Mobile Starting to Replace Desktop

It is no secret mobile is starting to become the preferred form of technology and according to a recent article in eMarketer, desktops are starting to feel the brunt of the change.

As you can see, over the past year and half, mobile usage has increased 10.5% while desktop use just dropped 5% compared the six months prior. In addition, tablet users are reporting a 6% increase.

With this obvious change in user preference, I am surprised that more businesses are not solely focusing on the device we hold in our pockets 24/7. Companies continue to ignore design elements as well as strategic components needed to hone in on this ever-growing demographic.

Digital marketing, like many industries, continues to evolve. It is widely known that any company that doesn’t adapt to the challenges and opportunities they see every day, will undoubtedly fail.

The other day, I was showing my mother an upcoming race I just signed up for. Cutting them some slack, I realize many people will not sign up for 5-mile race on a mobile device (or maybe even tablet), but their website could barely be read on these devices. In the common day, especially when they make a different website each year for this race, why would they ignore mobile or tablet users? Laziness is my answer.

Consumers nowadays expect their technology to fit with the times. The times are calling for mobile and tablet friendly websites, emails and applications. Those who continue to ignore the trend will fall behind and become extinct before you know it.

What Recent Facebook Changes Mean to Marketers

This past week, many social media goers noticed some changes to their Facebook, on mobile and on the desktop that both challenge and aid a marketer’s job in driving engagement with their fans and attracting new ones.

On mobile, Facebook now allows users to segment their newsfeed based on friends, following companies, music, games and so on. Marketers need to realize that now, no matter what non-paid tactic they implement, users have the ability to turn them off instantly. To be perfectly honest, many users will do this.

Just think of it from your perspective. I only follow brands if I have a deep interest in them (like the White Sox), if they are a good company to know about (future job possibly) or if I think I could get a discount/coupon down the road. However, no matter what, I will always want to see what my friends are up to before any company or team. This will probably never change and I can bet many people feel the same way.

On the other end of the spectrum, Facebook recently updated my account to Open Graph. It is truly amazing that I can search restaurants my friends like, games my friends are obsessed with or photos I have liked. That is incredibly targeted. In addition, you can also locate people based on their city, job or interest. The best part about it is that you don’t have to be friends with these people. Not that people put much of their professional life on Facebook, but it’s like Facebook is on the way of replacing LinkedIn.

So as any marketer can see, some change is positive and some is negative. Needless to say, like any business, Facebook is encouraging brands to spend more money on ads to better connect with their fans. However, if you have been posting engaging photos and posts that encourage your fans to act on your page, even with the segmentation, you should hopefully see little change with your analytics.

What do you think of all the changes coming out? Good or bad for us?