LAKEWOOD RANCH — Phone tag is quickly becoming a new form of interactive mobile marketing.

A new smartphone technology created by Microsoft called Tag is giving businesses a way to instantly connect with consumers on their mobile devices.

The square graphics resemble a postage stamp and, in most cases, feature a company logo that looks like it is covered in confetti. The random mix of pink, blue, yellow and black dots scattered over the logo, however, are digital codes that help the Microsoft Tag act as a barcode.

When photographed by a smartphone, the mobile technology scans the tag and brings up a company website, a promotional video, a coupon or any other content the business has set up to engage consumers on their smartphones.

“It’s a gift from the technology gods,” said Matt Orr, co-founder of the social media marketing company, Hub Sarasota.

Customers can download the mobile application and scan tags for free, and businesses can create their own tags to perform basic functions for free.

The tags, however, get a bit more involved when businesses want to link consumers to videos, coupons and more engaging websites than just basic information like an address, phone number and store hours. That’s when social media professionals are called in to manage the work.

Lee Wetherington Homes is a Lakewood Ranch company that plans to display tags for all of its model homes to link potential home buyers to a virtual tour of the model.

“People who have smartphone technology would be able to preview the home, feel more comfortable about it and want to follow up with us to see it,” said Pete Mason, vice president of sales and marketing for Lee Wetherington Homes.

The social media management of Microsoft Tag is providing a nice revenue boost to local marketing professionals who have the necessary expertise.

“Business as a whole is getting busier,” said Joey Panek, owner of Localsocial.net, a social media marketing firm he established in January. “I think as businesses have had to scale back, especially their marketing budgets, they’re seeing that a lot of traffic is coming from the social media sites. We’ve nearly doubled, I want to say may have tripled in business since Localsocial started.”

Microsoft Tag was introduced in January 2009 and went through nearly 18 months of testing, said Kate McEwan, spokeswoman for Microsoft. During the testing period, McEwan said Microsoft gathered feedback from customers and partners and refined the technology for an official release in May 2010.

“At any given time, there are hundreds of businesses and cities using Tag,” McEwan said. “Since we launched in January 2009, there have been more than one billion tags printed and in just this last April, there were more than 20 million magazines with tags in them.”

Hub Sarasota co-founder Rich Swier estimates his firm has printed about 3,000 Microsoft tags as the social media marketing firm assists Lakewood Ranch in becoming one of the first communities to deploy Tags technology on a citywide scale.

Grapevine Communications, a Sarasota marketing, advertising and public relations firm, too, has gained more business as it helps Lakewood Ranch businesses for a community-wide launch of the program in October.

Angela Massaro-Fain, president of Grapevine Communications, estimates more than 30 percent of her clients have adopted the technology or plan to use it.

“This is a new, exciting tool to add to your tool kit,” Massaro-Fain said. “It’s another extension of your marketing strategy or programs.”

The more than 15 retailers and restaurants in the Lakewood Ranch Main Street shopping plaza plan to have tags in their storefront windows by mid October.

Lakewood Ranch developers Neal Communities and Minto Communities also will begin using the tags on model homes to direct buyers to virtual tours and sales information.

“When we read about the Tags in a trade magazine we thought it was a really cool and unique idea and we reached out and contacted Microsoft in January,” said Candice McElyea, spokeswoman for Lakewood Ranch. “Microsoft loved the fact that we were this huge master planned community and decided to focus on Lakewood Ranch as being the first place in America to be tagged from top to bottom.”

In return, Microsoft is featuring Lakewood Ranch on its Tag website, www.microsoft.com/tag and the company is considering writing a case study on the area’s use of Tag.

“Lakewood Ranch is ideal because its size allows the community to deploy Tag throughout the community in a wide variety of scenarios,” McEwan said.

Balaji Padmanabhan, an associate professor of information systems at the University of South Florida’s College of Business, said he expects the technology to make significant strides in popularity because it uses the phone as a user interface for information.

“The possibilities are endless here,” Padmanabhan said. “From a marketing point of view this is just amazing as it lets the business give consumers information when they otherwise cannot because they may be restrained by a set amount of space.”

Karen Ronney, co-owner of MacAllisters Grill & Tavern, is among the Main Street merchants quickly getting mobile content completed and tags created in time for the community-wide unveiling scheduled for Oct. 11.

MacAllisters will direct consumers to a short video that highlights the restaurant’s menu and events such as trivia night.

Ronney said she expects to dedicate about 20 percent of the restaurant’s marketing budget to Microsoft Tag in an effort to reach more consumers.

“What we’re hoping is that we’re going to attract new people,” Ronney said. “In this economy, people are afraid to try new places. If we can put something in front of them to show them how good MacAllisters is, they will gain the confidence to say let’s try MacAllisters. For me, that’s huge.”

The Polo Grill at Lakewood Ranch worked with Grapevine Communications to develop a Microsoft Tag that will download a coupon or promotion diners can show to their server to save on their meal or catering expense.

Jaymie Klauber, co-owner of the Polo Grill, said she hopes the technology will help set her restaurant apart from others in a tough economy.

“Anything that helps people acquire information about your product quicker is beneficial to businesses in this economy,” Klauber said.