If you’re publishing content in 2022, you need to do so from a mobile-first perspective. For years now, mobile users have surpassed other types of visitors in just about every area. That means you need an effective mobile content marketing strategy if you want to compete.
By this, we mean ensuring that your content is as mobile-friendly as possible. There are a lot of ways you can achieve that, from using a Progressive Web App (PWA) to optimizing your pages for voice searches.
In this article, we’ll walk through the components of an effective mobile content marketing strategy. 📱📈 Let’s get to it!
📚 Table of contents:
- Optimize for voice searches
- Implement SMS marketing
- Format your content for mobile devices
- Consider using progressive web apps
1. Optimize for voice searches 📢
A significant percentage of mobile users rely on voice searches to find the content they want. In the US alone, over 40% of the population uses voice searches regularly [1].
This matters because the way users ask questions during voice searches is different than when they type queries in manually. To give you an example, if you’re looking for pasta recipes while typing, you might input a query such as “best pasta recipes”. Here’s a quick overview of the results you’d get:
When using voice-activated search from a mobile device, you’re much more likely to phrase search queries conversationally. Instead of saying “best pasta recipes”, you might ask “what are the best pasta recipes?”. That difference in phrasing often leads to distinct results:
By optimizing your content around question-based keywords, you increase the chances that it will appear in the SERPs during voice-activated searches. Considering how many users rely on voice searches, that can translate to significant increases in traffic.
2. Implement SMS marketing 📟
Email is perhaps the most well-rounded channel for reaching your website’s audience. With email, you ensure that subscribers can open notifications and read your messages on any type of device. However, if you want to increase mobile user engagement, you shouldn’t discount SMS marketing.
Well-timed text messages can help you drive visitors back to your website and the new content you publish. If you want to deliver concise updates or offers, SMS can be much more effective than email. According to research, nine out of ten users open text messages in the first few minutes after receiving them. In the case of emails, only 17-28% of users open messages on average [2].
To be fair, email can help you deliver much more complex messages and offers. However, SMS can complement your email marketing strategy and drive more attention to your content. A lot of modern email marketing platforms offer built-in SMS services. Some great examples include Sendinblue and SendGrid.
3. Format your content for mobile devices 📱
One of the biggest challenges of writing for the web is that most readers skim content. That means users often jump from one part of a page to another, in search of the exact information they want. If you’re writing long-form content, formatting becomes essential to ensure that visitors stay engaged.
👉 That holds true even for visitors who use laptops or desktop computers. When it comes to mobile devices, formatting becomes even more important, as navigating content can become challenging. Smart mobile formatting means:
- Diving content sections using frequent subheadings
- Using lists, tables, images, and video assets whenever possible to break up the text
- Setting fonts at a decent size for easier reading (so users don’t need to zoom in)
- Removing distractions such as banners or popups that users might press by accident
The best way to ensure that your content looks good on mobile devices is to test or preview it. If you use a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress, you can see what your content will look like before publishing it:
Most CMSs and website builders in 2022 make it relatively easy to build mobile-friendly or responsive websites. However, it’s still a great idea to test your content using mobile devices, to ensure that it offers a strong experience.
The same applies to email marketing. If you use email to promote your website’s content, there are platforms you can use to test how messages will look on different types of devices and browsers.
4. Consider using progressive web apps 💻️
It’s safe to say that not every website needs an app. Moreover, developing an app requires a serious investment of time and money. If you run a small website, that strategy may not be within your budget.
👉 One fantastic alternative is to use what’s called a Progressive Web App (PWA).This takes your website and mimics a full app experience. With a PWA, you can:
- Enable users to install an app that leads them to your site
- Have users receive push notifications
- Enable visitors to check content offline
- Offer a mobile-first experience
PWA examples are all over the web if you look for them. There are software and service options that can help you create web apps for your site at little to no cost.
Of course, PWAs can’t compete with the full functionality of a mobile app. However, they’re a great option for content-rich websites that simply want to offer visitors a better mobile experience.
Conclusion 🧐
Engaging, informative content tends to do well regardless of whether visitors use smartphones, desktop computers, tablets, or laptops. However, since most of your users will likely be using mobile devices, you need to ensure that you’re offering the best possible experience and marketing channels for them.
Let’s recap the fundamentals of an effective mobile content marketing strategy in 2022:
- 📱 Optimize for voice search.
- 📟 Implement SMS marketing.
- 📢 Format your content for mobile devices.
- 💻️ Consider using PWAs.
Do you have any questions about how to implement a mobile content marketing strategy? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!
