I know you’ve been hearing for years now about the tremendous opportunity that mobile marketing presents; but have you acted on it? How are you reaching your consumers on their mobile devices? How have you optimized your digital presence for mobile?
In my experience, I can tell you that despite smartphone penetration nearing 50%, and tablet penetration expected to reach the same level by 2013, for many businesses, mobile marketing continues to be something that’s talked about, but not acted upon. It’s time to take action.
Following are 6 easy ways to start connecting with your consumers on their mobile devices, that you can have up-and-running tomorrow:
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
A huge number of people use their mobile devices to access social media sites. In fact, roughly 60% of active Facebook users, and 60% of active Twitter users access those sites on their mobile devices. You can optimize your social media marketing efforts by including mobile-friendly updates into your content mix. Pictures and short text-based updates are easy for consumers to absorb on their mobile devices. Updates containing links to longer format content, such as text-heavy blog posts, are going to be difficult for smartphone users to consume.
YELP
The numbers really tell the story here: 1 in 4 searches on Yelp are made on their iPhone app, which has got to be a huge number given the site receives approximately 84 million monthly views. Yelp offers many benefits, so be sure you claim your business on this immensely popular platform, keep an accurate and up-to-date profile, and take advantage of being able to engage with your consumers who write reviews – be they positive or negative.
INSTAGRAM & PINTEREST
The experience of consuming photos on mobile devices holds up incredibly well in comparison to PCs. It’s no wonder that Instagram has become such an incredible success as a mobile only social platform. While Instagram doesn’t boast the same incredible penetration of other major social media players, about 70% of Instagram users are female, which is a hugely compelling statistic given that women make the majority of household purchase decisions. Similarly, roughly 65% of Pinterest users are female, and given Pinterest’s fantastic mobile app design, you can count on mobile driving huge engagement for the platform. If you’re not on Instagram and Pinterest, it’s time to dive in.
FOURSQUARE
Foursquare is primarily a mobile location-based social media network and has logged over 2 billion check-ins since inception just 3 years ago. If your business operates out of brick and mortar locations, take the time to claim your business on Foursquare to take advantage of the free tools at your disposal for connecting with your consumers. Create ‘specials’ to offer discounts, freebies, and loyalty programs, or automatically share updates with your consumers on their mobile devices when they are nearby.
WEBSITE or BLOG
Given that 28% of all internet usage comes from mobile phones, if your website or blog breaks when viewed on a mobile device, the time to fix that problem is now. For some of you, this will be easier than you might think. Many blogging platforms, such as WordPress, offer free templates with mobile counterparts and some themes are built with responsive design to ensure they look great on any screen. If you’ve got a site that has been custom built without thought given to mobile, not to worry. There are many resources available such as Google’s mobile landing page builder to create free mobile sites to provide basic, but critical, information to consumers on the mobile web.
EMAIL MARKETING
82% of consumers check and send email on their mobile devices. If you are running an email marketing campaign, ensure that your email is just as appealing on mobile devices as it is on a PC. Try to keep your emails concise so they aren’t daunting to read on a smartphone, and ensure that any pictures scale properly on mobile screens.
If you manage a business or brand that has yet to dive into mobile marketing, the time to do so is now. As you can see, there are some easy to implement ways to boost your brand’s mobile presence and start connecting with your consumers on their mobile devices.
How do you connect with your consumers on mobile?
If you don’t, what’s holding you back?
It would be great to hear from you in the comments, or on Twitter @RGBSocial