Mastering Massive Mobile Markets in 2016, Part 1

Mobile internet devices began seeing a great deal of traction in the news with the rise of the iPhone and other devices which were marketed toward a more tech savvy, connected generation of users. It only made sense that website developers and online marketers would begin to cater to that demographic, and that the trend would continue as more smart phones and tablets were in the hands of more users.

Roughly 3 years ago, marketing experts were predicting that mobile internet usage would actually outpace desktop internet usage by 2016. Those predictions actually seem to be on course, and may even be more aggressive than originally thought. Some things have changed about mobile marketing since those earliest of days, while other aspects remain constant.

Too Old for Buzzwords

In the past, the marketing buzzwords surrounding mobile marketing were phrases like “mobile optimization” and “mobile-friendly.” That meant creating m.domain.com sites which were separate from the main, non-m prefixed version of the site, meant to serve users at a lower resolution, with a lower amount of bandwidth, and with a limited capacity for loading certain types of media, either due to bandwidth or technological concerns. Apple still has no capability for Flash, so that’s still out of the picture for media presentation on a truly “mobile-friendly” site.

• Responsive design has largely overtaken mobile domain site prefixes for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is ease of creating and translating content that can serve both types of users. There are still sites that utilize a very specific m.domain.com service for mobile users, but responsive design, which adjusts placement and style rules by the resolution of a viewport, is becoming a more popular strategy.
• Applications are still popular with users as a form of marketing, but it’s becoming less desirable to use those applications to also “spam” social media feeds with announcement and updates. Outside of the arena of mobile gaming, these notifications are unwelcome. Discrete application usage that can be tied into a mobile device’s own internal browsing software is a more effective use of the concept.
• Voice searches are a rising trend, with Apple’s “Siri” being the front runner in the market. Android devices equipped with Google-enhanced features have their own form of voice searching, but if there’s any lesson to take away from its increase in popularity, it’s that it will have the greatest impact on local SEO. “Show me movie times,” and other common searches, all return queries on local theater results, just as an example. A rise in voice searches should mean more focus on local SEO for clients.

In the second part of this article, we’ll review mistakes that you may be making with your mobile marketing.