5 Mobile Marketing Trends this 2021

With the number of people choosing to shop through their phones rather than in-store, the number of smartphone users is growing by the day

In fact, more than 275 million Americans own a smartphone, of which 79% have made a purchase online using their mobile device. 

If you see mobile marketing as a great opportunity to grow your business this 2021, then you’re already one step ahead of your competitors.

Mobile is the most efficient and effective way to reach your target audience. People today spend more than 5 hours a day on their phones. 

Because of this, they get 2x more interaction with brands on mobile than they do in-store, TV, radio, website, or on print. 

Analysts predict that mobile commerce sales will reach up to $432.24 billion in 2022. It is why you need to focus more on mobile marketing this year. 

Mobile marketing presents a lot of opportunities for businesses to do more, be more, and achieve more. 

By strategically placing your business in front of your target audience while they’re using their phones you can maximize sales and conversions. In this article, we will discuss the top 5 mobile marketing trends that can help your brand thrive this 2021.

What are the Top 5 Mobile Marketing Trends this 2021?

Social Media Commerce Integration

Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest saw the opportunity to use their platform to help businesses maximize their sales and conversion by providing a smooth in-app shopping experience. 

This revolutionized the way people shopped online! 

You no longer have to switch from a social media app to a website just to buy the products you want from your favorite brands. All you have to do is to click on the product tags on the photo and it will automatically redirect you to a product page. 

This makes shopping 100x easier, increasing sales and conversion rates. 

Due to the pandemic, many businesses were forced to close their doors from the public and start going digital. 

This urged people to spend more time on their devices, doing everything from grocery shopping to paying bills on their mobile phones. 

A lot of people thought it was going to be a temporary thing, but seeing how incredibly convenient it is to shop on social media, it has now become the next big thing. 

This strengthened social shopping even further. During this time, many grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, and other businesses that embraced social media commerce integration experienced a peak in their revenues on what would have been usually a low sales month. 

Instagram has over 500 million daily active users, while Facebook has over 1.85 billion. If your company doesn’t have an optimized social media account for business yet, you’ll be losing a lot of potential customers and sales. 

In 2021, food delivery apps, financial apps, and social shopping will continue to gather steam. If you own an online store, having a website might no longer be enough to keep your business alive. 

You need to also have social media accounts and optimize them for shopping, so you can capture every potential client there is on every platform. 

The Rise of TikTok 

TikTok is currently one of the most popular social media platforms among Gen Z and Millennials. 

It has over 50 million daily active users in the U.S. alone. And just this January 2021, the app received more than 62 million downloads. 

Although TikTok is originally a platform for people to express and entertain themselves by sharing a video of them dancing or lip-syncing, it has now evolved into a place where people shared hacks, tips, tutorials, how-tos, and other information-rich content. 

Given the staggering amount of active users on this platform, without a doubt, it’s one of the most effective ways to reach the two largest consumer groups now and in the future. 

You can use TikTok for advertising products and services by creating rich content and building a relatable and reliable persona for your brand. 

TikTok works as a digital marketing strategy because it allows brands to interact and transact with their target audience in more authentic ways. 

This year, create a TikTok account for your business and start interacting with other brands or individuals within your network and niche. Doing this will help create awareness and build the algorithm for your needs. 

You can use TikTok to showcase product hacks, customer testimonials, behind the scenes, announce new products and events, start a trend, and so much more. 

Hyper Casual Mobile Gaming and Video Streaming Apps

The COVID-19 outbreak was a difficult time for everyone. With stores closed down and nowhere to go, people were forced to stay at home and turn to mobile games for entertainment instead.  

This spiked the number of mobile game downloads on both the App Store and Google Play. Given the remarkable growth in downloads, it’s safe to say that mobile games are now being introduced to a new market of individuals who may have not been interested in gaming if not because of the lockdown.   

Multiplayer gameplay and mechanics that focus on meaningful interactions between friends and family is sparking joy among individuals because it’s helping them stay social while social distancing. 

It’s a great way to stay connected with your friends, make new acquaintances, share a laugh, and just have a great time in general during lockdowns and even after. Mobile games now serve as social networks. 

Without a doubt, the mobile gaming market will continue to grow in 2021. 

It is estimated that the number of mobile players will reach 2.6 billion by the end of 2020, of which 38% are willing to pay for games. Given the continued rise in mobile game weekly downloads, the industry may reach its expected $98 billion revenue in no time. 

Another big trend to note is video streaming. 

Many people enjoy watching shows, movies, live streaming, and other types of video content. During the pandemic, the number of time people spent watching videos on YouTube, Netflix, and other video streaming apps increased by more than 40%. 

This trend is not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, video streaming is estimated to make up 82% of Internet traffic by the year 2022. 

For marketers, this is a great opportunity to penetrate a whole new set of audiences, especially the younger demographics.  

Placing ads on mobile games and video streaming apps is a great way to get your brand out there and interact with your target audience. 

This year, your digital marketing strategy should ultimately focus on helping people socialize, build connections around them, and create shared-experiences to help them stay connected despite the social distancing protocols. 

User-Generated Content 

User-generated content can be a very powerful content marketing strategy. 

When you use the pictures, videos, blogs, and other forms of feedback that your customers have voluntarily created by featuring it on your social media posts, it can make them feel heard, important, and appreciated. 

Aside from this, UGC can establish a higher degree of trust among your audience since these testimonies are based on real-life, unpaid experience, and opinions. 

More importantly, it can be a great source of ideas for your product development and improvement. 

This 2021, UGC will still play an important role in your mobile marketing strategy. 

You need it to build trust among your audience and to solidify your relationship with your existing customers. As things start to go back to normal, people would want to see and know that people are still buying and engaging with you.  

Location-Targeted Mobile Ads

You can maximize your sales and conversions by sending out the right ad at the right time and place to the right people. 

Location-targeted mobile ads are found to be more effective than generic ads because they’re able to cut through the marketing noise and capture customers by offering them exactly what they need at the right time. 

This can drive customers to your store, increase customer engagement, and boost sales.

Geo-positioning technologies like Bluetooth and 5G can accurately pinpoint a person’s location. Together with advancements in mobile communication, this can help strengthen the efficacy of location-targeted mobile ads, allowing businesses to target customers who are within proximity accurately.

It is estimated that the location-targeted advertising market will reach $163.5 Billion by 2026. Based on this prediction, it’s safe to say that you need to start shifting your mobile marketing strategy towards location-targeted mobile ads. 

We believe that it all boils down to personalization. The more targeted your marketing message, product offers, and compelling creates are, the more you’re able to draw customers in. 

In 2021, invest in location-targeted mobile ads to effectively drive people straight to your door!

Ace Your Mobile Marketing Strategy this 2021 with These Trends!

There’s no better way to reach your target audience than through mobile! Use these trends to guide your mobile marketing strategy this 2021. This year is all about creating a very personalized shopping experience for your target audience at every touchpoint. Where will you begin?

Shay Berman is the founder and president of Digital Resource, a full-service digital marketing agency located in South Florida. Shay’s clear-cut approach to internet marketing has driven his clients’ businesses to new heights and landed Digital Resource on the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in America for two consecutive years.