Social Media Marketing on Mobile Devices January 2013 eMarketer Report

Photo via Johan Larsson

The smartphone has created more marketing opportunities for brands, but how can those brands best use this channel? According to a new eMarketer report, “Social Media Marketing on Mobile Devices: Turning Challenges into Opportunities,” it is revealed that:

– At the end of 2012, nearly 82 million US consumers, or one-third of all mobile phone users in the country, used a social networking site on their phone at least monthly. In 2013, that figure is expected to grow to 40% of mobile phone users.

– Mobile users log in more frequently and spend more time on social media sites since uploading photos from a smartphone to a social site reinforces the interaction.

– For Facebook as of third quarter 2012, six out of ten monthly active users worldwide, or 604 million people, used a mobile device to access the service (up 61% from third quarter 2011 and more than triple from 2010.)

– According to Nielsen, Twitter’s US mobile web visitor count rose 140%, to 42.4 million. Twitter also saw faster growth in its mobile app audience, increasing 134% to 22.6 million.

So what is the best approach?

– Mobile users expect seamless integration across devices and the ability to interact when and how they want to.

– Lower the barrier to entry: Whether it’s a contest, an app download or simply a call to action to click on a link, the goal should be to make it easy for users to accomplish the action.

– Sending users to a webpage that is not mobile-optimized is a recipe for irritation. Social media marketing can attract people to a brand’s message but if the experience after leaving the social media site is less than optimal, it will reflect badly on the brand.

–  Facebook says more than 300 million images are uploaded to the site every day, many of them via mobile. On mobile devices, particularly phones, social media users are typically in browse mode, scrolling quickly through their newsfeed to catch up on what friends are posting, or to post a status update of their own. In this environment, pictures capture a lot more attention than text. For that reason, marketers have gravitated toward using images in their page posts. According to a review of the top 100 brands on Facebook (ranked by the number of fans), 74% of all posts made in October 2012 were photos.

“We have to create social content and social programs that are designed first for mobile consumption and mobile sharing,” said Clay McDaniel, managing director and founder of social media agency Spring Creek Group. “That’s a 180-degree shift from the way it was two years ago.”

You may also be interested in these posts:

How to Get Your Guest or Book on Rachel Ray, Piers Morgan Tonight, CBS This Morning Saturday

How to Get Your Sports Story or Guest on ESPN, Boomer and Carton, and USA Today

How to Get Your Story/Event/Guest on Bloomberg News

How to Get Your Story or Event on New York News Shows

Get Your Product, Book, Movie On Television and Radio Shows – PRSANY Panel

Get Your Products and Stories Featured in Mainstream Magazines – PRSANY Panel

How to Reach and Foster Relationships with Mommy Bloggers