Thursday, February 24, 2011

How Smart Phones are Changing Everything - Are You Ready?

The internet is currently going through a revolution and it’s largely happening because of the growth of smart phones. The days of surfing the internet are over; most people are now accessing the internet via a mobile device seeking specific information. You have to drive people to access your brand directly versus hoping they might come across you via an internet search. Using a mobile device is “expected to take over the PC as the most popular way to get on the Web within five years.” Not only is mobile web usage growing but so are the number of apps available to drive specific destinations or information. Scared? Does your marketing plan take into account that your target audience has the web in their hands…literally? Are you thinking about the most used apps and how you can be on those sites because they are where your candidates/consumers are spending time?  Strategy Analytics in March 2010 forecasted that over 1 billion people will browse the mobile web via a smart phone by 2015 – not so far away!

Here are some amazing statistics from Mobi Thinking: Over 300,000 mobile apps have been developed in 3 years and have been downloaded 10.9 billion times. This should peak in 2013. So what are people downloading? Most used mobile apps in the US are “games; news, maps, social networking & music. Facebook, Google Maps and The Weather Channel rule.” Mobile use is only going to get bigger as mobile phone penetration outnumbers fixed internet users 5:2.

Some other interesting facts: 35% of mobile users are now using a media service that connects to the network (other than SMS, MMS, or voice), and the number of ‘just voice’ mobile users has fallen 18% year on year, and is now 35% or less. Also, people who access Facebook from their mobile devices spend approximately 68 more minutes there compared to people who access Facebook from their desktop. Don't you want to be mobile friendly?

So what does this mean for employment branding? A few things to think about are: Do you have a mobile friendly website? Can candidates apply on their smart phone? Are you using social media platforms? Are you available on those apps that your candidates are already spending time – especially Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare etc… How are you ensuring that you are not just keeping up with the trends but stay ahead of the curve to differentiate yourself from your competitors?

What are you doing to plan for the future and prepare your marketing and employment branding campaigns to be mobile friendly?

Want to scare yourself further about mobile internet use? Check out amazing statistics from Mobi Thinking at: http://bit.ly/fFcgjy & http://slidesha.re/hqw0Ea

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