How Mobile Changed Social Media Marketing

The rise of mobile devices has completely transformed how we interact with the world around us, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Mobile technology has made it possible for people to access social media platforms anytime, anywhere. As a result, social media marketing has become one of the most powerful tools in a marketer’s arsenal, providing unprecedented reach, engagement, and targeting capabilities. Keep reading for a closer look at how the rise of mobile changed social media marketing and how you can use this to your advantage.

Mobile Changed Social Media Marketing—What Can Marketers Do?

Social media has expanded rapidly since its start in the late 1990s. Led by influential providers like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, it’s now a huge industry and has changed the way you can market your business. These public platforms allow you to advertise to specific customers based on demographics, behaviors, and interests and create digital campaigns especially for them.

Social media doesn’t discriminate. People of every age, cultural identity, religion, and economic standing use social networking sites. This widespread use allows you to interact with consumers you may not have previously targeted and reach more potential clients than with traditional marketing material.

Thanks to mobile apps and mobile-optimized web pages, users regularly access social media networks from their smartphones. In 2022, about 90% of users accessed social media through a mobile device, and that number continues to grow. So, the question for marketers becomes: how do you adapt your marketing strategy to benefit from the marriage of social media and mobile devices?

1. Take Advantage of Online Reviews

Online reviews are an important part of a successful online presence. While testimonies and word of mouth are still important, 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions. Thanks to mobile devices, a quick search for reviews of the brand, product, or service is available anytime before purchasing. Customers will often choose brands with positive reviews over the competition without reviews, but both positive and negative reviews can impact your business. Positive reviews show customer satisfaction, while negative reviews reveal company transparency.

Here’s how you can benefit from online reviews:

• Make sure you have a review option on your website
• Consider ramping up efforts to encourage consumers to leave reviews
• Aim for a large number of real, positive online reviews to help solidify your ranking on search engines like Google
• Respond to both positive and negative reviews
• Report fake ones

2. Leverage Social Media Trends

Mobile devices have made it easier than ever for users to consume content, allowing brands to reach wider audiences in a more relatable and authentic way. TikToks, Instagram Reels, and Stories have especially shifted the focus from lengthy content to short, attention-grabbing snippets. They also give marketers the ability to connect with a wide range of potential customers and unique audiences.

You can use TikTok and Instagram to your advantage by grabbing hold of trending challenges, popular hashtags, and catchy audio snippets from the get-go. This will help you generate a wider audience. You can also:

• Collaborate with influencers
• Show behind-the-scenes brand footage to connect with your audience
• Use interactive features and filters like polls, quizzes, and questions
• Share user-generated content
• Optimize your ad campaigns for stories
• Create educational content

3. Consider Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is an effective strategy that uses popular social figures to drive a brand’s message to its audience across their personal social media sites. You can think of it as a mix between a product mention and an official testimonial. The concept was born from social media and goes hand in hand with the prevalent use of smartphones. Mobile marketing makes influencers’ jobs easy because they can promote brands remotely. Smaller influencers often share a message in exchange for a product or service, while larger influencers and celebrities typically charge more.

How you can use influencer marketing to your advantage:

• Identify social media leaders and internet celebrities in your industry or leaders in the demographics of your target market
• Research influencers you’re interested in contacting to ensure their brand values align with your company/product/service
• Reach out and inquire about collaborations or send samples of your product/services to those key social media leaders
• Create a couple of marketing campaigns directed around the influencers to drive awareness to a larger set of your target market

4. Create Exclusive Deals

You can use social media contests and giveaways to connect with your audience, increase website traffic, generate leads, and build a social following. For example, you can offer an exclusive deal or limited-time offer in exchange for a like, comment, page visit, or even submission of an email address. Some businesses will send special coupon codes and insider deals via text message to leads that have provided a phone number.

Here’s how you can utilize exclusive deals:

• Define the goals of your contest or giveaway (i.e., website traffic, audience engagement, email lists, lead generation)
• Pick an exciting prize or an attractive deal (limited-time product, weekend getaway, gift cards, coupons, etc.)
• Consider collaborating with online influencers or industry heavyweights, as long as they don’t represent your direct competition
• Create your contest/giveaway and promote it wherever possible (email campaigns, other social media platforms, website landing page, etc.)

Mobile technology continues to grow and develop daily, and if you don’t keep up with your social media and content marketing strategies, your brand could be left behind the competition. If you’re interested in improving your digital marketing efforts, reach out to the team at Front Porch Solutions. We have a team of experts excited to help your business see success!