Hi, I’m Alex Butzbach, and this is another edition of Content & Coffee. Last week, we saw an era come to a close. In 2013, people spent more time looking at their smartphones than any other screen – including TV. That’s right – For the first time since people even had a screen to look at, they glued their eyes to their phones instead of televisions, laptops or tablets. Read on for the text version, or click play to watch the full video.
When we in the content marketing world hear something like that, we tend to get nervous, but actually, the move to mobile is going a lot more smoothly than you might think. For instance, Google recently redesigned its search results look so they’re more in line with what mobile users see. The thinking is that there should be a consistent view across devices, because people are seamlessly going back and forth anyways. In fact, 40 percent of the users in a Facebook study admitted they switch screens – even in the middle of a task.
Where does this leave marketers? Well, because of how powerful mobile devices are becoming, creating a separate mobile site isn’t quite as important. Still, you want a homepage that has a responsive design – or one that’s easy to navigate when users zoom, pan and scroll on their phones.
You can also think about emphasizing social media. Facebook mobile referrals shot up 253 percent from 2012 to 2013, and three quarters of Twitter users access the service from a mobile device.
People might not be watching TV like they used to, but reaching customers with content has never been easier. Don’t be afraid of the mobile revolution – be a part of it. Thanks for watching. I’ll see you next week.
