Smartphones are playing an integral part in our daily lives, which explains why we shouldn’t ignore their impact.
Imagine your life without your mobile phone – impossible, right? It was only 15 years ago that we were introduced to clunky bricks such as the Nokia 5110, and you would mostly see them in the hands of businessmen. Now we’re signing up for a new phone every two years, or less if a new model takes our fancy.
“Technology has the shelf life of a banana,” said Scott McNealy, the former CEO of Sun Microsystems. His words ring true if we simply look at the generations of mobile phones we hoard in our own homes. Smartphones have become more affordable and accessible to all ages and income brackets in South Africa over the last few years.
More people than ever before have access to the internet and, with this, the ability to consume rich media through websites and social media platforms.
So mobile makes content marketing all the more exciting and accessible. But can you answer these two burning questions?
1. Is your brand’s content marketing strategy geared to appeal to a growing mobile audience?
2. Is the content you’re creating optimised for the best possible experience on a mobile device?
The stats don’t lie
A case in point is Love Your Home, a digital magazine produced for Builders. From December 2014 to May 2016 there has been a moderate decline in readers accessing the magazine on their desktops and a slow, but steady rise for mobile. Tablet readership has declined, but only marginally.
One might think that smartphones, such as the popular iPhone 6s Plus, with a screen at 5.5 inches, is big enough to bridge that gap between mobile and tablet. Smartphones have become an extension of our lives and technology that we can barely function without. We carry our smartphones with us 24/7, using them for quick Google searches, browsing social media, phone calls, emails, organising our lives through calendars and alarm clocks, GPS, health monitors… the list is endless. You are more likely to have your phone with you than your tablet, which is not as pocketable.
More and more businesses are recognising the impact of mobile. Take the RCS Group, a consumer finance business, which has leveraged this trend through a mobile-first content marketing strategy. According to Effective Measure 63.22 percent of South Africans browse the internet on a mobile phone and 34 percent browse the Internet for three hours or more every day. RCS is riding the wave, showing an increased fanbase of 23.1 percent and increased engagement of 59.5 percent on Facebook within one month of launching their strategy.
The numbers are clearly on the rise. Here’s how, what and where to optimise your content strategy for mobile:
1. Responsive web design, as an example, isn’t always the best solution. Instead, you can enhance a user’s journey by creating a second version of the website specifically optimised for mobile.
2. Don’t overlook social media; test how the creative elements will display across devices – you don’t want copy to be illegible or artwork to be oddly cropped on certain platforms.
3. Mobile requires bigger fonts and buttons.
4. Elements such as pop-ups (on websites and digital magazines, for example) might become a thing of the past as they fail to contribute to a great mobile experience, to be replaced by continuous scrolling content.
5. Don’t get out of bed in the morning if you haven’t got video. Engagement in this medium is at an all-time high. (Read our 10 steps to a V for victory for video content marketing)
6. Ensure you have ace copywriters for mobile.
7. Mobile content (written or video) done well is short and punchy and gets to the point in a flash. It needs to grab people’s attention in an instant. The majority of individuals browsing for content on mobile phones are on the go and want to consume it quickly.
Mobile phones are changing the way we engage with content and they’re influencing our attention span. Smartphones aren’t going anywhere soon and every content marketing strategy should embrace the medium and delight in the opportunities it offers to engage with customers and potential customers. Make sure you don’t get left behind!
Christelle Grobler is Narrative’s art director.
