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Cape Town - With 80% of South Africans owning a cellphone and 6.8 million accessing Facebook via mobile, according to World Wide Worx, every business should aim to make the most of this vital marketing tool.
You only need to look at the fevered interest in the launch of Apple's iPhone 5 and Facebook's recent announcement of its increased focus in the mobile space to seriously consider mobile as part of your multi-channel communications strategy.
This is the message from John Ginsberg, marketing director of Ensight, a leading international multi-channel marketing company.
Ginsberg feels the time is now to recognise the moves of Facebook in the mobile arena, as well as the continued growth of this communication platform to help brands grow their share of voice and engage actively with consumers.
Facebook’s share price jumped by nearly 8% shortly after it was announced that CEO Mark Zuckerberg planned to harness the social network’s mobile offering.
“This announcement, though perhaps a bit delayed, has been embraced by the markets and is a positive shot in the arm following the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in May, following which it lost half of its share value,” says Ginsberg.
Ginsberg says that the social media platform has experienced a dramatic rise in the number of active monthly users on its mobile platform, from 325 million users a year ago to 543 million mobile users currently.
“However, the general consensus is that Facebook has hit a ceiling with its desktop- and laptop-based platform in terms of the number of users, which is obvious with the slowdown in the growth of web-based numbers.”
He explains that mobile phone adoption globally has fuelled Facebook’s renewed mobile focus, with the number of users accessing the internet via mobile quickly catching up with that of web-based users.
Ginsberg says tech giant Apple’s recent iPhone 5 launch is also a significant step towards a post-PC world.
“The adoption of the iPhone 5 will also benefit from recently quashed rumours of a Facebook smartphone, emphasising the company’s focus on integrating Facebook into every device that users may choose to use," says Ginsberg.
"This is already evident in the deep Facebook integration found in the iPhone 5.”
“The appetite for the iPhone 4 and 4S was huge and the sales of the new iPhone 5 are already estimated to be around double that of the previous model in its first week on sale.
"This new relationship between Facebook and Apple will be very advantageous for the social network and could easily boost the amount of mobile users even more.
“More excitingly, Facebook is looking to increase the rivalry with Google by exploring the implementation of incorporating a search engine function into the social network.
"With nearly a billion searches per day being handled by Facebook at present, the presence of a brand being on Facebook will be crucial should this function be rolled out.”
Ginsberg says that just as Facebook adapts to the trends like the shift to mobile, businesses need to adapt accordingly and explore the growth possibilities presented in the mobile boom.
“It is simply no longer viable for businesses who wish to remain profitable to ignore significant technology shifts such as the current ‘seismic’ shift to mobile.”
“Vast opportunities exist for both global and local businesses to capitalise on this shift by aligning their marketing strategies to actively engage with consumers across multiple platforms,” concludes Ginsberg.
*Follow Fin24 on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.
You only need to look at the fevered interest in the launch of Apple's iPhone 5 and Facebook's recent announcement of its increased focus in the mobile space to seriously consider mobile as part of your multi-channel communications strategy.
This is the message from John Ginsberg, marketing director of Ensight, a leading international multi-channel marketing company.
Ginsberg feels the time is now to recognise the moves of Facebook in the mobile arena, as well as the continued growth of this communication platform to help brands grow their share of voice and engage actively with consumers.
Facebook’s share price jumped by nearly 8% shortly after it was announced that CEO Mark Zuckerberg planned to harness the social network’s mobile offering.
“This announcement, though perhaps a bit delayed, has been embraced by the markets and is a positive shot in the arm following the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in May, following which it lost half of its share value,” says Ginsberg.
Ginsberg says that the social media platform has experienced a dramatic rise in the number of active monthly users on its mobile platform, from 325 million users a year ago to 543 million mobile users currently.
“However, the general consensus is that Facebook has hit a ceiling with its desktop- and laptop-based platform in terms of the number of users, which is obvious with the slowdown in the growth of web-based numbers.”
He explains that mobile phone adoption globally has fuelled Facebook’s renewed mobile focus, with the number of users accessing the internet via mobile quickly catching up with that of web-based users.
Ginsberg says tech giant Apple’s recent iPhone 5 launch is also a significant step towards a post-PC world.
“The adoption of the iPhone 5 will also benefit from recently quashed rumours of a Facebook smartphone, emphasising the company’s focus on integrating Facebook into every device that users may choose to use," says Ginsberg.
"This is already evident in the deep Facebook integration found in the iPhone 5.”
“The appetite for the iPhone 4 and 4S was huge and the sales of the new iPhone 5 are already estimated to be around double that of the previous model in its first week on sale.
"This new relationship between Facebook and Apple will be very advantageous for the social network and could easily boost the amount of mobile users even more.
“More excitingly, Facebook is looking to increase the rivalry with Google by exploring the implementation of incorporating a search engine function into the social network.
"With nearly a billion searches per day being handled by Facebook at present, the presence of a brand being on Facebook will be crucial should this function be rolled out.”
Ginsberg says that just as Facebook adapts to the trends like the shift to mobile, businesses need to adapt accordingly and explore the growth possibilities presented in the mobile boom.
“It is simply no longer viable for businesses who wish to remain profitable to ignore significant technology shifts such as the current ‘seismic’ shift to mobile.”
“Vast opportunities exist for both global and local businesses to capitalise on this shift by aligning their marketing strategies to actively engage with consumers across multiple platforms,” concludes Ginsberg.
*Follow Fin24 on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.
