, and Stumbleupon were their top picks. The panelists shared their predictions on the future of technology - augmented reality, people-to-machine, mobile transactions, mobile becoming wearable as in glasses and watches, and even internal. There is actually a pill that you can swallow that will communicate with your health care provider!

A few nuggets from the discussion...

• "It all comes back to user experience. Mobile has to be simple."
• "The best mobile apps are consumer-specific, not brand-specific, simple, and integrate with other apps."
• "Think about basic things your customers would want to do on your site from a mobile device." - @mobperspectives
• "Consumers don't care about how great your product is - that's not worth an app." - @mobilebranding
• "If your brand is posting mobile links, be sure to have a mobile site first."
• "It's important to have mobile strategy since 60% of Facebook and Twitter users are on mobile. They may click a link and arrive at a non-mobile site."
• "Successful mobile apps are simple, focused, and targeted."
• "Know who you're trying to reach."
• "At the end of the day whether social, mobile, web or print, it all comes down to content and strategy. Most importantly "know your audience."
• "Simple and seamless are the two most important mobile app characteristics."

Special thanks to @jeanniecw, @RebeccaOtis, @moniqueterrell +SMCEDU DePaul for tweeting notes!