Social is nothing without mobile
Rich Rust,
Reputation Manager,
Yomego
12th April 2011
In 1999, when I took out my first mobile contract, I was excited by the fact that I could send text messages
and play Snakes on the same device. This morning, before I’d even got out of bed, I’d read the news headlines on the BBC
News App, checked my Facebook news feed for my daily dose of banal status updates and checked my e-mails.. on a device which is no
bigger than my ’99 issue Nokia. Of course, that only describes a small amount of the iPhone’s capabilities – I also
use it to watch videos, films, TV on demand, play games oh and, as a Sat nav.
Post PC social
As new figures around mobile social use suggest, I’m not the only one using my smart phone as my personal computer, entertainment
device and in-built GPS.
With convergence moving at such blistering speed, consumers are punishing those brands which can’t keep up, the importance placed
on the platform is now critical. Over a third,
or roughly speaking, 200m users use Facebook mobile and over half of Twitter’s 165m users also use it on mobile. The challenge for brands
is no longer around creating engaging content, but rather creating content which can easily be consumed across a multitude of platforms. Not
only that though, the content also has to be targeted, relevant and quickly accessible and ideally sharable, in order to keep the interest of
consumers who no longer care whether their content is professionally created or from an amateur source.
Huge opportunity
Targeted social ads, mobile social gaming, location based mobile social, Near Field Communication (NFC),QR, Augmented reality – I could
go on, but the point here is that mobile technology is evolving faster than we could have ever imagined and the opportunity for brands which
understand not just how to use it, but which are intrinsically social will reap the rewards of this technology. If a brand isn’t featured
on the new Foursquare brand showcase page, then it is
at a disadvantage. Equally, if it creates a Facebook app which can only work on a PC, then it is also behind the curve.
With the opportunity, also comes challenges, a recent Forrester report outlined that Fragmentation will continue to be a big problem as
operating system wars continue and consumers opt for new, cheaper devices. Also, the war between mobile apps and mobile internet usage will
continue, making it harder to decide the best route for mobile engagement.
What about tablets?
From a business point of view, it’s no longer geeky or egotistical to use an iPad in a meeting – in fact it makes a lot of
sense. I’m hoping my boss is reading this because lugging my work laptop in everyday is definitely damaging my back! The serious
point here though, is that business users are now using mobile and tablets in a way they were never able to before – these same
business users are also the consumers which would very likely fit into the
Marketing magazines ‘urban networker’ categorisation of the new middles class. Again, providing brands with an enormous
opportunity to connect with these individuals on a social level – lets say I get a train to a meeting – during that train
journey I may wish to use Facebook and Twitter (I work in Social Media, it’s OK!) read the FT, ah there’s an iPad edition,
genius, or play a game against somebody in Brazil, followed by a bit of guilty work e-mail writing - I can do it now, all in one device.
Convenience is key
With the boundaries between business and personal mobile use blurring and as individual users demand even more convergence from
their device, convenience really is the key. Brands which manage to recognise that we’ve moved beyond the infancy of social
media and in to an era of mobile social and are consequently able to harness this technology for engagement, will be the ones which
emerge victorious.
It’s pretty exciting, but I still wouldn’t mind the odd game of Snakes 3D.