Mobile Social Media – What You Need to Know
The transition of social media from an activity most carried out on desktop PCs and laptops to one primarily conducted on mobile has been swift – and a lot of social media marketing thinking hasn’t really caught up with the rise of mobile social media. If you’re not including mobile social media in your thinking when planning your social media campaigns then you’re immediately alienating around 50% of your followers and potential customers. That’s not something that you’d allow to happen in any other area of your business so it shouldn’t happen in your social media campaigns. Read on and discover how these mobile social media marketing tips could give your marketing campaigns a serious kickstart.
Why it Works – The Mobile Social Media Numbers
Conventional wisdom once held that clickthrough rates on mobiles would be low since most users only logged on to the web on their mobile phones to do one specific task. They simply wanted to complete that task and get out again as quickly as possible. If that ever was the case then it’s certainly not true anymore – in fact people are using mobile social media during what would otherwise be ‘dead time’… during lunch breaks, commutes and other moments in life when there are few other distractions. This suggests that they are more likely to interact with your content and the numbers certainly seem to reflect this.
The clickthrough ratio for Facebook newsfeed advertisements on mobile is three times higher than on the desktop. Similarly for video ads the clickthrough rate is a very high 11%, compared to only 4.5% on desktop. With rates like these you need to make sure that the page your paid for advertisement points to is mobile compatible and fully responsive.
It’s also worth making sure that you’re aware of recent tweaks to Facebook’s algorithm. In general these have not been good for brand pages and have made it increasingly difficult for brands to reach their followers. There are also a few positive changes however that it’s worth being aware of. For example if a page mentions another relevant brand in its posts then followers of both brands will see it. This doesn’t mean that you’re suddenly going to see billions and billions of impressions just for tagging McDonald’s in one random post but if there’s another brand you work with frequently then it’s well worth tagging them in the occasional post.
Taking Advantage of Mobile Social Media
At the very least you’ll want to avoid features like Flash which don’t work on mobile (and as a general rule are best avoided anyway). Ideally you’ll also create responsive pages that look great on tablets, desktops, laptops and mobiles. Both of these steps will dramatically cut bounce rates which could be poison for your mobile social media strategy. If you need advice on that our digital marketing expert scientists are full of good ideas!
It’s also worth taking time to consider what state of mind people are in when they’re browsing mobile social media. Where are they? What are they doing? How do they feel? What type of content would you click on when you’re sitting on the train home from work? Make sure the content is easily digestible so your readers can hoover it up quickly during a lunch break or whilst standing waiting for someone for two minutes.
For more great social media tips take a look at our free reports which will help you understand just what social media could do for your business. Alternatively get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to talk about how we could help create a social media plan for your business.
