You already know – smartphones are taking over the world. According to Pew Research, 64% of the population now owns a smartphone.
With this percentage rising nearly every day, it’s no surprise businesses are starting to wrap their products and services around them. With smartphone users mostly using the mobile device for gaming and social networking for now, many businesses have been scratching their heads trying to figure out how to tap into it to engage their consumers.
Here are just some of the ways businesses have done it to give you some ideas. Create a Smartphone App With over 1 million apps in Android’s Google Play store, you cannot go wrong with a native or non native for your business. Users want the convenience and user-friendliness of an app on their phone. Just about any business can find a way to use one. An app can simply just be a portal for people to learn, check or buy your services or products. Service industries especially, such as Finance, can become more connected with their clients via a mobile gateway.
Optimize your Social Media Channels Since people are using smartphones to connect with people and businesses on social media, you should be on there too. Interact with your consumers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin or one of the other social networks. You can reach out to people directly, publish informative posts, and provide customer service. Customers are reaching out to businesses on Linkedin and Twitter much more these days, and you can show them and everyone else you’re available to them whenever they need it.
Make Your Website Mobile Friendly (Responsive) People are browsing the web on their smartphones and tablets. Since older websites don’t render correctly on these devices, it’s important that you update your website. Choosing a mobile responsive website will ensure consumers are able to see your site on their smaller screens and navigate through the site easily and quickly. Google and other search engines have begun depreciating websites that don´t offer a responsive framework.
Design a Smartphone – Yeah, you read that right – design a smartphone! If you’re thinking this has nothing to do with your business, and it wouldn’t work, you may want to reconsider. If someone ever asked you whether you thought Pepsi would create a smartphone, what would you say? You probably would have said that it wouldn’t happen because creating a smartphone doesn’t seem like something a soft drink company would do. Well, guess what? Pepsi is doing just that. The soft drink giant is coming out with a smartphone running Android 5.1 Lollipop ( with a 5.5 display and 1080p resolution). Its called the P1 and its only available in China for now. (there’s really no shortage of phone makers in China). Wouldn’t expect this to hit the US or Europe anytime soon, however don’t be surprised if Coca-Cola follows suit. Its price range is around $200 and the P1 comes with a 13 megapixel back camera and 5 megapixel front camera for selfies. The internal storage will be a decent 16 GB and the battery will be 3000 mAh making it large enough for a day’s use.
Pepsi has just taken their brand to a completely ne level. It may soon be entering the content & software business in a very big way. Smartphones are now going everywhere. Literally. It may just be something you may want to do for your business, being that the benefits of mobile are becoming increasingly more important to grow your brand – and stay relevant.
