A report from comScore suggests that targeting mobile users through social may be key for successful new media marketing strategies.

In its Mobile Metrix 2.0, market research firm comScore suggests that marketers can expand the reach of their companies by focusing on social media, with app usage for leading networks, including Facebook and Twitter, becoming among the most frequent activities among smartphone owners.

According to comScore, Facebook’s mobile app is the third most frequently accessed application among iPhone owners, as it reaches 80 percent of measured users. In addition to Facebook posts, sharing links to video content can also help businesses improve engagement among iPhone audiences, with YouTube’s iPhone app used by more than 78 percent of Americans who own Apple’s smartphone.

Facebook proved the most popular social platform across devices, reaching 80.4 percent of smartphone users between its app and access to the site via mobile browsers. In terms of Twitter, the microblogging site’s mobile app and browser audience represents 26.4 percent of all smartphone owners, making the platform No.2 among mobile social users.Twitter has a long way to go to provide the same potential reach as Facebook, but it has a major advantage over third-place LinkedIn, which reaches 7.9 percent of smartphone users.

The total number of smartphone users varies from study to study, but it’s quickly approaching at least half of the total mobile phone market. Brafton recently reported that data from Pew Internet Research suggests that 53 percent of mobile phones in the U.S. are smartphones, with Android proving the dominant operating system.

For Android users, companies have similarly strong social media marketing benefits to gain. ComScore found that Facebook reaches more than 68 percent of all Android owners. Moreover, the popular Google’s News and Weather app for Android can help companies using news content marketing appeal to their target audience when they’re on the go.

Brafton has reported in the past that smartphone users frequently access news content from their handsets. A separate study from Pew detailed the potential reach of news content marketing campaigns as 61 percent of consumers using either a smartphone, a tablet or both said they access news content on these devices every day.

News content marketing campaigns can be paired with social strategies to leverage. Using headlines from website content as social fodder can create greater interest from users and lead to more engagement, whether a follower or fan is using a smartphone or a desktop computer.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.