GOING PLACES WITH FACEBOOK
Trends and demographics are always important in any context. Social media is one context in which trends and demographics are especially important. Not understanding this area has the potential to harm you personally and professionally. Your company’s awareness, advertising, marketing, public relations, and growth potential can suffer.
Reflecting on 2013, Belle Beth Cooper (Cofounder of Hello Code) shares an interesting Facebook trend that has probably sneaked up on some companies:
“ 189 million of Facebook’s users are ‘mobile only.’ Not only does Facebook have millions of users who don’t access it from a desktop or laptop, but mobile use generates 30% of Facebook’s ad revenue as well. This is a 7% increase from the end of 2012 already. ”
Just because you always use your laptop and your PC and your mobile device does not mean everyone does. Your behavior does not necessarily match every customer’s profile. Some folks are purely mobile users.
Increasingly, companies can no longer afford to ignore the mobile-only crowd. As technology continues to expand and devices continue to be invented, smart companies will continuously anticipate where the eyes will be. We do not, nor can we, fully understand exactly what this means for the future of advertising and marketing.
One particularly difficult part of this is assessing the customer profile relatively quickly for any new device as it appears. The advertising and marketing that works for desktop users may not necessarily be ideally suited for smartphone users or for as-yet-to-be-invented-device users. As with all advertising and marketing, it can be a bit of a hit and miss proposition at times.
The evolution of advertising and marketing will be interesting to watch as the mobile-only crowd grows and as new mobile devices come on the scene. No doubt we will gain new insights and strategies through the process. Hey, that is what keeps it all rather interesting and challenging.
