Social Media Sonar Blog

Online Marketing and Social Media Strategies

You are here: Home / Social Media/Networking / QR Codes Extend Marketing

QR Codes Extend Marketing

by

I’ve been reading about and seeing QR codes for a while and finally this week I took the dive and created some QR codes.

QR Codes
QR codes are not new but over the last month or so I seem to be seeing more conversation, more codes in windows, and on business cards.  I’m working on new business cards for my Conversion Optimization company Surge Labs and decided it was a great time to incorporate QR codes.

If you are not familiar with QR codes, they specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones, sort of like a bar code.

I used Kerem Erkans QR Code and 2D Code Generator to create a code that when scanned takes the scanner to a page to download Surge Labs Conversion Optimization white paper.

Here are some things you can embed with his QR creation tool: (list is from Kerem’s site which I recommend visiting)

  • browse to a website.bookmark a website.
  • make a phone call.
  • send a short message.
  • send an e-mail.
  • create a vCard (v2.1 or v3.0) with coordinates to add a contact to your device.
  • create a meCard to add a contact to your device.
  • create a vCalendar event to add to your calendar.
  • create Google Maps URLs.
  • create Bing Maps URLs.
  • create raw geological coordinates.
  • create market:// URLs for searching for publishers or packages on Market app for Android.
  • create special youtube:// URLs for YouTube app on iPhone.
  • fetch and encode the latest tweet of a Twitter user.
  • overlay a Twitter profile image over the code.
  • create a mobile URL to tweet on Twitter.
  • initiate a chat to a particular Blackberry PIN on Blackberry Messenger.
  • connect to a WIFI network on Android devices.
  • read plain or free formatted text on your device.

I then jumped over to Nick Johnston’s 2D QR Code Generator to create a QR code for my contact information.  With nick’s tool you can create codes for:

  • Contact info
  • Website address
  • Phone number
  • or plain text

Now when I hand out my card my contact information is on front, and on the cardholder can scan code 1 to get to the “download white paper” page and code 2 to import my contact information into their smart phone.


QR Code Scanners
To scan QR codes you will need to load a QR reader onto your phone.  Then simply point your phone at the QR code.

I followed Erkan’s advice and downloaded Qrafter (iphone, ipad, ipod) and a back up, QRReader (iphone as well).  Both have been easy to work with though I did not have much success playing with a color branded QR code that was blue and orange.  Black and white QR Codes seems to work best.

If you don’t have an iphone simply search your brand and “qr reader” to find an app for your phone.

Over the next year QR codes will become more common.  If you want to capture a little attention, adding a QR code to your business card is a conversation starter and a great way to share information via all the opportunities listed above via Kerem.

Social Media Sonar provides the following four resources for FREE… 1.  The Blog, 2. The Online Marketing/Social Media Blueprint, 3.  Conversion Rate Optimization Guide, 4.  Resource Center.  If these help you implement your own online marketing program, great. We love helping people. If you decide you need some help, great. We love new clients.  Contact Us if we can help you.