Posted Date: May 29,2012 3:11 pm • Posted By Admin
QR Codes have been highly utilized in the
last two years in the United States. Some times, QR Codes have been used
very well and sometimes QR Codes have been used VERY incorrectly. Those
instances where QR Codes have been used incorrectly has discouraged
some marketers (and consumers). You can read about the #1 Mistake Marketers Make Using QR Codes by clicking the previous link.
But this blog post is designed to help marketers avoid a critical and
common error when using QR Code in their marketing. Once of the most common
customer complaints is the fact that people create a QR Code, send it to print and
realize the QR Code links to an incorrect URL or content or link to the wrong fan page or worse of all the customer entered the wrong info and the "Like" button doesn't work correctly. Take the
example below,
Have you ever created a QR Code using Social QR Code. This QR Code could be used on a business card,
in a newspaper ad or even on a brochure. You send your design to the
printing company and a few days later you have the final product in your
hands. In this example lets say you just added a QR Code to your
business cards and you now have 2,500 shiny new business cards in your
possession.
You are very excited about using this new technology in your everyday
affairs and showing off how technologically advanced you are. So now
you open your box of new business cards take out card #1 and your smart phone to take the QR Code for a quick test drive.
Very quickly you realize the URL the QR Code directs to is not the
correct URL. Now your heart skips a beat, your stomach flutters and you
realized you made a major error when creating the QR Code and you now
have 2,500 useless business cards.
The moral of this story is CHECK YOUR WORK. In fact, you should even double or triple check your work using different smart phones.
My shop teacher in High School, Mr. Hillegas used to say, “Measure
twice, cut once” referring to measuring a piece of wood to cut. The same
applies to QR Codes
In the example above of the business card mistake, it’s not a major
fix because business cards are relatively cheap to produce. But lets say
you put a QR Code on a billboard. That would not be a cheap fix. Or
let’s say you made a mistake with a QR Code in a print ad, but didn’t
realize it until the ad was already fresh off the press and at news
stands. There is no way to fix this, you just have to deal with the fact
that your QR Code is worthless and everyone who scans it knows it.
Again, my advice to you is: CHECK YOUR WORK BEFORE SENDING QR CODES TO PRINT!
Posted Date: September 01,2011 5:47 pm • Posted By Admin
Vanity/Custom Facebook URL's are very useful for not only QR Code marketing but also very useful when incorporating social media into all additional marketing avenues.
What is a Vanity/Custom Facebook URL?
To start, let's look at what a vanity/custom Facebook URL actually is. When browsing from page to page on Facebook fan pages (aka business pages) can be given a unique URL that comes after http://www.Facebook.com/
For the Social QR Code Fan Page the vanity/custom URL is http://www.Facebook.com/SocialQRCode
How can a Vanity/Custom Facebook URL be used in Marketing?
Like I mentioned earlier, a Vanity/Custom URL can be in many marketing avenues. You can place your vanity URL in:
-Print marketing. Place Facebook.com/SocialQRCode in a magazine or newspaper ad to get new fans
-Brochures. Again, you can place Facebook.com/SocialQRCode on a product or business brochure
-Point of Sale. If you have a physical storefront, you can place your vanity URL in your store.
-Radio. If you buy radio airtime, you can have the DJ mention "Facebook.com/SocialQRCode" to send radio listeners to your fan page. -Television. Let your television audience know you have a fan page by listing Facebook.com/SocialQRCode in your 30 second commercial spot
For your consumers and customers it is ALWAYS easier to remember Facebook.com/SocialQRCode, rather than Facebook.com/pages/Social-QR-Code/8223023092323
Of course with print, point of sale, borchures and other outdoor/print marketing, you can utilize Social QR Code to put a "Like" button directly on your marketing with Social QR Code.
This leads us to the purpose of this post. At least a few times a week Social QR Code gets an inquiry that they are having trouble setting up a Social QR Code for their fan page. More often than not, the first step to creating a Facebook "Like" QR Code is to set up a Vanity/Custom Facebook URL. Remember, you must have at least 25 fans to set up the Vanity/Custom URL.
How to Set Up a Vanity/Custom Facebook URL
Step 1: Visit www.facebook.com/USERNAME
Step 2: Select the page you want to set up a Vanity/Custom URL for
Step 3: Enter your desired vanity/custom URL for your fan page. REMEMBER, ONCE YOU SET UP YOUR VANITY/CUSTOM URL IT CAN NOT BE CHANGED.
Step 4: Confirm the username to PERMANENTLY change your Vanity/Custom Facebook URL.
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog post. I hope this was helpful and I was able to help you set up a Vanity/Custom URL.
Posted Date: August 22,2011 11:02 pm • Posted By Admin
http://www.wtae.com/news/28939890/detail.html#COMMENTTOP
I'm not able to embed the news video to my blog. So here is the QR Code News report from ABC News Pittsburgh.
Posted Date: August 14,2011 11:16 pm • Posted By Admin
Want to know the newest stats of QR Code marketing through the use of an Infographic?
In this graphic you will find:
- There has been and continues to be a major increase in QR Code scanning
- Where QR Codes are seen the most
- Most popular operating system used for scanning QR Codes
- 22% of Fortune 500 companies are using QR Codes
- Uses of QR Codes for businesses
Without further adieu... here is the QR Code Infographic:
Posted Date: August 10,2011 3:50 pm • Posted By Admin
In my previous post I discussed the increase in smart phone sales. The point of that blog post was to show that more and more consumers are now equipped with the tools to scan and decode all of your QR Codes. Use this link to read the post, titled: Smart Phone Sales.
This post shows how Code scanning is on the rise. The bar code scanning app/tool ScanLife publishes reports and findings throughout the year. They do a fantastic job of visually showing their findings. Above you see a graphic that shows bar code scanning increase from Q2 of 2010 to Q2 of 2011. In Q2 of 2010, ScanLife saw about 10 scans per every minute of that Quarter.
Then in the same Quarter of the next year, there has been a significant increase. In Q2 of 2011 ScanLife found have been 60 scans per every minute of that Quarter! Quite a significant increase. Break that stat down, ScanLife is seeing one scan per every second of the day!
These stats go to show QR Code scanning is on the rise and that your customers and consumers are on board! How are you using QR Codes? What are your success stories?
Posted Date: July 30,2011 2:36 pm • Posted By Admin
This blog post takes a step away from QR Codes and focuses on the tool that makes QR Codes possible, SMART PHONES.
Smart phones make it possible for businesses and marketers to use QR Codes to stay connected with their customers, clients and fans. As you probably already know, in order to decode (or unlock) the information contained within a QR Code the consumer must first have a smart phone and second have a QR Code reader app.
In a recent study by Nielsen research group, it was found that of all mobile phones sold between March and May of 2011, 55% were smart phones! This means more than half of all phones sold during a recent three month period are capable of scanning and decoding your QR Code marketing campaigns. As you can imagine the popularity of QR Codes hinge on the fact that smart phones will be more popular than traditional cell phones.
Smart phone purchases are on the rise, so much so that it is predicted that by the end of 2011 50% of mobile phones will be smart phones. Be an early adopter and launch your QR Code marketing campaign. Who knows, your QR Code campaign might encourage someone to purchase their first smart phone!
Posted Date: July 28,2011 7:03 pm • Posted By Admin
Comic Con happened this past weekend and many TV Shows, Movies, Comic Books and Animated Shows were on display promoting the upcoming new episodes or movies. At the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia booth, visitors were asked to scan a QR Code to "Check-in" to the show on Get Glue. (Get Glue is basically a Foursquare for TV programs).
I really liked seeing Sunny utilizing QR Codes as this is one of my favorite programs on TV. The problem is, not many people know how to use Get Glue and not many are actually members of Get Glue. This means scanners were basically taken to Get Glue mobile site after scanning the QR Code and asked to sign up for Get Glue or download the app to their smart phone.
It would have been more advantagous to link the QR Code scanners to lets say the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan page or use Social QR Code to have scanners "Like" the fan page then and there at Comic Con.
How would you have used a QR Code at Comic Con??? Maybe link the QR Code to a preview of a movie or TV show on YouTube?
Posted Date: July 27,2011 11:34 pm • Posted By Admin
Headstone Companies Take Notice of QR Codes: MyFoxPHOENIX.com
QR Codes have been popping up everywhere. Print marketing, direct mail,
billboards, store front windows and now on tombstones!
In the video
above we find that QR Codes on tombstones direct scanners to a memorial
website for the deceased. What do you think? Would you want a memorial website made for you when you pass?
Posted Date: July 27,2011 11:18 pm • Posted By Admin
This is a great video by a NBC Chanel 10 News in Rochester NY. They do a fantastic job showing how local businesses are utilizing QR Codes.
In addition, the reporter shows how you, the consumer, can download a QR Code reader and scan codes to unlock the decoded information.
Posted Date: July 27,2011 5:59 pm • Posted By Admin
Fuel Energy Drink has added QR Codes to their product marketing. As you can see the QR Code has been placed on their cans.
They have printed QR Codes on 200,000 cans they plan to distribute over the next few months. Here are a few thing s to note about this campaign:
- The QR Code has a call to action. They show a smart phone and the copy "Snap it". Personally I would have put "Scan with a QR Code reader." These directions would be more precise.
- The Code is clearly printed and large. It also has a large boarder around the QR Code allowing the user to scan easily.
- The QR Code scans to YouTube video which is exchanged with a fresh/new video regularly. This keeps the audience of Fuel Energy Drink and their customers coming back for more!
All in all a successful campaign. I would have liked to see a more social component, such as asking scanners to become fans of their fan page.
What QR Code campaigns have you seen be successful?
