Tag: mobile marketing

Social media marketing a focus of new IDC report

| April 13, 2013

social media marketing growthRecent research reveals mobile publishers are overtaking mobile advertising networks.

One of the latest reports published by IDC found that social media marketing giants like Facebook, Twitter and Pandora, are now dominating the mobile ad market industry, which was previously controlled by Apple and Google, as well as other large and small mobile ad networks.

The report results show there has been a big shift in mobile advertising.

According to the study, social media marketing claims 52% of the display advertising space. Mobile publishers are no longer taking a backseat to the usual mobile ad frontrunners. Instead, the IDC report shows that they are consistent in their overtaking of the ad market. This is a significant shift in mobile marketing advertising trends.

Mobile advertising networks are anticipated to continue to lose market share to social media marketing.

The report not only highlights that social media marketing publishers are dominating market share, but that is highly likely they will continue to do so. Karsten Weide, IDC’s Vice President of Media & Entertainment, observes that “Networks, especially independent ones, are entering a difficult phase, in which, with an ever smaller share of revenue, they’ll have to compete with publishers, which will only grow in strength.”

The growth rates of the mobile ad market in the U.S. continue to drop annually. In 2012, the market increased by 88%, which is quite the drop from 2011 when its growth rate had increased by 125%. That being said, despite the decline in market growth, mobile advertising has experienced a major increase in terms of spending. Last year, total spending amounted to $4.5 billion which is significantly larger than the $2.4 billion total in 2011.

In addition, the proption of the market that was represented by mobile from among all online advertising was up from 7% in 2011 to 11% in 2012. As for the future, IDC anticipates a 55% to 65% growth rate for the mobile ad market and for the U.S. to spend about $7 billion in mobile ads.

Based on what was revealed in the report, it appears that with social media marketing gaining a lot of strength, mobile ad networks will need to prepare for stiff competition in the mobile ad market.

Mobile commerce app from Aeropostale steps it up

| April 11, 2013

Mobile Commerce iPhone appA new marketing promotion has been released and is geared toward smartphone carrying teens.

Aeropostale, an apparel retailer geared toward teen shoppers is working to overhaul its mobile commerce channel in order to boost the business it is achieving directly with the consumer.

The retailer has identified this channel as vital to its target market, which uses these devices heavily.

The adolescent consumer market is one that has experienced massive penetration of smartphones, tablets, and other similar devices. This makes mobile commerce potentially very important to retailers that have teens as their primary shoppers.

Aeropostale has been offering a mobile commerce experience since June 2010, but has recognized the need for change.

The company has now made alterations to the mobile commerce app for iPhones, with the goal of making it more interactive and convenient to use. The company has revealed its hopes that these efforts will start to shift purchasing away from physical stores and into the online environment through these devices.

Aeropostale is not alone in this effort to gear shopping toward a more mobile commerce experience than one that is in-store. Other retailers who target smartphone using demographics have also been introducing and updating apps through which product research and purchases can be made.

This particular apparel retailer has seen some successes along this line. When its mobile commerce website was first launched in 2010, for example, purchases made over that channel made up only 2 percent of its total web sales. However, by March of 2013, this had grown to 13 percent of total online sales. At the same time, 36 percent of the traffic to the merchant’s website has been reported to come from smartphones and tablets.

It is in the pursuit of this level of growth that this company, and others like it, have continued to grow their mobile commerce efforts and try to apply more creative and appealing strategies that will encourage consumers to choose them over the competition. It has now come to the point that marketing experts are cautioning businesses that have not yet stepped into this channel, that they could begin to lose their competitiveness, as they will no longer be offering the type of experience that consumers will expect from them.