Although three-quarters of marketers use third-party mobile networking applications, most do not create their own customized apps or use mobile advertising, according to a new survey from SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Third-Party Apps Dominate Mobile Smartphone Marketing

As mobile smartphone usage rates dramatically increase, so does the potential for specifically aiming marketing programs at smartphone users. A sizable majority of marketers (75%) currently employ
third-party mobile networking apps, such as Facebook on the iPhone, to interact with their fans.

However, most marketers are not currently involved with creating custom mobile apps, mobile advertising or optimizing their websites for mobile smartphones. Out of these three mobile smartphone marketing activities, optimizing a website or blog for mobile applications had the highest usage rate, with almost half of marketers (43%) doing so.

Less than one in five marketers is currently creating their own custom apps (19%) or engaging in mobile advertising (18%). Bigger businesses are more likely to optimize their websites and leverage mobile advertising.

Marketers Want to Know More

Most marketers are interested in learning more about mobile smartphone opportunities. The biggest percentage (73%) are seeking to optimize their websites for mobile browsing, perhaps reflecting the relatively high engagement rate with this activity. Using mobile networking apps to interact with fans, which a majority of marketers already do, also garnered a high level of interest (59%). B2C companies were much more interested in interacting with mobile fans (65.4% of B2C compared to 54.6% of B2B).

While relatively few marketers currently create custom apps or engage in mobile advertising, more than half of marketers have interest in  these two options (57% and 52%, respectively). Sixty percent of large businesses were interested in mobile advertising.