In its most recent whitepaper, social media management software company Sprinklr says for the first time ever, the amount of time people are spending on mobile devices is greater than the amount of time they spend watching television. Yet, the paper points out, marketers are only investing 41% of what they spend on television on mobile.
The whitepaper says Americans now spend 2 hours and 57 minutes a day using mobile devices, compared to 2 hours and 48 minutes watching TV; that they spend more time browsing on mobile than they do on desktop by a 60% to 40% margin; and that mobile beats desktop for total searches in various markets globally, including the U.S. and Japan.
Christina Snell, senior digital strategies manager at Sprinklr says among marketers there is “a lot of untapped potential” when it comes to reaching consumers via mobile. And the Sprinklr whitepaper says the “secret ingredient” for a brand to master and win at mobile advertising is social media.
In the whitepaper, titled "The Insider’s Guide to Social Mobile Advertising," Sprinklr offers advice on the major role social media can play in successful mobile advertising, tips and best practices for marketing success and advice from 10 industry executives.
If a marketer wants to focus on branding, there must be clear objectives of what the goal of the end result is. Is it to gain more fans, create buzz or get more sales reach? Is the marketer trying to establish a brand identity, attract new customers or generate interest for a totally new product? The whitepaper points out, each objective has a completely different execution strategy and its own set of relevant success metrics.
While many brands rely on engagement as the main determination of success of a campaign, the whitepaper points out that “a simple ‘like’ isn’t the only or best way to measure performance with social mobile advertising.
Here’s some advice from the whitepaper:
• “If your goal is awareness, you should probably be looking closely at shares. This is a good indication of how well your branded message is traveling.”
• “If your goal is to increase consideration, maybe you should prioritize sentiment – as measured by positivity of comments – which will give you a clearer idea of how the product resonated with your audience.”
• “If you have multiple key metrics, consider weighting them based on your business priorities. You can even experiment with different weightings, adjusting to suit your brand’s needs. With the right metrics selected – and a weighting system to help analyze them – you have a specific, clear direction to test and optimize your campaign.”
In addition to having clear objectives and choosing the right metrics, the report suggests that marketers get creative with the targeting.
“Social and mobile provide intimate details about your audience and their behaviors. Use this rich data to inform your targeting. When focusing on branding, pay close attention to the mental model someone is in when they’re exposed to your ad.”
Some examples:
• Are they relaxed? “Perhaps you can target them with something long-form, since they’ll be more likely to browse and consume branded content.”
• Did they just have a major life event? “If you’re a jewelry brand, maybe now’s a good time to get in front of someone who just had a one-year anniversary.”
• Are they close to making a decision? “Look at those recently browsing on your mobile site. Are they literally close to you? If you’re a clothing retailer, look at people near your store.”
The next step in a branding-focused social-mobile campaign is to be aware of all audience feedback and adjust the campaign accordingly.
And if a marketer is going to run a TV ad around a product launch or specific event and also use social media, the creative and messaging across all platforms should be consistent which adds to the power of the campaign and doesn’t confuse the consumers.
The whitepaper also offers four tips for direct-response advertisers. Those include:
Make sure your tracking is in place.
If you don’t effectively track, you can’t prove the value of the ad. Each of the major social networks has its own sophisticated tracking mechanisms to help advertisers using their platforms. But if multiple networks are used and there is a need to determine which one gets credit for a customer conversion, then it might be better to hired a third-party tracking partner.
Know who you are targeting.
With 2 billion active social media accounts today, most will not be interested in a particular brand or campaign. So focusing in on a target audience in social media is vital. Beyond traditional demographics, marketers should consider psychographic targeting options when available.
Testing is the key to optimization, so always test.
The paper suggests marketers spend at least 10% of a campaign’s budget on testing to see why it is or isn’t effective.
Have a goal for consumer action.
Make sure the audience knows what the marketer wants them to do based on the ad.
The whitepaper gives four best practice suggestions for mobile ad creative.
1) Don’t recycle from other campaigns on other platforms.
2) Take different platforms into consideration. All mobile devices are different. Tablets are different from smartphones. And iOS devices are different than Android.
3) Size does matter and video is effective, but you must take download speed into consideration.
4) Strike the right tone. Messages on smartphones and tablets need to be more personal and intimate than loud, voice-over TV ads.
One of the 10 experts who offer advice in the whitepaper is David Berkowitz, chief marketing officer at digital creative, marketing and technology agency MRY. Berkowitz advises marketers to not treat mobile advertising like advertising.
“Mobile gets extremely personal for consumers,” he says. “This is a device that’s always within arm’s reach and sometimes it’s even physically strapped to their arms. Think about value you can provide.”
Berkowitz adds that marketers can do things like making sure consumers are aware of time-sensitive offers that are targeted to their interests. They can entertainment consumers with content. They can offer contests and prizes.
“Mobile can do all of this, while helping you achieve your goals of building your brand, generating foot traffic, racking up leads or moving products,” he says. “Focus on the value exchange first and then see which advertising and marketing offerings can help you achieve it. Ultimately, think about the golden rule and respect your target audience in the way you hope others will respect you.”
