Oh let’s face it, modern consumers don’t make content marketers life easy.
No longer restricted to one computer or network they jump between devices whenever they please. And, they expect data to follow them across.
They are multitasking. Ourmobileplanet reports that 80% of their respondents admitted to using smartphones while listening to music (45%), watching TV (49%), browsing the internet (30%), reading newspapers (17%), watching movies (29%) or reading books (6%). Multitasking and interruptive viewership is becoming the typical consumer behavior.
Not to mention that modern consumers consume more information than ever before too. In his report, “How Much Information?” James E. Short, a researcher at University of California, San Diego states that
by 2015, the sum of media asked for and delivered to consumers on mobile devices and to their homes would take more than 15 hours a day to see or hear.
That’s equal to consuming 9 DVDs of data, every day!
And then there’s you – trying to develop strategies to engage your target audience which, given their new behaviours might not be that simple.
How Readers Consume Information
The increase of demand for information and cross-device consumption brought changes in consumer behaviour. Today’s consumers use various devices to:
- Reach The Same Content At Different Times Of The Day
A consumer might begin reading news at home while having morning tea, continue on a train while going to work and finish at their desk.
- Reach Different Relevant Content At Different Periods
Having few friends for dinner, a consumer might first research recipes on their computer, access shopping list on a smartphone and then use video instructions on the iPad or a cooking tips app while cooking.
- Reach Different Content At The Same Time
Marketers already speak of two screens. Consumers rarely absorb one piece of content without using another at the same time. They watch TV newsreel while commenting on Twitter or chatting with friends on Facebook. They search film facts while watching a movie and so on.
These new behaviours present serious challenges to content marketers who now need to predict how their content will be used throughout the day and optimise it to deliver the best experience.
How Will Users Consume Your Content
Georges-Alexandre Hanin from Mobilsoft lists 3 content consumption behaviours:
When reaching for the same content on different devices throughout the day, consumers will consume the content coherently. Your job then is to ensure that the same content is delivered across all media and devices.
Different content at different periods is action related and thus consumed in such a way. Such content must be centered around the utilisation periods for each device.
Different content at the same time is used complementarily and must be centered around the best use of each device.
Planning Your Cross-Device Marketing
There are 5 things you must consider when planning your cross-device marketing:
1. Define how your consumers will consume your content
Depending on your industry, type of information you offer and the user situation, your users might use the content differently. They might reach the same content on different devices, reach for different content depending on the context and situation or consume different types of content simultaneously. You should define how your users are most likely to use your content.
2. Define your content type
Knowing how your content is going to be used, you need to specify what content type will best suit your users needs:
- Coherent – a content that will look the same on all devices
- Action related – one that will utilise the periods and patterns of each device
- Complementary – content adapted for the best possible complementarity between devices
3. Identify your target devices
By knowing your consumer behaviour and content type, you can map content to each device it will be consumed on. For instance, in the news industry, all your content will most likely be consumed on computers, smartphones and tablets. But if you provide educational content, videos might be viewed on tablets or computers while additional lessons and cheat sheets on smartphones.
4. Optimise for target devices
As each device has its own display standards or resolution and mobile networks offer different loading speeds, you need to take all that into consideration when optimising your content.
For instance, you might optimise images for computers, where high quality image will still load fast on Wifi but needs to be reduced for mobile network and smartphone use
5. Monitor
Lastly, you need to develop a system to monitor how your media is accessed. Google Analytics offers a cross-device reports that can help to see how your content is accessed and if your optimisation is working.
