If you had to invest in a mobile marketing campaign or a social media campaign, which would you choose? Let's use return on investment (ROI) as the primary decision point. We think mobile is the right answer.

Comparing social media to mobile marketing investments is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. This is true even though much of today's social media runs on mobile phones and tablets (The two are rarely mentioned independently).

However, both require investment from the marketing budget, and are accountable to questions about ROI

With the advent of the shortened holiday shopping season, most businesses have already initiated their holiday campaigns. A number of those businesses are turning to mobile, and some of the work with that medium rises above the rest. It does so because it accomplishes two things: first, it attends to the informed customer. Second, it develops new content for a new medium.

There are as many articles to develop a strong call-to-action as there are commentaries about plaids versus stripes. Yet, mobile marketers often face a unique challenge, that of bringing someone into the storefront. How can you make it worth someone's while to come into the store and buy?

Let's consider the most common scenarios mobile marketers face: Someone is searching locally while they shop or entertain themselves. Or your marketing program gets triggered when someone checks-in on their mobile app. Now you need to get them to visit your store.

This is different than traditional calls-to-action for general mobile commerce. Mobile commerce, while good, is a different outcome than getting people to come to your stores. Here are some formulas that work to drive that in-store traffic:

Consumers expect a seamless shopping experience. At least they desire it, and perhaps want it even more during the hubbub of the holiday shopping season. Consumers prefer to purchase the gifts on their lists and be done with making those lists well in advance of the day they exchange gifts.

Consumers’ entire shopping experience has to be easy, and it has to occur on their schedules. They don’t want to be tied to store hours; they want to be tied to their family’s and friends’. Their wish lists include “convenience” and “expedience.”

With the 2012 Black Friday stats regarding mobile - up, up, and up some more - it’s no surprise that 2012 Cyber Monday, a day dedicated to e-commerce, followed suit. Cyber Monday saw approximately $1.46 billion in online spending. The number not only was in line with Black Friday sales and preceding Cyber Mondays, but it also broke records - the day took honors as the heaviest online spending day in history. Could 2013 be the same?

With mobile taking an increasing role in the general Internet media mix, making it convert into revenue remains a top priority for marketers.

To date, these efforts have revolved around creating reviews on mobile platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor, and general couponing based on apps like Foursquare. In reality, while these are smart and timely, they are missing an opportunity.

Four in five shoppers use their mobile phones to help their purchasing experience according to ComScore. More than 80% of customers use their phones in store and search online while they are there, too.

Understanding customers helps create better in-store opportunities on mobile phones. Now immediate location is allowing retailers to build context.

Social media may be touted as a way to win the hearts and minds of customers, but the Black Friday shopping numbers from the past few years present a different story. A survey done by IBM in 2012 shows that social media brought little if any sales during the 2011 and 2012 Thanksgiving holiday shopping seasons (.53% and .34% respectively). In fact, a writer at Marketing Pilgrim who reflected upon the IBM survey goes so far as to call Twitter a “zero...Not [even] enough to register.” The same was true of site traffic; social media failed to produce tangible results (.92% in 2011 and .81% in 2012). The real winner in 2012? Mobile.

Mobile marketing is an effort that falls under “experiential marketing.” It isn’t an isolated form of marketing; it’s an extension of other marketing efforts and, thus, an extension of the business itself. All the marketing efforts, including the mobile marketing ones, help to create a certain experience and to develop the business’ brand. All those efforts are for naught, though, if the offline experience doesn’t match what they say via methods such as social, mobile, digital signage, print, television, radio, et cetera.

Why are investors so excited about Twitter's rapidly approaching IPO? Analysts see it is a significant investment opportunity, perhaps even stronger than initial hopes about Facebook, making the IPO a coming of age moment for the mobile media business.

Twitter is the one of the first online platforms to successfully figure out the mobile advertising equation. Last year the company garnered more than $270 million. Revenue is expected to more than double this year, according to the company's S1 filing.

It's really amazing progress for a company that many people made fun of when it launched. No one believed 140 characters could build a business, and here we are!

It's official - timeRAZOR is now Gravy. In case you missed yesterday's announcement, click here to see all of the exciting things going on.

How do you get Gravy? If you're a timeRAZOR user, all you have to do is update the app. If you're new, you can download Gravy for free.