The Importance of Mobile Content Marketing
Today’s key consumer demographics (18 to 24 year olds and 24 to 34 year olds) live in two worlds – the physical and the digital – and interact with both at the same time. Consumers watch TV shows and tweet their reactions. They Instagram photos of their food and post the pictures on Facebook. Most importantly, when they need an immediate answer, they turn to their smartphones. Whether it’s locating the nearest convenience store or finding the best-reviewed local café, mobile search is the go-to for millions of consumers, and mobile content marketing is the way to reach this audience.
Smartphones
Smartphone usage also drives social networking. Between July 2011 and July 2012, customers increased the time spent using social apps on smartphones or tablets by 76 percent, according to Nielsen and McKinsey’s 2012 social media Report. While the number of users accessing social media via a PC decreased by 5 percent, the amount of time spent by all users increased by 24 percent. Today’s consumers are more deeply engaged in social media than ever before, and when it comes to accessing popular networking sites, mobile apps are the preferred method.
The convergence of mobile search and mobile social networking is reshaping content marketing. Here’s are three things your business can do to take advantage of this trend:
#1: Optimize content for every device
Graphic-rich, flash-based websites are a thing of the past. While these sophisticated sites may look beautiful on a desktop computer screen, potential customers accessing your site via a smartphone or tablet will be unable to use it. optimizing content for a mobile screen provides a far more compelling and useful experience. If you are a small business and have not optimized your website for mobile, this should be your top marketing priority. Easy, do-it-yourself solutions include free WordPress plugins as well as low-cost services like bMobilized, Mobify (which supports mobile eCommerce) and mobiSiteGalore.
#2: Register your business on location-based services
From Facebook to Foursquare, today’s mobile customers are all about checking in wherever they go. Not only does checking in alert their friends to their location, but doing so also provides free publicity for your business. Registering your business is especially important with the introduction of Facebook Graph Search. This newly launched social search tool allows individuals to search their friend’s interests and past check-ins to discover new connections and interests. For example, individuals searching for a great place to eat in a new city can now see which restaurants other friends in the same city have “liked” on Facebook or checked-in to. Should your restaurant come up in the search results, you just may have scored new dinner customers.
#3: Use mobile interaction to drive sales
While mobile eCommerce is exploding, traditional retail sales continue to be an important component to business sales strategy. It’s no longer enough, however, to bring customers into your store; you also need to convince them to purchase your products once they have arrived. Using social media to enhance the in-store shopping experience is an easy way to nudge indecisive customers towards a specific product. For example, adding QR codes to specific product displays would allow customers to scan the code and then quickly access product reviews, including those from individuals in their own social network.
The Bottom line
When it comes to content creation, mobile content will reign supreme in 2013. A mobile-friendly website is an absolute must for every business. The next step is to harness the power of social media to drive customer interaction, generate free publicity, and boost sales.