I find that generally there are two types of blog posts about Google Analytics reporting: Analytics 101 and Analytics 401. Analytics 101 posts explain the simple, out-of-the-box dashboard reports that anyone can generate without really learning too much about Google Analytics. Analytics 401 posts push deeper- explaining processes for looking for more customized, specific data. But what about Analytics 201 or 301 – things that you can do out-of-the-box, with just a little extra effort to customize the data for your specific business needs?

The purpose of this post is to fill that gap for those who want to dive deeper into Analytics, but aren’t quite ready to install specific code on their site or create custom reports with 15 different metrics. If you didn’t understand that last part – this post is for you!

1. IP Address Filters

IP Address Filters are a must! By using these filters, you can exclude all visits from a specific IP address or IP range. This can include visits from within your organization or from partners/agencies that you work with. Enabling this filter will allow you to get a clear picture of behavior solely from the online visitors you want to be tracking. Unfortunately, filters only start working once you create them.

Note: Always have one profile that has no filters whatsoever. This provides you with a back-up profile that is capturing all website activity.

To Implement:

- Create a new profile under your website account. Be sure to give it an appropriate name so you know which filters you have applied to this new profile.

- Under your new profile, create a new filter, which excludes the IP addresses of the traffic you want to segment out of this profile. There is the option to select a specific IP address under the Predefined Filters or you can create a Custom Filter to exclude an IP range using RegEx. Don’t worry Analytics 101-ers, here is a cheat sheet for creating RegEx.

2. Advanced Segments

Advanced Segments are a great tool when you want to look at the website behavior of visitors from a specific source. Unlike filters, Advanced Segments work within your existing profiles for data that has already been captured. For example, if you enable Google Analytics tracking on links within an email, you can then look at the most popular pages from that email, the time these visitors were on your site, and whether or not any converted. Other advanced segments include visitors from online advertising, visitors with conversions who do not come from paid search, and visitors who viewed a specific page on a website. These segments will help you narrow down exactly how users from various sources are behaving to better understand which sources are most likely to engage with content and convert.

To Implement:

- On the top of your Analytics site, find the drop down for Advanced Segments and create a new custom segment.

- Choose the appropriate include or exclude option – source, goal completions, landing page, etc. Use the “or” and “and” options to create a more customized segment.

- Give the new custom segment an appropriate name, and apply to your report.

3. Navigation Summary

The Navigation Summary allows you to track the most common paths through your website. The more segments you use this for, the more likely you are to identify the site paths your visitors travel. For example, try comparing the navigation summary for visitors with conversions against all visitors to identify the pages on your site most likely to drive conversions.

To View:

-  Start by choosing the Landing Page option in the left menu of Google Analytics, and select the top landing page on the site – which will most likely be your homepage.

- Find the Navigation Summary: in the old version, select Navigation Summary from the right menu. In the new version, select Navigation Summary above the main graph on the page.

- Track the top viewed pages from each page to create a diagram showing how visitors travel through your site. Move on to the second most viewed or third most viewed pages should you find cycles in your traffic patterns.

- I use a scratch piece of paper for this process using arrows to create a flow chart showing the most common next page, the second most common next page, and so on until I end up with a diagram that looks like this:

4. Branded vs. Non-Branded Organic Search

Organic search (non-paid visits from search engine results pages) is essential for reaching new customers who may not know that your business provides the solution they need. However, many times organic search traffic is visitors simply looking for the name of the company (branded). Therefore, by comparing the number of branded organic search visitors against the number of non-branded organic search visitors, you can determine the reach of your company to people who are not already familiar with your brand.

To Implement:

- Create an advanced segment that includes organic search visitors AND excludes all possible variations of your brand name. Be sure to have each exclusion under AND not OR to ensure you remove all branded keyword searches.

- Compare this segment against the total number of organic search visitors to find the number of branded organic search visitors versus non-branded organic search visitors.

5. Annotations

Annotations allow you to mark up your Analytics data with important dates, events, etc. so that you can correlate specific marketing efforts with changes in website data. If you are using multiple profiles, be sure to include annotations on each profile as they do not transfer from one to the other.

To Implement:

- In the main graph on any page in Google Analytics, highlight the date of the activity you want to track.

- Select “Create new annotation…” and title the activity.

- After saving, a small comment box will appear on your chart indicating an event happened on that day.

Questions? Feel free to contact me @mynameisarden or email us at info@r2integrated.com.

One way we stay on top of available talent is by visiting college campuses. In early December, along with Kevin Schreiner, r2i’s Chief Software Architect, I went to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), a top university for social analytics research and technical computer science curriculum. Their social analytics center has worked with a number of companies, including Tom’s of Maine, Microsoft and Yahoo, to develop a repository of unique data sets pertaining to user behavior in social information sharing.

This visit was a follow up to our participation in CMU’s Capstone project, a highly selective program that teams CMU’s Masters in IS, Marketing and Business Management students with outside organizations. As part of their graduation requirements and to give them “real world” experience, students complete a complex IS project for one of the partner corporate organizations. We were one of only six companies selected to take part in the fall 2011 event.

Our particular group of students –five wickedly smart and diverse engineers, marketers and business analysts — worked to develop Proof of Concepts for R2i Seemor & R2iSMASH™. Seemor is a social conversation aggregator and analytics engine aimed at the enterprise marketing team. R2iSMASH is a social media platform that drives brand engagement by aggregating conversations across social networking sites into one, highly interactive presentation window.

The objective for the Capstone project, as defined by r2i, was to have the students provide more insight and advanced analysis of social conversations focusing on the subject titles within a large data sample of online conversation source streams such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums and user generated comments (UGC). Results would aid users by recommending better ways to identify the conversations organizations should participate in as well as the authors with the greatest influences.

The task was challenging and the students worked all semester under r2i guidance. The culmination of their efforts was showcased to a packed room of fellow students, professors and advisors. We were led through a very technical and enlightening presentation and subsequent Q&A. In the end, the students, working with very large database sets and advanced language parsing algorithms, gained greater insight into the world of social analytics. R2i received a set of artifacts that included the data model, research results, an in depth analysis and recommendations for implementation.

R2i mixed recruitment with the Capstone project review, by leading a lunch session later that day with more than 30 graduate students from the Heinz School at CMU. We have hired CMU graduates in the past and on this trip we were looking for candidates for several full time and internship positions as well as talking with students about new technologies and development language methodologies and paradigms taking hold.

The two-way discussion was flowing, lively and very relevant. This group didn’t disappoint, responding with well-thought responses and questions. We left very impressed with the students we’d met and with many resumes to review for our open positions.

For more information about the Capstone project and r2i recruitment efforts, please contact us at info@r2integrated.com.

I should preface this blog by saying that I’m a full-blown social nerd. So, you can imagine my excitement when @LIVESTRONGCEO Doug Ulman sent 2 tweets out mentioning my handle @samiNJ58. I know- you can’t control your excitement for me, right? Neither could I…those two tweets had me shouting (well, tweeting) from the rooftop about my social shout out from one of cancers biggest butt-kicking social CEO’s.

While it was a quick trip, which did involve an interesting night watching mechanical bull riding, R2i Chief Technology Officer, Chris Chodnicki and I had time for a serious conversation and workshop with the more than 140 member organizations who share the common (and obviously amazing) goal of improving the survival rates and quality of life for young adults with cancer, about the importance of social media and community building in the non-profit and association sector.

Challenges Facing Non-Profits and Associations

As we are all painfully aware, the current economy has created a challenging landscape for traditional non-profits. The sheer number of individuals needing access to information and services has increased, while fundraising to support the organization’s mission has become harder to achieve. The infographic below demonstrates a number of the overall challenges faced by these organizations, which need more effective, efficient and cost-effective ways to connect with current and potential members and donors.

Chris and I talked with the LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance about how social media marketing can help organizations better engage, connect and understand their audiences and get people they need (influencers, evangelists and stakeholders) involved in their organization’s mission to help build greater awareness.

We were clear with our audience: it’s not enough to set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account and hope for the best… #FAIL. That’s not social media marketing, and it certainly doesn’t qualify as a social engagement strategy. We encouraged them to keep four things in mind when developing a true social media strategy:

So, “Why does true engagement matter?” It’s more than increasing numbers and capturing an extended following; it’s about the development of stronger and more loyal community dedicated to supporting your cause. The importance of yearlong community building affects all aspects of the goals non-profits and other like associations have: Driving membership, fundraising, dues, and cultivating relationships with donors and sponsors.

As a result, the expanding community becomes a more intense, organic extension of planned message outreach. Cultivating these relationships allows for more efficient and effective disseminating of information, the recruitment of new members, and the outreach for donations and dues, becomes a much more fluid and welcome process. Another added benefit: the organization’s maintenance of legacy relationships and sponsorships becomes more targeted and much less time-intensive. #WINNING.

Social Aggregation and Community Building

The LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance is one of a number of non-profits and associations, including the Ulman Cancer Fund and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (Maryland Chapter) that are simultaneously using the combination of their branded social platforms and the social web to extend their brand and expand its community. How are they doing this? Good question. One key is using R2ISMASH™.

R2ISMASH™, meet reader. Reader, meet R2ISMASH™. Now that we’re all friends, let’s explain. An R2ISMASH™, page is a completely customized social media platform that drives brand engagement by aggregating conversations across social networking sites into one, interactive window. Still with me?

This customized screen and page design aggregates real-time social content from your online branded properties and digital campaigns. So, combining live streaming video, tweets, posts, texts, photos, conversations and blogs delivers a dynamically changing gallery of content and conversation, attracts additional online audiences, builds community and further engages. Not to mention, it gives your community a single access point to relevant content and a seamless platform to engage with each other. Could it be any cooler? Click on the image below to view the live SMASH instance now.

R2i developed a SMASH instance for the Young Adult Alliance, designing a highly interactive portal, which inherently promotes social community sharing and interaction. Talk about a good old fashion cancer-bashing butt-whopping by the masses.

The LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance SMASH site, links 1.5 million LIVESTRONG Facebook followers and over 153,000 Twitter followers to an abundance of relevant content all in one place. Followers can read intimate stories and engage with people who share similar interests, which in turn, drives new additional conversations and community building. The news section of the LIVESTRONG SMASH includes links to the LIVESTRONG blog, where bloggers regularly engage with each other related to the Alliance mission.

Social Media Monitoring: Begin with a Social Audit

We also discussed the importance of social media monitoring in terms of analytics and analysis. Sure, it’s great to have a large following, but have you really assessed who you are talking to? Are you talking to yourself? Are half your Facebook fans family members of employees? If you don’t know your community, you better start investigating.  A Social Audit allows you to see who is engaging with your community and who isn’t. Some key benefits of an audit:

• Evangelists & stakeholders are promptly identified and rewarded; the engagement process becomes more efficient & effective on owned & un-owned properties.
• You are able to identify content that’s working & where it’s successful, allowing you to create more compelling socially shareable content and your reach and relevance is much more highly targeted.
• Most importantly, community engagement becomes organic on both sides: your community does the work for you by sharing stories with each other and engaging with each other, and your organization is able to quickly identify trending topics and the best times to engage.

While we didn’t have time to walk through a full-blown social media analytics strategy, we did leave the community with a high-level baseline benchmark to get them started. Click here to view the presentation and recommended metrics and tools to start your social media analytics benchmark.

We believe our meeting with the LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance will push individual members to see that with a better understanding and application of social aggregation, marketing and community building they can increase audience engagement. They’ll give more visitors access to highly inspiring content and resources, as well as a place to talk openly with each other and with the organizations.

And if they remembered nothing else, we left them with the following:

• Get your house in order: Do an audit & make sure you’ve got the basics covered
• Publish audience-centered content that is valuable, sharable & supports your mission
• Engage members & build relationships with influencers & brand advocates throughout the year

Questions? Feel free to contact Chris (@cchodnicki) or myself (@samiNJ58) to learn more about @R2integrated’s social media strategies and R2ISMASH™.

.Net is a programming model for building web applications. A content management system is a web application that allows organizations to easily manage all of their website’s content (think video, images, documents, links, brand messaging, etc.). Open source means the platform’s creator, Shaun Walker, released the platform including its source code to the community (community = IT geeks who like to tinker with new technologies in their free time). He did this hoping they would use it and improve upon his foundation which they did. In the fall of 2006 DNN Corporation was established as the steward of the DNN platform by its creator Shaun Walker and 3 others.

I only outline the history of DNN because for this blog post to make sense to those not familiar with DNN I need to go back in time and set the stage before I start my cautionary tale.

So from 2007 – 2011, I have slowly gotten to know the community of DNN users and the DNN Corp team. Since I am in Business Development, I don’t intimately use the platform, but I do encourage people to adopt the platform and have recently begun selling DNN’s Professional & Enterprise Edition (more on this in the next paragraph).

While at DNN World I saw many familiar faces including clients, other DNN partners and the DNN Corp team. It was great to see everyone. The conference kicked-off with Shaun Walker’s keynote. I was very impressed. Shaun was polished, the music was upbeat, the lighting was dramatic and the stage’s backdrop was ideal – clean, crisp and bright. Shaun spoke about the conference’s focus on Cloud, Mobile and Social (CMS – get it?) but he also spoke about DNN’s identity, DNN’s essence. He described it as Yin and Yang; both opposing forces yet both needing one another to be complete. The Yin and the Yang he was referring to are the two sides of DNN, the FREE community edition and the PAID professional edition. The community edition is free and supported by the community. The professional edition is sold as a paid license model. It offers some additional functionality and is supported by DNN Corp but also benefits from the community’s support. Shaun argued that while both are different models and seemingly opposing forces the Yin and the Yang of DNN’s model will, in fact, be the key to its success.

I think this went over well with attendees. For newbies it just made sense but for those old timers who have been around for 3-4 years it was the message they had been hearing from DNN’s founders for many years. Community is important and we will always support the community. This level of community commitment has been demonstrated over the years, as Shaun has rejected ideas that did not maintain the community model.

After the first 4 hours at the conference it occurred to me, DNN is growing up. They were organized, they were polished; the conference ran like a well-oiled machine I felt like a proud parent watching my child enter the business world. The only problem was something didn’t feel right. I couldn’t put my finger on it until I walked into lunch on the last day of the conference with Shaun and a handful of the DNN Corp team. I looked at the group of them and commented that they looked like a bunch of parochial school boys in their conference uniforms of khaki pants and white oxford DNN Corp shirts. And then it struck me, DNN was trying to grow-up too fast and they had lost some of their essence, their identity, their personality.

Shaun Walker has been the face of DNN since the beginning and Shaun is a badass (at least he dresses like one)! For those who have never met Shaun, he spikes his hair, wears a puka shell necklace and his daily uniform consists of a black t-shirt and camouflage shorts.

DNN Corp recognizes Shaun’s appeal and leveraged his look in the limited edition Shaun Walker Bobble Head which was given away to 50 lucky folks at the conference. (Malik Kahn from PointClick even jumped into the pool at night with his clothes on to win a Shaun Walker Bobble Head!) But, I’m worried that the badass Shaun will be reserved for the community, the Yin. From what I saw, the Yang, the enterprise Shaun and the rest of DNN Corp lacked some of that badass flair. Hey, I get it. You’re selling to the big dawgs now. You need to grow-up. But as you start to find your way, remember where you came from. I would argue that even the enterprise could use an injection of badass every now and then. DNN Corp stay true to your roots, DNN was built by a rebel with a cause. He is the face of the platform. Maybe next year at DNNWorld the team can wear khaki pants, white oxford DNN Corp shirts AND a puka shell necklace. Add a little Yin to your Yang – remember what Shaun said, the Yin AND the Yang will be the key to DNN’s success.

To view video, pictures, blogs, tweets, the Shaun Walker Bobble Head and the DNN conference uniform check-out http://www.dnnworld.r2ismash.com.

Lori Ulloa, R2integrated Senior Web Strategist and in-house SEO guru, recently presented “Mobile Marketing, SEO & Visibility: Why You Should Care,” to the Baltimore Chapter of the American Marketing Association. From the importance of a mobile strategy for your organization to best practices in structuring your mobile site for search, Lori covers it all. Click on the presentation below to learn more.

Questions about R2integrated’s mobile website and mobile app design?

R2i Boston Office President Andy Maddocks joined six other panelists who were tasked with defining and explaining what the word “influence” means in today’s socially networked world.  The panel, titled “Redefining Influence,” addressed how to identify who the real relevant influencers for your brand are, how to reach them and educate them effectively and then how to monitor and track their influence.

Below are experts from Maddocks’ panel discussion at IMS –

“I see it (influence) as the power that affects a person or course of events.  It operates in the big picture with any apparent or direct effort. Influence acts in the background.  The power of influence affects consumer behavior and the way we get it is through reach. Our reach evokes discussions and the influences that respond to those discussions drive engagement.  From that we can refine our efforts and do it better the next time.”

View the entire panel discussion below:

R2i wants to know: In this ever-increasing connected world, what does “influence” mean to you and how is it woven into your everyday life?

As a follow up, Tatango has released a new infographic highlighting HOW people are using smartphones (including text messaging).  With smartphone penetration at 40 percent, it’s interesting from a marketing AND development standpoint how people are using smartphones (see infographic below).

The first thing that jumps out is the heavy internet browsing usage.  From an organization deciding on whether to build a native or mobile optimized application this would be front and center justification of sticking to a web mobile solutions as a more effective platform and distribution model.

One other point is the heavy use of navigation.  So the cross section of text messaging with location centric messaging is only going to continue to grow.

Check out the infographic and let me know what you think and how you’re using your smartphone.

r2i: Please describe the Ubergizmo mission. What differentiates Ubergizmo from it’s competitors?

Hubert: Put in a nutshell, we have created Ubergizmo to “share the gadget love”. This means sharing our passion for consumer technologies, but only because it’s cool in itself, but more importantly because it makes our lives better. Every site has a different take and we respect and enjoy many of them. However, Ubergizmo is different because although we’re geeks, we don’t “speak geek” and we think that tech blogging should be enjoyable and drama-free for all. Also, Eliane Fiolet and I have both worked in the tech industry where we built real products. It’s great to have been on both sides of the fence.

r2i: How would you describe the Ubergizmo community?

Eliane: Our community is geek at the core but also power users and regular consumers who are interested in the latest mobile and electronic devices, unlike other tech blog we have a higher percentage of women” according to a survey we get 22% female readers on the site and our Facebook fan page has 25% of women.

Hubert: Interestingly, most tech website are designed “for guys”: they are square and blue/gray. Ubergizmo’s design is gender neutral and cross-cultural. We have received props from every single continents from happy users.

r2i: What type of content is most popular with your community?

Hubert: The one type of content that gets the most positive user feedback is our in-depth reviews. We get incredible comments that praise our pragmatic approach to user reviews, such as:

“This has to be one of the best reviews I’ve ever read about any electronic product.”
“Excellent review. As others have pointed out, very balanced and very comprehensive, one of the best reviews I have read, on any product, period”
“Let me just say that this review is great.. the best I read so far.”
“The only other thing I wanted to say was that this article was probably one of the fairest reviews I have read in a long time. thanks for that”

Eliane: The Apple rumors get a lot of traction and articles with humorous, unexpected or weird stories are highly popular as well, examples:
Teenage girl in China said to sell virginity for iPhone 4
Ostrich pillow lets you sleep at your desk.
Google user’s account deleted: 7 years of digital life gone

r2i: What changes have you seen in the buying behavior of your readers in the last 12 months?

Eliane: More people are thinking of buying a high end Android Smartphone right now, this is a change that we have seen in the past 6 months, especially since Android devices got 4G and are more elegantly designed than two years before (hardware and software).

Hubert: Because our readers are so diverse, it’s hard to view them as one group. That said, I find readers to be much more savvy than let’s say 10 years ago. Even though they might not (or want to) be tech experts, they are better informed than before. I believe that people pay much more attention to usage models and “lifestyle” attributes than pure performance qualities of products.

r2i: What technology innovations will have the most impact on how consumers evaluate and purchase the products you cover?

Eliane: Reliable & fast connectivity, computing power and battery life are the 3 key features that consumers are looking at when buying a new mobile device. The “Smart Device” trend, started at CES 3 years ago with the connectivity of TVs will spread more. We project that Android will be in more devices than just smartphones and tablet, camera would be the next device to get the Google OS. With the emergence of the iPhone as the primary camera from which Flickr user are now uploading pictures online, passing the Nikon DSLR as #1 position, it is obvious that consumer cameras will have to be a lot smarter.

r2i: Do you see yourself as a blogger, website, or news organization?

Eliane: We have been invited on a regular basis to top industry press conferences since 2007, reporting tech news from the same room as leading traditional media outlets, so we can consider Ubergizmo as a media outlet that reports the tech news with a blog style. Our business model is not much different from traditional media outlets, and we probably share most of the advertisers.

Hubert: Beyond the terminology, we think that what matters is the added-value that we bring to our readers, whether it is in news curation, opinion, or product reviews – that is really what makes a real difference.

r2i: What is the biggest competitive challenge you face in the marketplace?

Eliane: As we do not belong to a huge media network as some of our competitors do, we have to be smarter when it comes to market ourselves. Consumer electronics news is a highly competitive space, very few blogs are profitable in this business (we are).

Hubert: To follow-up on Eliane’s idea, there are hundreds of millions who may like Ubergizmo, but they simply don’t know that we exist

r2i: What tips do you have for brand marketers who want to engage with your site and readers?

Hubert: Respect them. Smart companies understand that their customers are smart and know where to get the information. The old communication tricks don’t work anymore, and those who believe that a “good” marketing campaign can sell “just about anything” won’t be successful in the long run, if at all. Marketers must also have intellectual honesty and the ability to accept criticism (and react to it). Don’t tell our readers why your product is cool, tell them why it will make their life better.

Eliane: We have seen brands trying to influence readers in the comments in a phony way, we can always guess that the information they provide is not genuine and too marketing-oriented, I would suggest to communicate differently and provide information that is genuinely useful to our readers.

Example of QR Code

This is what is called a “Quick Response Code”, aka QR Code. (There Microsoft* also produces it’s own version called an MS Tag Code) You may see them in airports, in magazines, at events or even as your mobile boarding pass.

QR Codes are an experience that is only available to smartphone users. You must download a barcode scanner application (there are many available for iOS, Android and Blackberry), open the app, aim your camera at the code and then start scanning away. The QR Code can deliver a wide variety of content, like a webpage, rich media, a downloadable file, a Phone Number or an SMS. Undeniably, mobile is becoming a critical part of our daily lives and brands are beginning to leverage QR code technology to connect with their customers while on the go.

Back in March Google officially decided to end support for the use of QR codes, the 2D barcodes readable by camera-equipped mobile phones, in its business listings service Google Places. But, according to Scanbuy’s latest trend report, QR Codes are now being scanned more than 1D barcodes for the first times since the second quarter of 2010.

Here are a few examples of what various entities have been doing.

NYC Building Permits
The city that never sleeps is tapping into how tech savvy their population is by adding QR Codes to all NYC Building Permits by 2013. By scanning the QR Codes, NYC residents will be able to access information about the project directly from their mobile, as well as read complaints or violations. Through a simple click, they can easily make complaints of their own. (link)

Learning More About Your Wine
For those just starting to delve into the complexities of wine, the landscape can be a scary place. One company Cellar Key is trying to simplify that for the more tech inclined by including QR Code tags on their wine bottles, so customers can scan the code and get more information about the wine they are looking at purchasing, including videos & food pairings. (link)

Prevent Climbing Injuries
Little Giant Ladder Systems now includes QR codes on product packaging and ladder labels so consumers can easily view safety, instructional and product demo videos in-store or in the comfort of their home. (link)

Here are five things to consider doing before you begin using QR codes to promote your business.

Commit to mobile. The results of a study done on Fortune 50 companies, entitled “The Fortune 50 Use of Mobile,” showed that while 62% are reaching out to stakeholders with some form of mobile communications (mobile-optimized websites, mobile applications, SMS/text messaging, or QR codes), only 39% of these companies are highlighting their mobile offerings or optimizing their corporate website for a mobile browser.

Remember it’s a mobile experience. Think about the devices and operating systems your customers are using, as well as the location where they will encounter, the QR code. QR codes give you the ability to target the right information to your audience at the right place and time.

Think about what’s ‘behind the code’. Since QR codes offer so many opportunities to engage with your customers, think carefully about what they may discover by scanning codes. You’ll want them to continue to scan the codes when they see them on subsequent occasions. Consider the place and context for the code, the content you attach to it, and the customer’s mindset when they access it.

Convert shoppers to customers. In the example above, Cellar Key is giving the customer the information they need to make a buying decision while the product is in hand. They mitigate the “I’ll have to remember to get that” moment that can come with reading reviews online from home. Or provide an instant coupon to reward your browsers for scanning your code.

Optimize all of your digital content for mobile users. If your customers are going to use their phones to scan your code, make sure after you’ve trained them to do so they can continue to stay connected with your brand through their mobile device.

Want to learn more about QR Codes? Mashable has become the go to source for information about how brands are utilizing QR codes (or other 2D codes, like the MS Tag Code). Stay up to date on the latest by following their QR Code tag.

BONUS: Curious about how it all started with QR Codes? Check out this great infographic from JumpScan (they help you create your very own QR Code).

Blogroll references.
Clickz
Search Engine Watch
BizReport
ReadWriteWeb
eMarketer
GigaOm