Expert: Experience driving mobile growth

Mobile is growing faster than many experts believed would happen, and according to one expert much of that growth is due to the mobile experience. Here's what brands can expect from mobile in 2017.

by Kristina Knight

Kristina: By 2018, mobile is expected to hold a 58% share of advertising budgets - what is driving this growth?

Rachel Lawrence, Senior Media Planner/Buyer, R2Integrated: The first reason mobile ads are driving such strong growth is because of how sophisticated the mobile experience is thanks to smartphones and the ability to connect so easily with content across channels on mobile. When built right, mobile websites are so user friendly that some people don't find it necessary to even have a computer at home. The other driver is the customer. New buying generations have been consuming digital media most of their childhood, so operating a smartphone to get what they are looking for, comes natural to them.

Kristina: What mobile trends do you expect to have a big impact on 2017?

Rachel: Mobile trends will without a doubt continue to grow in 2017. In the advertising world, we are starting to see more and more companies create ads that are specific for mobile. Facebook has declared that they are officially a Mobile-first company after they said it made up 78% of their revenue in 2015. They have spent a lot of their focus creating an interactive mobile ad unit, a canvas ad. A lot of other publishers have followed suit and are focusing a lot of their efforts towards mobile. The Wall Street Journal notes, "Mobile advertising revenues rose the most from the first half of 2015, the report said, growing 89% to $15.5 billion. Mobile represented 47% of all digital ad spend in the first half of 2016, as marketers continued to migrate their budgets away from desktop-centric ads." http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-digital-ad-revenues-grew-19-in-first-half-of-2016-1478012649

Kristina: With mobile growing so fast, how can brands ensure they are getting the most for their mobile ad dollar?

Rachel: There are a few ways to take advantage of ad dollars here. First is to really take advantage of interactive mobile-first ads. They allow for a fun and engaging user experience. Another, is to make sure that ads being served are highly targeted. The targeting capabilities on mobile can be great (by location, interest, behavior, etc.) It is great to take advantage of these opportunities, especially ones that are specific to mobile like geo-fencing. Lastly, make sure CTAs make sense for mobile. A click to call button could be a great way to track engagements on mobile, and something that is not as simple to track on desktop.