Mobile marketing and social media are continually being linked to each other with more consumers accessing social media sites on their mobile devices. So, how would a mobile component to social tracking tool Klout mix up mobile social marketing?

Klout, which keeps a score of social media users? activity, recently announced that a new round of funding is expected to be used to help the company develop a mobile product. Combined with increased social mobile activity, a Klout mobile product is proof that marketers need to bridge the two when working on campaigns.

?Looking into 2012, marketers need to focus a lot on mobile in order to communicate effectively with consumers,? said Reggie Bradford, founder/CEO of Vitrue, Atlanta.

?Because tools like Klout are available, and social is becoming more crowded with consumers, marketers are more and more placing importance on the ability to identify influencers,? he said.

Social cloud
Klout is an online tool that measures the activity of consumers across multiple social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, foursquare and Google+.

The service combines all of a user?s social activity to create a score to show how often a consumer uses social media.

For brands, integrating Klout into social media moderation tools lets them see who is interacting with their content and where activity is coming from to better target their content, per Mr. Bradford.

Klout gives companies a tangible way to measure their social media efforts, and a mobile version of the product would only accelerate how brands can manage their social media efforts.

The rumored Klout addition is also further proof that as consumers access more content on mobile, brands and companies also need to keep up and think about strategic ways to target on-the-go consumers.

?Every business is going to have to be thinking mobile as it continues to proliferate? Mr. Bradford said.

?Giving users the option to access content on mobile is imperative moving forward, and Klout's decision to build a mobile presence is a great example of a company that recognizes this and is devoting resources to it,? he said.

Social armor
As mobile social marketing heats up, one of the main challenges companies will face is finding ways to market to social media applications and mobile sites.

Klout?s mobile move could mean that it is developing a number of different mobile products, which could include a new mobile algorithm.

Social giants Facebook and Twiiter have both reportedly made mobile a priority for 2012 and are rumored to be finding new mobile advertising opportunities on the sites.

However, Facebook and Twitter are not the only companies clamoring for a piece of the mobile pie.

LinkedIn recently claimed that its mobile page views increased 400 percent year-over-year, showing how consumers are using their devices to stay connected wherever they go (see story).

Although Facebook has publicly said that it is in the middle of developing a mobile advertising platform, marketers do not fully understand yet how to completely take advantage of the social media site.

?Most social companies have already announced a strong focus on social and mobile in 2012, and  businesses such as Klout will be required to have a mobile component looking forward into their strategy,? said Jason Armitage, London-based senior analyst at Yankee Group.

?It is not clear how mobile will be at center of Facebook?s strategy yet, but there is no question that all social media services have turned their attention to mobile as a critical way to access and redesign services to take advantage of how users use social media,? he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York