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The year is quickly coming to an end!
And as usual, CMOs, marketers and everyone is talking about the new and compelling marketing trends to watch out in the next year to stay ahead or avoid falling behind.
Many marketers are having mobile as their medium of focus. Since it is quickly taking the lead in the digital advertising landscape especially in social media marketing.
For the first time, in late 2016, mobile and tablet internet usage exceeded desktop worldwide according to StatCounter.
Since then, mobile has become an integral part of any social media marketing. This is one of the reasons why you need a mobile-friendly website to be able to increase your traffic as well as improve Google rankings.
Another report by ComScore reveals that digital media time in the US has tremendously increased over a couple of years.
It has grown more than 50% since 2014, with about 90% of the growth directly attributed to the use of mobile apps. This makes mobile to account for nearly 70% of digital media time!
These statistics tell the story!
There is a lot in store for businesses embracing mobile marketing.
Let’s try to understand where mobile marketing is heading by un-packaging some of the top mobile marketing trends that will change the way brands and marketers work with technology, their consumers and to each other.
1. Never ignore message engagement with your mobile customers
Messaging apps for mobile devices continue to draw a lot of interest. Talk of Snapchat, WhatsApp, Line, Apple’s Messenger and Facebook Messenger; all remain to be very strong.
These messaging apps have millions of active users every month. With data prices falling rapidly, mobile devices becoming cheaper and mobile app features becoming better than ever before, we are seeing an immense growth.
The rise of in-app chatbots has caused marketers to not only target potential customers on social channels but also led them to target potential customers inside of smartphone application.
Excellent examples would include the chatbot introduced by Uber, as well as the helpful assistance available to help people place an order at Dominos.
In last few years, we have also observed the evolution of social media networking. While these networks were once a place for friends and family to connect, it is now also a channel for brands to engage with their customers.
This is expected for the mobile messaging apps too.
While opting for the messaging apps, as a marketer, you, however, need to be cautious all the time.
Remember, social networks are personal for the potential customer. Here users are used to connecting only with those they personally know in most cases.
Chances are therefore high that introducing brands into such channels may not go well, since potential customers may be hesitant to click or communicate with the brand.
To go about this in the best way possible, you will need to determine what your target market needs most. Then use that factor to your advantage.
For instance, you can start with customer service! Here you give your target audience a chance to ask queries and resolve certain issues.
This is meant to build trust before you delve into deeper engagements with additional content and services.
2. Make the most of the location-based marketing
This is a mobile generation. Thus brands have started to realize how crucial location-based marketing is when engaging with their customers.
Over the last few years, impressive grounds for location-based app services were initiated. And coming years certainly project to take these discoveries to the next level.
This is the future of mobile marketing where brands will manage to offer their customers real-time deals based on the locations as captured in their mobile apps.
Embracing location-based technology can greatly become the top aspect of your brand’s mobile marketing strategy. Big possibilities are likely to open up once consumers agree to such a relationship.
Location data is one way projected to be crucial in boosting the way brands creates a more personalized experience for their customers, and that is going to become a crucial part of mobile marketing in the coming years.
3. Mobile site load speeds dictate the effectiveness of mobile marketing
Customers are becoming very sensitive when it comes to the loading speed for the mobile version of a website.
If they struggle to find what they are searching for in a few seconds, then you can be sure as a marketer that you have lost a customer.
The longer your site takes to load, the lower your conversion rates will be!
According to eBags, a leading e-tailer and travel gear company managed to win the mobile moment with 70% of their sales coming from their mobile site every year.
And 53% boost in mobile visitors, by removing friction in mobile with insistent user testing, spit testing of features and enhancement, improving mobile site speeds and allowing for mobile-friendly payments.
Mobile site load speeds, therefore, help brands to deliver the best user experience and improve Google ranking for mobile searches.
For the case of eBags, they had to reduce the number of checkout pages for mobile devices from 7 to 1.
Also, they had to implement support for paying with a mobile wallet, increase the site speed on mobile devices and incorporate a responsive web design to ensure their website loads perfectly on any device.
Investing in other services like programs that help to boost customer engagement, as well as gain the loyalty of existing customers, are also crucial in effective mobile marketing.
4. Google’s Mobile Accelerated Pages to take over
Brands are already adopting Google’s AMP standards, and this is likely to become more interesting in the coming years.
Google’s AMP is meant to help make the page loading time for mobile devices faster. Thus offering a significant boost in the end-user’s experience. And eventually, help to improve Google ranking in mobile search results.
Though many companies and brands are yet to take advantage of this mobile marketing trend, a lot is being done to make the AMPs more flexible and able to help in boosting conversions.
The new AMP open source is likely to enable developers to create e-commerce plugins with a primary focus on improving conversions.
As a marketer, adopting these strategies sooner will allow you to reap the benefits of AMPs than your competitors as all visitors get a chance to enjoy what your website is able to offer them right from their phones.
In turn, this will help to boost your site’s ranking on Google.
In the coming years, AMP is considered essential for better mobile content marketing. Some of the renowned media companies have already recorded impressive results after they have implemented AMP.
For instance, Washington Post managed to increase returning users from mobile search by 23%!
5. Mobile marketing trends: mobile video rocks on
Social media marketing uses video as the most popular of online content according to HubSpot.
On the other hand, eMarketer projects that brands that will focus more on digital video ads are likely to experience double growth rates every year through the year 2020.
Another important statistic is that over 90% of mobile video consumers will share the videos with others. This is simply to say that use of video will take center stage in mobile marketing in the coming years.
The video is not a new invention or trend. But the advancement of video application on mobile is what is creating the transformation that brands are witnessing today.
In case you are yet to think of the digital video, hurry and join the rest of marketers who are already reaping a lot regarding increased traffic and improved Google ranking.
Already, users are building relationships with brands that have a mobile video presence.
Make way for mobile video now, so that you are not left behind!
6. Make way for voice search
One thing about SEO is that it keeps changing. The current trend in SEO is voice search!
While some years ago this concept was a novelty, over time it has become a necessity for brands and marketers.
Voice search growing as a virtual assistant has heated up and Google reports 20% of mobile queries are voice searches.
With the rise of different voice searches including Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google voice search among others, marketers should be convinced this is a trend that is going to be the game changer in mobile marketing for the coming years.
This is, therefore, an important marketing trend for all marketers. So they should step up and start providing voice-optimized mobile content for voice search.
This can be done by developing various forms of content that answers questions asked by customers in voice searches.
Voice input is going to become a crucial component of mobile marketing in coming years.
There is a consistent rise in big brands adopting voice search to their mobile apps and virtual assistant platforms like Alexa, so that their customers have the convenience of accessing whatever they want to with a lot of ease.
7. Fraud and security concerns
Besides the many positive ways in which mobile marketing is going to influence the industry, it is also important to have a look at the negative dynamics of the same.
Mobile is accounting for a fairly large share of overall digital spend and expected to grow even more. With this kind of growth, you can expect it to become a focus for fraud as well!
Fraudsters are known to follow where the money goes. No matter the security measures put in place, scammers are also becoming increasingly sophisticated.
There are increased use of machine learning AI techniques making it harder to differentiate effectively between bot from human behaviors.
On the other hand, larger data breaches should be expected with the growth in mobile marketing. Already, some serious security breaches have been recorded.
And the same can be expected as mobile devices continue to be more intimate and indispensable, capturing highly sensitive data.
Conclusion
Smartphones and Social Media happen to be the perfect combination of the present day.
The number of mobile users is increasing each passing day. So marketers are coming up with innovative ways to tap into this pool of potential customers.
That is why we are seeing so many technological advancements and ever-changing mobile marketing trends that are conveniently generated to make work easier and better for brands and marketers.
We discussed just a few of the mobile marketing trends that will change business in the coming years.
These trends may not be here to stay forever. But you can trust me, they will play a crucial role in boosting brand awareness and digital marketing.
I may not be able to tell how exactly the trends will play out in the coming years.
But one thing for sure is that things are not going to be the same, with lots of surprises expected!
