I find more and more people browsing and updating Facebook and Twitter in the train on my way to the office in the morning. Everyone with a mobile phone turns into a mobile reporter, updating friends about their status and what they experience.
Mobile interaction is on the rise, and consumers are always looking for new things to do with their new mobile toys. Are you ready, marketers? Check out the four initiatives you can make for 2010.
1. Get Your Websites Mobile Ready
More than 2.5 billion consumers will subscribe to 3G worldwide by 2013, according to a Parks Associates report. Parks Associates predicts more than 1 billion of those subscribers will be in Asia alone. The spread of 3G means continued expansion of smartphones and mobile capabilities.
The question will be no longer whether people have one smartphone but how smart the phone is. According to eMarketer, the most commonly used smartphone functions, on average, were the Internet (80% of respondents), camera (74%) and e-mail (73%). Mobile applications especially iphone apps have recently received a lot of attentions. However, for many marketers, preparing a mobile friendly website is a higher priority.
The growth in smartphone ownership means more mobile users will use them to surf the web. Your website should render cleanly on a mobile browser and be easy for mobile users to navigate; having a separate mobile website is another option.
2. Experiment & Integrate SMS Marketing
GfK NOP and Limbo (now Brightkite) estimated that 83% of 18-to-24-year-olds and 85% of 25-to-34-year-olds were sending text messages at the end of 2008. An eROI poll found in 2008 that text messages were the preferred method of communication of high school and college students—topping e-mail, social networking communications and instant messaging.
SMS popularity and consumers’ willingness to interact with brands via SMS indicates an opportunity for marketers. You can start by building a mobile subscriber list, promoting and integrating through other channels such as search engine, online display, eDM (email), social media and/or in-store.
SMS can have an immediate impact on foot traffic and a well-timed SMS promotion can drive traffic in a matter of minutes, allowing you to quickly respond to events.
This is an SMS promotion message I received during Christmas and many friends of mine who subscribed to Singapore Tourism Board also received this message.Free things often come in a hard way; when we arrived at the museum, the queue was very very very long and we had to change our plan.
3. Prepare for More Mobile Sharing
Mobile social networks are not separate marketing channel but an extension of the social networking sites. Make your content (event, promotions, new product launch,…) sharable among consumers and it helps spread your message to other types of users through mobile social networks.
4. Test Mobile Display Advertising
Mobile display advertising has shown the most impact on unaided brand awareness among mobile display, SMS, and mobile video and it’s second to SMS in aided brand awareness and purchase intent.
If mobile display advertising is new to you, start testing with Google AdWords.
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