Facebook reports 19 percent increase in daily active users

There are more people using Facebook on a regular basis than there were last year. 19% more. Care to guess how many people that is? Go ahead and guess: how many Daily Active Users does Facebook have now? (I’ll put the answer at the bottom.)

Facebook just released their Second Quarter 2014 Financial Summary and it’s looking good for the social media giant.

Second quarter revenue was $2.91 billion. That’s a 61% increase compared to $1.81 billion this same time last year. I’d take that any day.

Mobile Now Exceeds PC: The Biggest Shift Since the Internet Began

If you're still struggling to leverage the website to support goals, you have some catching up to do, as the landscape has recently experienced a tectonic shift.

Mobile Exceeds PC Internet Usage for First Time in History

In early 2014, the landscape in which businesses operate changed forever when Internet usage on mobile devices exceeded PC usage.

It has taken considerable time for businesses and brands to embrace the potential of the Internet. Today, most recognize the Internet as a vital foundation for everything from operations to marketing and sales to logistics, CRM, and customer service.

Still, many businesses and brands struggle to truly leverage the digital landscape to meet the expectations of their customers. Many more will struggle with the migration of audiences (customers) to mobile.

The time has come to seriously consider integration of mobile-friendly versions of all mission-critical assets: applications, data, the website, communications, demos, sales materials, customer service, etc.

What Are Consumers Doing on Mobile?

How do consumers use mobile devices to access the Web? According to Online Publishers Association/Frank N. Magid Associates:

• 99.5 percent access content/information
• 63.1 access the Internet
• 62.1 percent check email
• 49.2 percent listen to music
• 46 percent play games
• 41.7 percent download and use apps
• 15 percent make purchases
• 15 percent read a book

Shift to Mobile Impacts B2B Significantly

If you imagine that the mobile usage is merely a reflection of consumers logging onto social media, checking email or conducting search, or shopping, think again.

Executives lead the way in mobile adoption, validating the theory that digital assets for a business or brand must serve target audiences 24/7, and not just during business hours.

Meeting your customers wherever they work is no longer a luxury – it is a necessity. If you wish to convert interaction to action you must compel the decision-maker.

B2B Decision-Makers Rely on Mobile Devices

Mobile is preferred over the PC for executives conducting research during and after office hours, according to the IDG Global Mobile Survey 2014.

• 92 percent of executives own a smartphone used for business.
• 77 percent of executives use their smartphone to research a product or service for their business.
• 93 percent of executives will purchase that product via the Internet using a laptop or desktop.
• 86 percent use their tablet and 72 percent of executives use their smartphone to conduct research for products or services for their business.

Executives rely upon mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) to conduct business research more frequently in the evenings than any other time of day.

Mobile as a Competitive Advantage

Whether your day-to-day focus is business management, marketing, sales, SEO, social media, advertising, software development, or customer relationship management, the mobile device has increasingly become the preferred tool for work and communication. How quickly and effectively an organization plans, develops, and adapts to deliver quality mobile experiences will likely become a competitive advantage.

Some organizations may continue to view mobile as an "add-on" or supplementary effort when planning for digital interaction with customers. However, those who embrace the shift in behavior and deliver what their customers want and need to make a purchase decision will likely be the ultimate winners.

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How Responsive Design Increases the Results of Your Online Marketing

We all hear about responsive design. But as a marketer, sometimes we are only focused on the specific tasks, such as creating content, developing email campaigns, building links, and updating social media networks. The fact of the matter is, if you or your clients do not have a responsive design in place, then all of the online marketing strategies we implement will not bring the full potential of results.

This post will cover the points you need to make to your boss or your clients when it comes to adding responsive design into the marketing mix.

A Quick Rundown of Mobile Statistics

So how does mobile play into content, email, search, and social media marketing? Here are just a few of the stats.

• 60 percent of Internet access is made on a mobile device. 
• 51 percent of emails are now opened on mobile devices. 
• The majority of mobile consumers use search in the shopping process. Forty-eight percent start on search engines. 
• 70 percent of mobile searches lead to action on websites within one hour. That's assuming that the website is mobile-friendly, otherwise 40 percent will choose another result. 
• 60 percent of social media time is spent on smartphones and tablets as opposed to desktop browsers. 

What do these statistics mean? They mean that every aspect of our online marketing efforts – content, email, search, and social – is affected by mobile. People are reading content, opening emails, performing searches, and engaging with brands on social media – all on their mobile devices.

If statistics do not convince you that getting mobile-friendly with responsive design is important, then hop into your Google Analytics and go to the Mobile Overview in the Audience portion. Chances are, if you do a traffic comparison between this year and last, you'll notice that your mobile users have grown, potentially significantly.

Even if it's only a small portion of your traffic, that's still a large number of users that could be converting IF you have a mobile-friendly website.

How Responsive Design Helps

Responsive design allows users on any device – desktop, smartphone, or tablet – to have the same experience. Some businesses choose to go with a mobile-only and desktop-only experience, but the trouble with this is the lack of consistency between the two.

People who make a purchase on the desktop site will have a completely different purchasing experience on their mobile. And the most troublesome issue is generally how a mobile-only design will not include every page that a visitor will want to see.

Hence, responsive design will help support your online marketing efforts in the following ways:

• Content Marketing: When people are browsing their Feedly subscriptions and post from your blog comes up, they will be able to not only read it on their mobile device if you have a responsive blog design, but they will even be able to use your social sharing buttons.
• Email Marketing: When people open an email with a responsive template, they will be able to read it no matter what device they use. Most importantly, when they click on a link from that email, if the website design is also responsive, they will have no issues browsing the website.
• Search Marketing: When people click on a link to your website from search results, if you have a responsive website design, they will be able to get to that page and be able to consume the information they need. If the page in search isn't included in your mobile-only design, they might get redirected to a homepage and never make it to the page they want.
• Social Media Marketing:When people click on a promoted offer from your Facebook page on their mobile device, they'll be able to purchase the promoted item just like they would on their desktop browser.

This means that you won't lose any visitors coming to a website as a result of any of the above online marketing strategies just because they are on a mobile device. This is especially important for any paid advertising you may be doing that appears to a mobile user.

Where and How to Get Responsive

So how can you make sure your online presence is as responsive as possible? Here's what you need to do.

Responsive Websites

First and foremost, you need a responsive website design. If your website, shopping cart, and blog are all built on a responsive design, then visitors to your website will be able to learn about your products and services, buy your products, and consume your content on any device without issues. The consistent experience will also make it more likely that users who discover your business on their desktop can easily make conversions on their mobile device at a later time.

Obtaining a responsive design for your website doesn't require you to be a website designer or to pay a lot to hire one. You've got several options to choose from.

• If you use a content management system like WordPress, you can choose a responsive theme design. Premium theme makers and marketplaces like StudioPress, ThemeForest offer plenty of responsive designs to choose from.
• You can also find responsive templates on services that make designing your own website as simple as drag-and-drop, such as IM-Creator, Wix, and Weebly.

No matter what path you choose, make sure it is a responsive one. Test demo themes and templates on your own mobile device to confirm their ease of use and flow. Also be sure that the theme or template can support additional features, such as shopping carts, on-site search, comparison tools, account logins, and other specific functions your visitors will expect.

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Android Beats iOS in Q1 Mobile Ad Traffic, Still Lags in Monetization

Android took over as the top smart device platform on the Opera Mediaworks platform in Q1, with about 43% of traffic, versus 38% for iOS devices. But, iOS devices continue to generate an outsized share of revenues, at more than 52%. Android’s share of revenues is growing more quickly on a year-over-year basis, though its gains are at the expense of BlackBerry and Symbian rather than Apple. Meanwhile, in Q1, the Social category continued to lead in mobile ad traffic volume, while Arts & Entertainment garnered the most revenue and Business, Finance & Investing the most revenue per impression.

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Why Mobile Apps Will Drive the Future of Marketing

Virtually every day, new evidence emerges of the consumer shift to mobile. According to new data from Gartner, by 2017, mobile apps will be downloaded more than 268 billion times, generating revenue of more than $77 billion and making apps one of the most popular computing tools for users across the globe. To put these huge numbers in context by comparing them to the current world population of approximately 7.1 billion and counting, by 2017, every man, woman and child on the planet will have downloaded 37 mobile apps. In reality, considering that a large swath of the world’s population still does not have access to mobile apps or capability to download them, this means that those of us who are wielding smartphones and tablets will be downloading A LOT of apps. Looked at another way, by 2017, mobile apps will have gone completely mainstream, giving businesses a new way to connect with consumers.

Of equal significance to businesses, Gartner predicts that mobile users will provide personalized data streams to more than 100 apps and services every day. Taken as a whole, the Gartner findings anticipate an overarching theme that will continue to gain force and shape the marketing function in the digital age: consumer connection through data aggregation. It is in this way that mobile apps will drive the future of marketing.

Forming Connections with Mobile

Even now, research shows that apps are beginning to dominate the mobile ecosystem. In 2013, the U.S. consumer spent an average of 2 hours and 38 minutes per day on smartphones and tablets. 80% of that time (2 hours and 7 minutes) was spent inside apps and 20% (31 minutes) was spent on the mobile web. Digital marketers focused on producing ever greater amounts of web-based content in an attempt capture consumer mindshare may want to consider this and shift some resources into specific-use mobile app production.

Businesses can utilize specific-use mobile apps to enhance and/or simplify the customer experience with their brand. As mobile device usage proliferates, users are becoming more reliant on mobile apps for search and needs discovery. Businesses should view this not as a threat, but as an opportunity to gain competitive advantage.

The very idea of mobile implies proximity (be it geo-locational or online) in action. Moreover, given that mobile devices are ultimately toted around by humans occupying a physical (and virtual) space, the future of mobile is inextricably linked with social media.

As I’ve written before, the rapid advancement of mobile technology - with its integration of social media and expanding geo-locational capabilities - has elevated the concept of contextual relevance in digital marketing. This is equally important for businesses, as contextual relevance breeds brand affinity- a necessary prerequisite to forming connections with consumers. Today’s social-Local-Mobile (SoLoMo) consumers now expect businesses to provide contextually relevant online content and resources that inform and entertain, or resolve a need or a want. In brief, SoLoMo has shifted power to the consumers, and they know it.

Consumer Connection through Data Aggregation

To survive and thrive in the consumer-driven digital age, businesses must figure out how to provide contextually relevant content and resources to consumers. They need information and feedback- some way to tap into the continuous streams of consumer-generated data to properly measure and refine their initiatives- all in an ongoing attempt to connect with their target audience. In an era rife with data, the greatest challenge for businesses lies not in the data itself, but in its efficient aggregation and meaningful interpretation. The ability to quickly compare marketing initiatives with real-world results allows businesses to continually refine brand messaging and marketing initiatives, using content and context to form deeper connections with prospects and customers.

As the aforementioned Gartner data suggests, mobile apps provide an indispensable tool for businesses to form connections through data aggregation; by doing so, they will drive the future of marketing.

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The Biggest Mobile Trends and Stories of 2013

In August 2012, Google published its famous Multiscreen Study, which stated that for the average user, cycling between smartphone, tablet, and desktop throughout the day is the norm. In hindsight this seems obvious, but at the end of 2012 it was a revelation; this landmark publication made us realize it's really about multiple screens, lots of them, and often several at once.

A little over a year later, we've accepted that we live in a multi-screen world and that mobile means more than smartphones. Marketers are actually planning their strategies for smartwatches, social machines, and Google Glass, and thinking a lot more about content in context across multiple interfaces.

Before long, the word mobile might go away altogether as the lines blur between our online and offline lives. But for now, let's use it to put this past year into perspective.

New AdWords Estimated Total Conversions Tracks Consumer Purchases Across Devices

Starting today and over the next few weeks, Google AdWords will roll out a major reporting update to conversion tracking called Estimated Total Conversions. This feature provides estimates of conversions that take multiple devices to complete and adds this data to the conversion reporting we see today.

Following the launch of enhanced campaigns this year, search advertisers have combined mobile and desktops with the ability to further modify bids by mobile and other targeting factors. One gap in reporting and comprehension of the campaigns effectiveness has been the limited data on how consumers are navigating and converting via multiple device options.

What is a Cross-Device Conversion?

Consumers constant connectivity has enabled them to browse, shop, and interact with businesses on the go and from multiple devices.

A September 2013 Google study found that more than 90 percent of multi-device consumers move sequentially between several screens like mobile to desktop, or mobile to tablet to complete a transaction online. Google found that a high percentage of converters actually jumped from desktop to desktop too, presuming a work desktop to home desktop computer.

How Estimated Total Conversions Works

Google calculates cross-device conversions for a particular advertiser based on how their customers convert when they are logged in. They then use this as the basis for extrapolating out to the complete data set to form an estimate of what total conversions that cross devices might look like. This data is only used in aggregate and not personally identifiable.

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Mobile Internet Advertising Maintains Fast Ascent

The Interactive Advertising Bureau México (IAB México) and PwC found that mobile marketing revenues, including ad spending and development costs, expanded 98% in Mexico between 2011 and 2012, to reach MXN794 million ($60.33 million) in 2012.

Of the two components in the IAB México/PwC measurement, mobile internet ad spending was the driving force behind gains last year, with a 104% improvement. That growth rate outpaced the also impressive 63% gain in mobile development investments.

Ad spending took the lion’s share of mobile marketing, with 86% of industry revenues generated from ad inventory sales, up from 83% in 2011. Mobile internet ad spending in Mexico totaled MXN683 million ($51.9 million) in 2012.

Mobile commerce now accounts for 23% of online sales

Mobile commerce sales have doubled in the space of a year and now account for almost a quarter of total online sales, according to a new report.

The new data from IMRG and Capgemini shows that sales completed through mobile devices accounted for 23.2% of total ecommerce sales in Q2 2013, up from 11.6% in the same period last year.

There was a significant rise in ‘click and collect’ sales in Q2, reaching a record high of 16% of online sales for multichannel retailers.

This represents annual growth of 33%, up from 12% in the same period last year.

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Consumers more concerned about mobile privacy than a phone’s brand or screen size

A TRUSTe survey of 900 smartphone users has found that battery life is the primary concern for 45% of smartphone users when using mobile apps, followed by privacy (20%), brand (13%)  and screen size (11%).

Furthermore, 54% of smartphone users are frequently or always concerned about privacy when banking online, the online activity causing mobile users the greatest concern, followed by shopping online (50%).

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