Last updated on March 13th, 2018
It feels as though the phrase “content is king” was first coined over a million years ago, but the old adage still holds true today, and perhaps even more than ever.
What has changed, however, is how we craft that content, and where the pieces we create are ultimately displayed.
These days, 80 percent of consumers now own at least one mobile device, and many rely on those smartphones and tablets as their primary – if not only – way to access web-based content.
So it stands to reason that getting across your brand’s message requires an astute understanding of how consumers are researching and reaching their future purchasing decisions through mobile.
Put Your Best Foot Forward
You’re likely marketing your content on social media, which pits your post against hundreds if not thousands of others that pepper consumers’ news feeds. That’s not to say that you really can’t grow your business through social media marketing, but the digital landscape’s innate immediacy means you have mere seconds to stand out before your opportunity to convert is lost in a quick flick of a customer’s finger.
To combat this, your strongest assets are a great mobile title and headline that blend both style and substance to:
- Showcase the content’s value to the people reading it
- Offer hard evidence (via a statistic or number) that your post has fact-driven content
- Evoke an emotion
- Stoke curiosity
Studies show that you have just 8 seconds to snag readers’ attention before they lose interest and take their business elsewhere. Time is at a premium, and second chances are hard to come by. Particularly with the seemingly fleeting attention span of some consumers today, the need to capture attention is imperative.
Embrace Responsive Design
If content only partially loads on your phone and nobody can read it, does it really even exist?
Not according to impatient consumers, the majority of whom will wait no more than 10 seconds for a page to load before abandoning it. Equally disastrous is a page that loads quickly but has words that trail off the page or broken images.
Upgrade to a responsive web template and ensure that the hard work you put into creating content actually has a chance to pay off.
Incorporate Visual Content
A picture is worth a thousand words, and visual content is proving to be incredibly valuable in content marketing today.
Studies show that our brains process visual cues about 60,000 times faster than pure text, and when people are in a hurry – as they often are when surfing social media or industry blogs via their mobile devices – it’s easier to scan an infographic or chart than it is to pull key data out of a block of text.
Some ideas: Start up a YouTube channel, sell your product in a Vine, highlight your service’s most beneficial products in a photo collage, or jazz up your SMS message by adding your logo or color coupons instead of just a simple QR code or link.
Explore Non-Traditional Types of Content
Blogging is still an important part of any content strategy, but options have expanded far beyond text-only articles posted directly on your website. There’s the visual content we already talked about, but also consider:
- Free email courses
- Short-form eBooks
- Podcasts
Localize Your Content
Some 40 percent of mobile searches are local in nature, meaning the person searching is looking for a business or product based on geographic indicators such as city name, zip code, or neighborhood. Infuse your content with those same keywords and you’ll be positioning yourself to capitalize on the 70 percent of mobile searches that lead to some sort of website-based action in less than one hour.
When you learn how to best utilize content marketing, especially with mobile-specific tips in mind, you’ll quickly find ways to boost both traffic and engagement on your website. Content is indeed king, but knowing how to tweak it for our increasingly mobile world is more valuable than the crown jewels.
What’s Next?
What do you think of what’s been covered so far? Is your content mobile ready? We would love to read your comments below.
by Sophorn Chhay of Trumpia
Sophorn Chhay is an inbound marketer who specializes in attracting targeted visitors and generating sales qualified leads with Trumpia, a leading text messaging and marketing automation software that helps businesses and organizations communicate more effectively and efficiently with both their customers and members.