A recent global study revealed that in 2020, the average daily time spent consuming content spiked to 6 hours and 59 minutes. One of the main reasons for this surge was the pandemic-driven lockdowns. As the world was brought to a halt, many stayed home and turned to digital content to keep themselves updated and entertained. For digital marketers, this has unlocked a beautiful opportunity.
Despite the lifting of lockdowns and people resuming to a somewhat normal routine, this cross-device consumption, namely through mobile phones, TV, and other forms of digital media continues to remain high. With almost everyone carrying a literal tiny supercomputer in their pockets, brands and marketers are able to interact with audiences at any time in any place.
One way of utilizing some of that potential attention is by having a solid digital marketing strategy. Content marketing gives you the ability to engage with your audience personas, convert more leads and boost your brand image.
The “mobile-first” society has created a whole new territory for brands to make meaningful connections, and it deserves our attention. In this article, we explore how to harness the power of content through mobile.
Identifying mobile content opportunities and priorities
A critical step in getting your content marketing right is to understand your audience and what they are searching for, on mobile. These questions ought to be asked – how are consumers consuming content? And how are they searching for and interacting with content on mobile? Knowing the answers to these questions will help in creating a solid foundation for your mobile content.
Putting these questions at the centre of your digital marketing strategy is important as it gives you a better understanding of what makes your audience tick.
Finding a mobile content strategy that works
When it comes to mobile content – one game plan to always keep in mind is to make a point in the shortest way possible. From having just a few sentences in text to long-form videos, your content should be attention-grabbing and memorable.
Let’s begin with an example from Blendtec. The brand makes an exemplary case of using imaginative ways to hook an audience – for what might traditionally be thought of as a “boring” product. Common household appliances tend to be valued only for their practicality, but Blendtec has gone the extra mile to make things interesting with their ‘will it blend’ video series on YouTube.
Rather than whipping up smoothies or milkshakes, they decided to toss unconventional items into their blenders, such as Apple watch, solar lamps or even an iPhone X – proving that their machine can break down just about anything. This clever use of content skyrocketed the brand into the limelight, which resulted in the company having a 700% increase in sales, in a three year period, and over 860 thousand subscribers on YouTube channel.
Let’s look at another brand that really engages with its audience. Rip Curl’s “The Search” labels itself as the ultimate surfing company, and that stands true, as it is a place that surfers’ search for the best waves and the ultimate surfing lifestyle. Their website also makes it a point to feature stories from surfers and inspiring photographs.
Common interests and experiences are the ways that brands create a sense of belonging among their audience, and mobile has managed to bring these communities closer together. The Search’s strategy to engage with and promote bonding with their audience has brought them to over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube and a whopping 2 million followers on Facebook.
Metric-tracking is made easier
Assessing the performance of your content is a crucial step – it is a key indicator of whether your strategy actually works and where you are headed next. With mobile apps like Instagram and Facebook providing insights at the touch of a button, tracking your campaign metrics is brought to your fingertips. When it comes to performance, there are probably dozens you can use to obtain insightful data on your content marketing strategy. You will need to understand the fundamentals of this practice. We dive into three key metrics to help you gauge the success of your mobile content.
Web Traffic by Source
For starters, you could take a look at your web traffic. This refers to the channel or medium that site visits come through to your website, or how visitors are acquired. Are they reaching your content through mobile channels such as push notifications from apps or SMS links? You can also find out if people are visiting your website from a desktop, tablet or phone with tools like Google Analytics. Knowing exactly where the traffic for your new users tells you where you should invest your marketing resources and on which platform.
Returning Visitorship
Consider tracking a few metrics alongside each other to truly understand your audience. Besides your first visit traffic, returning visitors can demonstrate how valuable your digital marketing is. To put it simply, user retention translates into revenue. If you start to notice that a bulk of your audience is new, this could suggest that you might need to focus on building a more loyal following.
In a world where content is readily available 24/7 on mobile devices, think about what it takes to bring value to your audience’s daily lives.
Click-Through-Rate
Then, we move on to engagement. This basically means any way in which a visitor who visits any of your digital properties takes action, as compared to just passively browsing, or even worse exiting immediately to find a better source of information. In today’s low-attention society, engagement can be a big indicator of campaign success. One of the metrics used to measure engagement is your Click-Through-Rate (CTR).
Your CTR measures the number of clicks you receive on a link per number of impressions. Along with putting out attractive content, you’d also need to look at the way your content is optimized for action. Do you have an appropriate Call-to-Action?
Investing your time in search engine optimization(SEO) can also catch the eye of a smartphone user on the move. For instance, websites get a higher CTR by paying attention to titles and meta descriptions, which will encourage more visitors to click through on search engines.
Read more about SEO for beginners: A guide to Search Engine Optimization.
All in all, doing mobile content marketing well isn’t an overnight task. It requires a thorough understanding of what type of content works on the go and what your audience wants. Content optimisation with a user-first approach is the first step in the right direction to harnessing the power of content through mobile.
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