There is no lacking for advice on the best ways to improve your social media strategies via the latest go-to social networks. Presently, much of the emphasis is on Twitter and Facebook, but not too long ago it was on MySpace and YouTube. Yet, even with the aid of the growing cadre of social media specialists and consultants, advertisers are still finding it difficult to build and execute strategies that resonate with consumers while delivering consistent tangible results.
In my opinion, this is largely due to an overemphasis on online marketing strategies and tactics that consumers have become immune to as they have grown more comfortable and familiar with the internet. To break out of this cycle, advertisers need to focus more of their efforts on getting ahead of social network users with new strategies that intersect with significant shifts in users' behaviors. This will allow advertisers to deliver new value that social network users may not yet know they even need.
An example of a seismic behavioral shift in social networking is the growing number of consumers accessing and managing their social network experiences via their mobile devices. In the short amount of time that mobile access to social networks has been enabled, the adoption rates have been staggering. As an example, MySpace's general manager of mobile, John Faith, recently announced that the firm is experiencing a 450 percent year-over-year growth rate in mobile subscribers and expects that within two years, half of the site's traffic will be from mobile devices. Additionally, Facebook now boasts that it has over 30 million heavily engaged mobile subscribers, in a little less than two years since announcing its mobile plans. This fast growing trend is expected to gain steam as consumer adoption of sophisticated smart phones continues to grow.
So if you are an advertiser eager to tap into the unrealized potential of social network marketing, here are a few reasons that you should consider incorporating mobile into your plans:
- The future of social networks is indelibly tied to mobile: In the eyes of consumers, social networks and mobile phones have become highly synergistic; they use them both to stay connected to the people and things they care about most.
But the two platforms also feed and sustain one another. Consequently, as the market penetration of sophisticated mobile devices continues to grow, so too will the number of consumers accessing their social networks over those devices. In fact, research firm eMarketer forecasts that the number of mobile subscribers accessing social networks from their device will grow from 243 million in 2009 to over 800 million in 2012. Mobile social networking is also driving up usage and sales of mobile data packages -- a fact that hasn't been lost on wireless carriers. And the majority has rushed to build relationship with social network providers to keep consumers on their networks.
- Mobile social networking experiences are becoming ever more compelling. Research firm ABI found in a recent study that presently more than 60 percent of those who presently access a social network on their phone do so mainly to check for messages or comments from friends. However, social networks are moving quickly to integrate a range of advanced mobile functionalities that will make it easier for users to manage pages and share real time experiences via their mobile devices.
For example, location and presence services, such as Loopt, allow users to see one another's location and collaborate using their cell phones. In addition to giving users more reasons to stick around longer on the sites, the hope is also that these new functionalities create attractive marketing opportunities in local advertising and local search for brands that want to engage consumers looking to conduct real-time transactions.
- Mobile social networks could deliver where their desktop counterparts have failed. There is growing evidence that social network users that access sites using their mobile phones are more engaged than those who do not. For example, Facebook recently reported that people who access its site via mobile devices are almost 50 percent more active on the site than non-mobile users.
This is good news for social networks and, potentially, for their advertising partners. The low CTR rates typically associated with social networks advertising are well publicized. Whereas, mobile advertising enjoys a reputation for exceptionally high click-through rates compared to its web counterparts. Combine this with the unique targeting options available on mobiles (geo, device specific, contextual, etc.) and mobile consumers' desire for immediate action when they are on the go and there is the potential for marked improvement in the performance of social networking ad campaigns.
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