Over the last several years, there have been enormous changes to the ways people consume information. Today, we need to think “mobile first” as we prepare any messages, ads, communication, or marketing plans. In fact, mobile devices dominate time online, accounting for over 71% of time spent online by people in the United States (and as another global example, passing 90% in Indonesia).
Facebook, still the most dominant social network by far, has over 70% of users accessing their content by a mobile device among their 1.8 billion active users. It is estimated that in 2020, 75% of mobile traffic will be coming through video views, and Facebook gets over 8 billion video views daily in 2017. This is an astonishing 100% growth for Facebook video in just six months! And Facebook is benefiting financially from this rapid expanse of video and Facebook Live views on mobile devices – over 85% of Facebook ad revenue is now from mobile. Digital advertising on mobile devices is growing exponentially – up over 22% in 2016 to $72.5 billion. Despite this, only 10% of ad dollars are spent on mobile ads despite the trends showing a majority of the average user’s time is spent on a mobile device.
Interestingly, 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, which makes sense since so many users are watching on their smartphone in places where sound may not be well received (school, work, public transportation, while with family and friends, etc.). With this in mind, some brands and mobile advertisers are producing videos with captions, and a study shows this increases watch time by 12%. Even if Facebook moves to a system of video autoplay, which would play sound automatically when the video plays, silent videos with captions may still be the best bet. Over 80% of viewers react negatively to videos with automatic sound.
Also, because a mobile device by definition is transportable and normally with a user at all times, there is much potential regarding reaching a potential consumer at any time and any where. Local searches for products and services have much higher success rate of resulting in a purchase on a mobile phone (78%) than a PC/Laptop (61%). Researchers have referred to mobile consumer activity as “upper funnel”, involving activities like search, comparing products and price with competitors, and finding locations to complete the transaction.
With all of this in mind, here are a few quick tips to be sure you are taking advantage of our “mobile first” world:
• be sure your website is 100% optimized in mobile formats.
• provide information to consumers that they will want, need, and is relevant to their current circumstances.
• coordinate online customer experiences at all touch points so they are positive, coordinated, and satisfying.
Need help? Contact the digital experts at Reach Beyond Marketing!