1. Contact

Professors can post a QR code in their classroom that takes students to their office hours. Or maybe it pulls up an email for them to schedule a time to meet with the professor. Perhaps it’s a digital business card with email, office phone number and office address.

2. Share Information

A QR code could be put on the syllabus with links to textbooks needed. It could even be a simple list of major due dates that adds reminders to a calendar. QR codes can be created for upcoming events, or as additional resources for students to look up after class.

3. Lectures

This deserves a category of it’s own. The obvious answer to this is to create codes that go to a lecture on iTunes, or maybe even YouTube. A code could be used as additional audio or video for students to digest before the next class.

4. Homework

Create scavenger hunts using QR codes. This is a great business development tool – have students create QR codes that link to a portfolio and could be featured on resumes and business cards.

5. Books/Reading

Enhance reading assignments with related audio or video. Have students post anonymous reviews of a particular reading using QR codes.

6. Classroom enhancements

A couple cool ideas in this category: Automatic wi-fi info – have a QR code that contains all the necessary wi-fi logins. Also, have lab instructions that are available with the quick scan of a code.

7. Handouts

The digital revolution makes our education systems a bit more “green”. Give instant access to quizzes. Avoid printing costs. Link to tutorials. Check on test scores and find correct answers.

The possibilities really are endless! Have you seen QR codes used in college classrooms? Or in any continuing education setting?

What are your favorite apps? We’d love to hear from you! Let us know down in the comments, or over on Facebook and Twitter!

1. Amazon – The digital retail giant makes it easy to spend money with their nifty app.

2. Angry Birds – If you don’t know about Angry Birds yet, you might be living under a rock.

3. Epicurious – Can’t figure out what to have for dinner tonight? Epicurious gives you all kinds of great recipes.

4. Facebook – Stay connected to all your friends on the go.

5. Kindle – You can read the latest bestseller while standing in line at the DMV. Does it get better?

6. Netflix – Connect your account to your mobile and pick up where you left off on your favorite movie or TV show.

7. Pandora – Looking for new ideas for music? Pandora takes the cake for that category.

8. Spotify – Listen to full albums from a huge selection. This new-ish app has a monthly fee, but it’s worth it!

9. Trip Advisor – While traveling there is no better app to find restaurants, hotels, and fun stuff to do.

10. Twitter – Ask for last-minute recommendations while on the fly and let the Twitter-sphere talk to you!

11. Weather Channel – Check this every morning and you don’t even need to turn the news on anymore.

12. Yelp – Get the latest reviews for restaurants and stores all around you.

1. Not testing the code

This seems like an obvious one, but a designer can pretty easily go too far with a QR code, only to not test it and have it not actually work! Make sure you test it with multiple devices and operating systems. Most codes have a built-in error correction of around 30%, so it’ll catch some mistakes, but not all.

2. Getting too fancy

What happens when someone scans your QR code? It should simply be a link that the consumer can click on. Nothing more. Some campaigns try to add text and a link, but it just becomes muddled. If it’s only a link, it’s easy for the consumer to know what to do next – click on it!

3. Linking to a non-mobile page

Where does the QR code point to? Is it a image-heavy site with a flash component? You better hope not, because consumers will click the link and not be able to navigate or see any information. Make sure the site your code is pointing to is optimized for mobile with easy navigation and small images (if any at all).

4. Putting the codes where there is not data signal

An infamous example of this is a QR code placed in an ad in an underground subway station. There is no cell service in most subway systems (although NYC is about to get service!). Make sure you test for a data signal if your QR code is in a static location like on a billboard.

5. Not offering enough

People have to have some incentive to scan your QR code. If all you are pointing to is a generic website, don’t expect many clicks. Offer them something in return for scanning – exclusive access to something, entry into a contest, a coupon – anything to get them interested!

Have you made of any these mistakes? It’s okay…we won’t judge! Just make sure you don’t make them in your next campaign. If you need some help planning your campaign or getting that QR to pop, we’d love to talk to you!

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• Amazon – went live a few weeks ago
• Facebook – announced yesterday, live Sept. 29th
• Google sites (Gmail, Calendar, etc)
• YouTube – cosmic panda update went live 5 weeks ago
• Pandora (not a top 5 site, but top 50) – went live Wednesday

These kinds of investments are thousands of dollars and often times many months and even years in the making. So why would so many top websites make this transition all at the same time? The answer, we believe, is a fundamental shift in the way people use and access the Internet.

A major focus of these redesigns was how they would be rendered on a mobile device. Amazon made the search box much larger and more prominent (signaling a more consumer-based approach) and made their buttons bigger and more identifiable. Facebook’s new Timeline is optimized for mobile much more than the old profiles. Google made the buttons bigger on sites like Gmail and Google Calendar, and Pandora did the same.

Companies are moving away from simply cramming as much information as possible onto one page and making things simpler for the consumer. Yes, this helps with aesthetics, but it also signifies the realization that more and more people are going to these sites from a mobile device and need to be able to easily access the different features. Flash-heavy sites are slowly going away – in favor of a simpler approach.

Here’s your homework: Take a look at your website. Is it mobile friendly? Or are the buttons small and hard to navigate? Is it image heavy, so it takes a long time to load on a mobile device? Heck, access your website from your own smartphone…how does it look and feel? Think like a consumer, and take a long, hard look at your mobile strategy (if you don’t have one yet, you are already behind!).

If you’ve ever used Google Maps, for instance, you know that companies show up as pin-points when you do searches for various categories. When you click on one of these points you can often see a photo, contact information, a website  and even recent reviews. These are all huge opportunities for marketers/advertisers/PR people alike.

Think about the possibilities if consumers could be accessing maps on their mobile device and perhaps seeing coupons pop up within a few blocks of their location. Or maybe, using GPS locating, they’ll simply get a coupon sent right to them as an email or an SMS when they get within a certain radius of a given business.

Augme is on the cutting edge of augmented reality technologies. This means you could take a picture of a logo or company sign and get information right back – including YouTube videos, special deals, coupon codes, etc. Your phone will know what’s around you better than you will.

Think about how often you use maps during vacations, or even simply in places you’re not familiar with. These are great opportunities for local business to reach out and create customers. The technology is still new, and we are still figuring it out here at Augme, but the day will come sooner than you think. Seems like we say that a lot around here, but that’s only because it’s true. This seemingly insignificant statistic can mean dollar signs for companies if they are smart about what they are doing.

What would you think about seeing coupons on your mobile devices map function? Or being automatically sent deals via your mobile’s GPS?

With this transformation, it is now critical for brands to customize messages and attack mobile delivery channels to help consumers make their purchase decision during the decision process – from pre-purchase, point-of-sale, and post purchase. To do this effectively marketers must embrace the technical nuances of the mobile channel.

A mobile strategist is a marketing technologist who draws from experience in both traditional and digital marketing. At Augme our mobile strategists have a thorough understanding of how customers use mobile technologies throughout the decisions process, and are best able to leverage the benefits that mobile technologies bring to the multi-channel marketing mix.

Knowing when a mobile web microsite is more appropriate than an app is as important as helping marketers understand which approach is more easily produced and technically sound for achieving their marketing goals. These are the kinds of decision-making processes that traditional marketing agencies may not be keen on. At Augme, we focus on what we are experts at, and that is mobile.

Please join us as the mobile revolution continues to unfold in front of our eyes!

“Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to this blog to get the latest and greatest from the mobile world.

Your mobile traffic (and overall traffic) is guaranteed to increase if your mobile website is easily navigable. Considering most companies have yet to do this, you are guaranteed to be ahead of the curve. Here are some things that need to be taken into consideration:

• Defining the need. Do you need both a new “regular” and mobile site? This could be a good time to upgrade both. Or perhaps you are redesigning an existing site to be more mobile-friendly. Sit down with your team and consider all the options.
• Cross-platform accessibility. With the ever-changing landscape of people’s browsing habits, you want to have a way to be able to create a site that is accessible on iPhones, Androids, Blackberrys, Nokias, tablets, e-readers and any other new technology that pops up. The emergence of HTML5 technology will certainly help this.
• Simple is best. Mobile web speeds are still a bit slower than desktop web speeds. Keep this in mind. People do not like waiting, so don’t try to load up your site with all the bells and whistles of your desktop site. People mainly want information when accessing the web on their mobile device. So give them that, and don’t worry about the interactive videos. Yet.
• Keep it vertical. In today’s world of wide screen computers and even TVs, websites are going horizontal. Multiple columns and tabs across the screen means more information visible to you at once. Mobile is obviously not like that, however, so your pages and tabs should be vertical, preferably with a single column.
• From “click” to “tap”. Instead of clicking, people are using their fingers for navigation. Make sure buttons aren’t tiny and right next to each other. This is a small detail, but an important one to consider.
• Test, test, test. Give the site a test drive on as many different devices as you can before launching. Within your circle you are likely to know people across various mobile operating systems and devices. Make sure it’s operating smoothly on as many fronts as possible.

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