SoLoMo  – a marketing strategy incorporating social features, location data and mobile applications – is affecting all aspects of marketing at a rapidly growing rate. It is a lesson that every brand, from high-stakes retail to the restaurant around the corner from my house, needs to take into consideration. What’s the rationale behind this movement?

Nielsen and NM Incite published a helpful graphic that provides an informative view of consumers’ social, local and mobile consumption habits and how these three players relate to one another. It’s titled, “The Most Valuable Digital Customers,” and here are some of the statistics that caught my attention.

Social

• App adoption rate
• 58% used the Facebook app
• 18% used the Twitter app

Location

• App adoption rate
• 39% used the Google Maps app
• 5% used the Foursquare app
• 5% used the Yelp app
• 45% of visitors to local deal sites are very likely to recommend those daily deal sites
  Visits to coupons/rewards sites are up 11% since 2009 (65.4 million, August 2009 vs. 72.3 million, August 2011)

Mobile

• 38% of Americans own a smartphone
• Smartphone users spend 2/3 of their mobile phone time on apps
• 44% visit social networking sites

Those who acknowledge this shift and incorporate social, local and mobile strategies will be rewarded with increased customer loyalty and trust. Look at brands like American Express and its Small Business Saturday campaign. Or Krispy Kreme and the company’s new Hot Light app. Neiman Marcus is another brand that has truly embraced SoLoMo, utilizing Foursquare for its recent “Foursquare Challenge” promotion where 15 high-end clutch purses were hidden in secret locations throughout its stores nationwide.

Here’s the fascinating thing about SoLoMo – you do not have to be a glossy, national brand in order to incorporate social, local and mobile strategies. SoLoMo is just as important, if not more, to small business owners in your community. These establishments live and die by customer loyalty and word of mouth. Social, local and mobile have the potential to be game changers for those small businesses that recognize the possibilities available in these areas.

Regardless of whether you are a small mom-and-pop store or a high-stakes brand, you need to be cognizant of how SoLoMo will impact your online identity. The increases in smartphone ownership mean not only are users active in virtually any location, but they’re only a couple clicks away from their entire social graph. The repercussions for those brands that choose to ignore this shift? Potentially missing out on sales, customer insights, credibility and the opportunity to influence.

Are you taking advantage of SoLoMo for your brand? Tell us about it.