Going mobile should be an audience-driven decision and not a result of some type of technology envy. Some of the questions you need to be asking when considering a mobile campaign as part of your marketing strategy are: who is already using the technology? How are they engaging with it - what kinds of functionalities do they prefer? And a third is: where are the openings? [Not what are my peers, role models, or competitors doing?]
New research by comScore Networks addresses some of these issues. In their national panel survey of cell phone users in the US, they found three age-related segments.
The Cellular Generation: Ages 18 to 24, these young adults grew up with cell phone awareness, experiencing cell phones as a part of their everyday lives.
Transitioners: Ages 25 to 34, these people fall in between two distinct groups: those who grew up with cell phone knowledge and those who did not. Cell phones began to infiltrate everyday life during their teen years and early adulthood.
Adult Adopters: Age 35 or older, this group was not exposed to cell phone until adulthood. Adult Adopters tend to have the most functional view of cell phones, with many requiring just the basics and showing limited interest in emerging technologies.
As for the engagement question, multiple functions rule:
The Cellular Generation clearly places the greatest value on additional features, with 57 percent ranking text messaging of “high importance” when selecting a wireless carrier and 25 percent stating the same for instant messaging, in both cases higher than their more senior counterparts. Forty-two percent of the Cellular Generation said that a camera was of high importance when selecting a wireless phone and 20 percent said the same of an MP3 Player. In comparison, a lower 30 percent of Adult adopters felt that having a camera was of high importance, and just 8 percent felt the same about an MP3 Player.
Wait a minute! 30% of Adult Adopters give high priority to having text messaging and camera features when selecting a cell phone? Shelve that stereotype.
More than three-quarters of both the Cellular Generation and Transitioners have the option to access the Internet on their cell phones, but Transitioners (29 percent) are more likely to subscribe to Internet services than the Cellular Generation (23 percent). Adult adopters have been the slowest to adopt this behavior, with just 13 percent currently subscribing to the Internet on their cell phones while 42 percent either lack, or are unaware of the option of doing so.
And my favorite survey item that gets at engagement or the relationship you have with your cell phone: I like my phone to be personalized. Strongly Agree: 41% of Cellulars, 32% of Transitioners, and 19% of Adult Adopters.
Now the research questions become: When, where, how and in what states-of-mind are these different groups of people open to health and social change uses of their phones? I expect that means further refinements in segmentation schemes. And how do the benefits of these different types of behaviors differ for each of these groups?
Michael Mace offers a user segmentation scheme to get closer to possible answers:
Entertainment-focused users who are generally younger than average and see a mobile device as a lifestyle choice. The biggest use is for game-playing and media (music and video), but also social messaging with their friends.
Communication-focused users who want a mobile device that lets them keep up with others in multiple ways including E-mail, SMS, voice, conferencing, and video calling.
Information-centric users who want their mobile device to be a memory supplement and a means to capture new information.
He uses this scheme to focus on markets for mobile devices and argues for differentiation of devices between markets, not convergence to capture them all. The same rationale may also apply in developing social marketing and social engagement programs that appeal to these different types of users. Knowing what types of cell phones and services people use and how they use them are the new 'channel' questions to be asking your priority audiences.
Photo credit: El Photo
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