I am amazed every time I meet a new business partner in the mobile industry who does not have a Facebook profile or another social media account.
It’s 2015 after all, and if you’re not online, you might as well be stranded on a remote island.
The social media marketing landscape is changing rapidly and every sharp businessman will have to adapt to keep up with it.
Why invest in that brand new next-generation smartphone if you’re only going to use it to call and text? Not being visible and active in social media in today’s day and age means being disconnected, regardless of the size of your real-life network.
With the mobile world changing every week practically, you have to stay in the game, and social media is a big part of that game. Just take a look at the stats.
In January 2015 there were over 2 billion (yes, you read that right) active social media accounts. Over 1.6 billion of those accounts were frequently accessed over mobile. Desktop traffic is no longer dominating social media. It’s not even in the same ballpark as mobile.
Not only that, the top three social media kings in the last year have been mobile-oriented services. They are WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook Messenger. And by the way, in December 2014, the number of active mobile connections exceeded the total world population.
Let’s get a little more specific though. Facebook continues to dominate the social media landscape with over 1.3 billion active users (numbers recorded at the beginning of this year). Compare it to the 2 billion total number of active social media accounts, and you can really see how big Facebook really is. This is why it surprises me to hear people lightly say that they don’t have a Facebook account. They’re practically telling me they’ve decided to be hermits in 2015.
It’s fine if you have a personal case against Facebook. Maybe you find it the kind of network that invades your personal privacy. Maybe you don’t want anyone and everyone seeing everything that you’ve been up to. I’m not going to start preaching the social network’s features and how customizable they are. It’s true, Facebook isn’t exactly private, but it shouldn’t be either — not if you’re going to use it for business purposes.
And now I believe we’re getting closer to the root of the problem. Yes, social media is a great tool of keeping in touch with people, but it can also be a unique combination of platforms to raise your product’s visibility, authenticity and brand awareness. Not only that, but you can also find new business partners and affiliates with the help of social media. Business people have got to stop seeing Facebook as just another way to stalk former acquaintances. Sure, that’s fun, but not exactly great for business.
So, without any further ado, what are the seven benefits of social media marketing for mobile businesses?
1. Learn about your audience and target it properly. Did you know that 86 percent of all active Facebook users access the social network via mobile on a regular basis? Social media isn’t just on mobile; social media is mobile! So if you think your audience might not be using these platforms actively, guess again. Practically everyone with a smartphone or tablet is on social media.
2. Discover unexplored marketing opportunities. What are your competitors excelling at when it comes to social media? Study their moves and replicate the most successful strategies. While you’re at it, look into what they’re not doing, and stay ahead of the curve.
3. Create meaningful relationships with business partners. Join your industry’s Facebook groups, see who’s following who on Twitter and check out who’s connected to whom on LinkedIn. This is an easy way to find possible collaborators and affiliates. Connect with them and talk shop. The humanization factor that social media allows you — seeing who you’re talking to and being seen in turn – ensures a greater sense of trust and mutual understanding.
4. Share offers quick and easy. Once you’ve managed to attract your target audience, you can easily share offers and new releases with them directly and immediately via your social media pages and accounts. Another advantage of mobile is that you can do it from where ever you are.
5. Higher conversion rates. Just like interacting with possible partners via your personal social media accounts, you can also use your brand’s page in a similar fashion. By humanizing your product and communicating directly with your target audience, you are improving the credibility of your business and your conversion rates. Target users that use mobile phones to offer them directly offers that are tailor made for smartphones.
6. Augmented inbound traffic. By raising your brand’s awareness and authority, you are also opening up your targeting opportunities. If you don’t take advantage of social media properly, you’re letting new partners discover you solely through the use of keywords and web searches, and with everyone knowing SEO nowadays, it’s like you’re not even giving your brand a chance. It’s essential to create targeted content on social media with the aim to convert your fans and followers. Take advantage of all that traffic.
7. Improved ranking on search engines. Since the majority of brands use social media, search engines have begun using this type of activity in their algorithms. So, when I talk about brand trust, I don’t mean creating a trustworthy image solely for your partners, but for Google as well. A huge portion of your legitimacy online is now based on your activity on these social networks. So, can you really afford to ignore them especially now after Mobilegeddon.
With the changing market in today’s online and mobile industry, you just have to get on social media. There are great marketing tools out there that you can use to raise your brand’s visibility and authority. The more you wait, the more you stand to lose. Start testing social media channels and see what works best for your business, and, more importantly, be open to learning a lesson or two from your experiences in this area. The social media marketing landscape is changing rapidly and every sharp businessman will have to adapt to keep up with it.
Stefan Mühlbauer is director of marketing and sales at BrokerBabe.com. If you are interested in the mobile world, contact him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/s.muehli.
