The more your customers rely on mobile devices, the more critical it is to develop a mobile content marketing strategy to build your brand.
People can do almost anything from their mobile devices these days. From reading their favourite news site to researching their next purchase to participating in virtual events.
The time spent on devices is significant. A survey illustrated and summarized by Statista found 57 per cent of respondents spent over five hours a day on their phones. The amount of content consumed via mobile has grown, as has the number of mobile-only readers. Of the nearly 8 billion people on the planet, 6.4 billion own a smartphone. That’s up from 3.6 million in 2016.
Some access all content via their mobile devices and may never experience your site from a desktop computer. Therefore, mobile content marketing cannot be an afterthought. For some people, it will be the only experience they have with your brand.
Essential elements of a mobile-friendly website
The leading factors in making your website mobile-friendly are readability, responsive design and user experience. Let’s look at how these three elements can help you reach and engage your mobile audiences.
Readability
Many mobile users skim and read during short breaks. You need to create content that readers can consume quickly and easily on a small screen.
Short and skimmable content
To make your content easy to skim, use subheadings and bullet points so users can easily find what they need. Many won’t read to the bottom of a page on mobile. Put the most important information near the top of the page, including your call to action.
Give people the option to jump to the section they want to read with clickable links at the top of longer-form content. Using short paragraphs with clear, concise writing can also help your reader. Choose simple words and avoid jargon. Be careful not to cram in too many words that aren’t related to your message.
Visual elements
Insert images, infographics and other visual elements throughout the text to give your reader more insight. These visuals can also help your readers consume content in small doses without forgetting where they left off.
Choose images people can understand at a glance and be careful that text on these graphics doesn’t become illegible on a small screen. For example, if you need to include graphs or charts, offer quick summaries or an enlarged image of key details so readers don’t have to zoom in to make sense of the data.
White space
White space is an often-overlooked design feature that is especially important for mobile design. Long blocks of text are difficult to read on a small screen. If you offer a clean, easy-to-read page with plenty of white space for mobile users to rest their eyes, you’ll hold their attention longer.
Responsive web design
With so many people accessing websites from smartphones and tablets, marketers need to ensure users have the same brand experience no matter what device they use. Responsive web design allows website content to display correctly on any size screen.
Responsive design doesn’t mean you’ll need multiple websites. Make sure your website content will load and appear appropriately based on the device being used. Your readers may still want the same amount of information. But how it displays and how they navigate the pages they need should be seamless and easy, no matter how they access your site.
User experience
A potential customer visiting your website from a mobile device should be able to load your website and individual pages quickly. Make it easy for people to find your menu and ensure anything they need to tap has a large enough button to see and touch. If a user needs to type anything into a field, make sure there is room to do so.
Smooth, streamlined navigation will help readers easily find what they. Most won’t have the patience to jump from page to page to find the correct information.
Watch out for design specs that will shorten portions of your content, especially titles. Use short titles or put important words near the beginning of titles so mobile users get the information they need. Do the same for subheadings and content. Always leading with the most important message, in case any portion is cut off or hidden.
When in doubt, test both the appearance and functionality of your site from different devices. If any part of the experience feels awkward or looks unappealing, fix the issue right away.
Other mobile content marketing ideas
Making your content accessible to mobile audiences includes elements other than what’s on your website. Your marketing plan should also take into account different ways mobile users will interact with your brand and how you might want to reach them.
Email marketing
Engaging customers with marketing emails can be an excellent way to share news like promotions and product launches. However, when you want to engage customers via email, remember many of them are likely to read your email from a mobile device.
When creating marketing emails, use short subject lines and be sure everything in the email body can be read on a small screen. Any buttons should be large enough to easily tap on a mobile device. Test load times to be sure whatever you’re sending will load quickly on mobile. Keep the content brief and the call to action clear and easy to find.
SMS marketing
Have you tried reaching your audiences via text messages? While not every demographic welcomes this type of advertising, on average, people check their phones 262 times per day. SMSGlobal states that SMS marketing shows open rates of 98 per cent. There are regulations to follow when reaching out to audiences via text. But you could tap into a highly attentive audience once you learn them.
QR codes
When you have a lot of information to share in a small space, a QR code can allow your audiences to visit mobile-friendly landing pages to view menus, brochures and ads. A scan with an app on a customer’s phone will pop open more details, giving them an interactive experience where they get to choose how much information they need and want from you.
Mobile apps
A mobile app can help you reach customers on their smartphones and tablets, but be prepared to earn that loyalty. To win this type of commitment from a customer, you’ll need to offer a valuable experience and valid reasons for connecting beyond a website. Consider if you can offer an extra level of service, easier interactions or convenience that would make it worthwhile for your customers to download an app.
Google search updates
Google has implemented mobile-first indexing, which ensures mobile users are directed to mobile versions of relevant content. Before this update, a mobile user could be directed to a relevant site, even if the mobile version of the site did not have the same content or offer the same experience. Now, you’ll need to have mobile-friendly content on your site to benefit from mobile visitors using Google to search.
Writing and formatting your content for mobile readers is easy once you learn how they consume your content and what makes them stick around for more. With time, this shift will become second nature and you’ll be confident your site meets the expectations of a growing mobile audience.
