Keeping users glued to their screens has become a different challenge over the past few years, with different platforms vying for customers' attention. With companies surprising us like never before, it's important to anticipate what the near future will be like. Let's take a closer look at some mobile marketing trends that play a big role for any modern business.
1. Messengers
Direct messaging is a great way to promote your brand or product. Messaging is a platform that still manages to garner more attention than most marketing channels.
Facebook leads the race in this technology, by giving businesses a "Message us" button, which allows customers to interact with their favourite brands in real time. This feature, also introduced by popular app WeChat, has brought about a much greater probability of people shopping from a business than before. Be it a chatbot, or an actual person on the other end, people still love to talk one-to-one.
2. Native ads and sponsored content
We have all witnessed the rise in sponsored content on social media giants Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Mostly, when we Google a particular product or topic, our favourite social networks begin to show us ads for the very same things.
This feature has enticed businesses to shift spending from traditional advertising and funnel it into native ads. Native ad spend continues to grow year-on-year, eclipsing many traditional formats.
3. Increasing page speed
All of us have gone through the infuriating experience of clicking on a link of our favourite page, and then waiting forever until it loads completely. "Forever" has shortened down over the past few years from a few minutes, to a few seconds. But so has our patience.
Nobody likes loading pages with ads lingering, for even 5 seconds. Anything more than that and you have lost your audience, most probably for good. In fact, half of the users leave the site if the loading page takes even 3 seconds to load. Don't test your customers' patience.
4. Artificial intelligence and augmented reality
We have already seen how 'smart' our apps and devices have become due to artificial intelligence. AI is embedded into messaging apps. It helps to study user behaviour patterns, and personalize to suit each user individually. More businesses now reap the benefits of AI, as well as augmented reality, which is becoming more understandable for the common user with time.
The edge that AR holds over Virtual Reality is that it needs no peripheral devices, and can be embedded into the common user smartphones and devices. This fact means that more and more research and development will be put into AR to make it a medium for mobile marketing.
5. Live streaming
Who doesn't love it when your favourite personalities and brands showcase their products and events live? Live streaming, as a marketing platform, has blossomed in the past few years, and all major brands have jumped on the bandwagon, to give their customers real-time, customized content, instead of having them watch an endless barrage of advertising videos.
On Facebook, there are several times more users watching live videos than those watching video uploads. So in the next couple of years, live streaming will continue to be one of the hottest platforms for brand and product marketing.
6. Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is a thing of the future, they said — well, the future is here. Today, smart appliances have become a reality, and many consumers rely on these 'smart' devices to run their home efficiently. Home assistants and smart speakers are already a thing, thanks to Amazon and Google.
Due to research and development into this field, we are looking at a future where doing the most mundane tasks, such as lowering the thermostat or feeding your pet, will be facilitated by IoT devices. Most manufacturers have already begun inducting IoT in their product designs, so we are looking at a potential new platform for marketers.
Considering the changes that occur in the tech industry, we can see that the future will include many new marketing opportunities. Feel free to contact our team to learn more.