As more people realize that social marketing has arrived and is not going away, the realization that mobile presence and marketing is following the same path. Similar to the early days of social marketing, mobile marketing comes in many fragmented flavors that will crystallize as we see what works.

Note that that one of the big investor issues when Facebook launched its IPO was whether or not it had the capability to provide a strong return using its mobile audience.  The audience was there, but Facebook had yet to fully monetize it.  In March, 2012, Americans spent 441 minutes accessing the site on their smart phones, compared to 391 minutes on their computer according to comScore .

Selected Social Networking Properties (Mobile Browser and App Audience Combined)
March 2012 
Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Age 18+ on iOS, Android and RIM Platforms 
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0
Total Unique Visitors (000) % Reach Average Minutes per Visitor
Facebook 78,002 80.4% 441.3
Twitter 25,593 26.4% 114.4
LinkedIn 7,624 7.9% 12.9
Pinterest 7,493 7.7% 52.9
Foursquare 5,495 5.7% 145.6
Tumblr 4,454 4.6% 68.4

Facebook has started to address this challenge with the introduction of the “Sponsored Stories” feature that now appears in your timeline. There are additional mobile timeline changes scheduled for 2012.

Why does this matter? You web site needs to reflect the changing landscape that mobile brings to the table.  When was the last time you looked at your site on a smart phone? Was it easy to read? Was it easy to use? Most importantly, was it easy to generate conversions for your desired goals?

Let’s look at a few statistics regarding mobile internet usage

  • Within the next year, more people will be accessing the internet via mobile devices rather than pc’s.
  • According to Google in “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users”
    •  70% of mobile users have compared prices on their mobile,
    • 65% have read product reviews and 50% mobile searches lead to a purchase.
    • 95% Smart phone users have searched for local information.
    • 61% users will call the business and 59% visit the location.
    • Of these people 90% will act within 24 hours.

Far from a comprehensive list, here are some action items to consider (we can discuss more with personalized consultation):

  • Your web site should be fully usable on a wide variety of smart phones. This can be done with appropriate code to determine if a smart phone is accessing your site.
  • We recommend responsive design vs. a separate mobile site.  That way your brand look and feel is fully maintained.
  • Prioritize the content that users need most.
  • It is more important the ever to optimize your images for speedy loading of your site.
  • Navigation needs to be as simple as possible with as little scrolling as possible.
  • Make sure the home page is clean, clear and concise. Users can move on to pages with deeper content, but the landing page is critical for retention.
  • Keep important features and structure consistent across the entire web site.
  • Minimize the amount of fields in forms to keep the page streamlined.
  • Be sure to include a search bar if you have a complex site.
  • Make sure phone numbers are coded as “click to call”.

A mobile optimized site will not only help with conversions of the audience you get from Facebook and other web properties who have a strong presence on the mobile web, but also with direct traffic to your site from other marketing efforts.

It’s a fast moving marketing landscape on the Internet and keeping up with mobile is the latest line in the shifting sands.  Decisions you make now regarding mobile will decide, in a few years, if you are left in the dust, or if your brand will be reaping the benefits of available technologies.