10 Ways to Use Social Media and Mobile Devices to Connect with Consumers

The one sure thing about targeted marketing in this digital age, it is that your target is always moving!

First, there was online marketing, then social media marketing, and now, “moving” is the operative word, as the first place that most people will ever engage with your brand is on a mobile device. According to the most recent survey published by eMarketer, “for the first time ever, US consumers will spend more time using their mobile devices than watching TV, with smartphone use dominating that time spent.” The survey went on to say that, “The average US adult will spend 3 hours, 43 minutes (per day) on mobile devices in 2019, just above the 3:35 spent on TV.”

Certainly, this is a market you want to tap into. However, you must adjust your digital marketing strategy to be most effective with a mobile device. People do not engage with digital content the same way on a phone, or even a tablet, as they might on a desktop.

This is particularly true when it comes to Social Media Marketing, with the majority of users of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, accessing these sites from their phones or tablets.

Here then, are 10 ways to optimize your online marketing experience for mobile devices.

1. Optimize Your Facebook Tabs – As mentioned in the intro, most users of Facebook are accessing the site from their mobiles, so you must make sure your Facebook tabs are optimized for these devices. You can probably find a template to do this on your own by searching, or I recommend a third party app provider that specializes in this area such as Woobox, ShortStack or Tabsite.
2. Make Use of Locality Specific Apps – One of the best ways to maximize the immediacy of marketing to a smartphone is to use location specific apps. These are like coupons that “pop up” on user’s phones while they are in a Target store, or “Free Drinks” or “2 for 1” appetizers for people waiting to get a table at a specific restaurant.
3. Twitter Campaigns – As with Facebook, your Twitter campaigns need to be optimized for mobile users. Some tips to do so are to be sure to leave room for retweets, use hashtags appropriately, and be sure to tweet about big events relating to your business while they are happening.
4. Make Use of “Mobile Only” Networks – Be sure to include “mobile only” networks, such as Instagram, as part of your content marketing strategy (CMS). Instagram is becoming exceedingly popular, particularly among the 18-34 demographic, and it has the advantage of being able to post both pictures and videos. Publishing to Instagram allows you to integrate your content with other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
5. Size Does Matter – When it comes to creating mobile content, you have to be brief, not only because people are likely to be in hurry and on the move, but you must “get small,” and make sure your content is the right size to be engaging on the smaller screens of phones and tabs.
6. Local Search – Similar to hyper local apps, but less interactive, you must be sure that you come up on a local search. To do so, submit your mobile website to Google My Business. Also make sure your complete address is listed. People searching on mobile are likely to be using a “local search” and you want to be able to be found.
7. Have a Mobile Friendly Blog – Again, if you have a blog as part of your CMS (and you should!) talk to your web designer to make sure it is mobile friendly and easy to be accessed and read on mobile devices.
8. Eliminate Redundancy – People who are using their mobiles to stay abreast of things, generally do not “log in” and out of the various sites they may be following you on, but stay logged in for real time updates. So, you want to try not to send out the same message, at the same time, to all of your mobile marketing platforms to avoid “message fatigue.”
9. Monitor Mobile “on the go.” – You know the old adage – “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Your customers do not stop interacting with your social media presence as soon as you leave your office for some reason, or when your workday is over. So, you need to be able to monitor how they are interacting with your mobile presence 24/7. Make sure you, or whoever is responsible for your CMS, have mobile alerts set up on their own mobile devices for when significant posts are made about your business by your followers.
10. Vouchers and Discounts – Voucher services such as Groupon and Living Social have become a boon to service oriented business. If you are using such vouchers, make sure you are leveraging all of their mobile marketing opportunities, such as geo-location, referrals, mobile sharing, etc.

What it all comes down to is this. A person shopping online using a mobile device as opposed to a desktop is in a different mindset. They are already “on the go” and probably in need of making an immediate decision, as opposed to doing some casual research in the comfort of their home in a robe and slippers.

You must adjust your mobile marketing strategy specifically to grab that customer who is ready to take immediate action.

What do you think of these mobile marketing strategies? Are there any you use we may have left out? Please reply in the comments below.