Hernandez explained at the recent Mobile Engage event that a big part of the increase lies in the number of users in the UK. He also claimed that five million UK Facebook users access their news feed solely via their mobile devices.

As marketers are challenged to improve brand awareness in an increasingly competitive environment, it is clear that mobile is going to be key to success. Hernandez said:

“I spend a lot of time speaking to brands and agencies about how they have become mobile-first, if you wait for three years then you’re going to miss the train.”

It seems that the march to mobile is unstoppable and with Facebook’s powerful platform, any company failing to ensure they are represented properly on mobile will be left behind. Improving brand awareness with mobile must now be a key priority for businesses which have yet to embrace it.

In Hernandez’s address, he also claimed that 23% of all smartphone use is on Facebook. This gives a sharp insight into the perceived importance of the social network for mobile users.

When considering Facebook’s revenue streams, 30% of advertisement spend is mobile based. Despite this, UK spending on ads is still considerably behind usage by consumers. This leaves a lot of potential for UK marketers seeking to enhance their brand.

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The major social networks dominate with 61 per cent posting to Facebook, 24 per cent sharing on YouTube and 25 per cent choosing Twitter.

The research was carried out for Electrify and immediate future, a social media consultancy, which is seeking to identify the relevant links between live brand experiences and social media. The firm has even devised a tagline for the link-up: ‘Live Brand Social.’

Of those surveyed, nearly half felt the combination of a live brand experience and social media made an event more successful.

According to Katy Howell of immediate future, the survey highlights the value of social media to brands:

“It isn’t just a case of snapping, linking and chatting about a live branded experience. The survey shows…people want to interact with the brand too.”

She went on to explain that half of Facebook’s users will enter competitions related to brands and 50 per cent will follow a brand’s Facebook page. Additionally, 25 per cent are likely to interact with a company over a brand experience.

Live Brand Social also has an impact on income for businesses. More than 50 per cent of attendees are likely buy something because of the interaction. Furthermore, 54 per cent will seek to find more brand information online, and nearly half will go to a store.

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Of those businesses surveyed, 26 per cent are spending only 10 per cent of their marketing budget on traditional, non-digital, marketing activities, with 22 per cent claiming they spend nothing at all on traditional marketing.

Small businesses appear to have embraced digital marketing the most, with 54 per cent claiming they prefer online and mobile marketing as ways to develop their business.

Traditional strategies are suffering at the hands of digital marketing. Printed advertising has been hit the hardest, with only 28 per cent of SMEs planning to use this again in 2013. In contrast, direct mailing is still popular, with 20 per cent of SMEs seeking to employ this in the coming year.

Whilst confidence in traditional marketing is on the wane, mobile marketing is attracting more spend. Optimised websites, mcommerce and payments and QR codes are all proving of interest to SMEs. It is expected that mobile marketing will see an increase in investment from SMEs this year.

According to Ryan Higginson of Pitney Bowes:

“Many SMEs success, and even survival, can depend on targeted, effective and easy to implement marketing that covers a multitude of channels. Offline will always play a very important role in any strategy but online has really come to the fore.”

It is clear that the future of marketing for SMEs is digital. Whilst some elements of traditional marketing will continue to exist, the main driving force is likely to be mobile.

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As SEO has evolved, there has been a trend to choose or purchase domain names that contain keywords in an attempt to increase click through rates and climb up the rankings of Yahoo and Google, as well as other search engines.

A significant number of SEO managers will ensure companies secure domain names that exactly match their targeted keywords. For instance, a company selling electric bikes may purchase something like ‘buyelectricbikes.co.uk’.

Despite the existing approach to domain name choice, recent changes to Google have revealed that matching targeting keywords within a domain name is no longer as important to ranking success as previously thought. This doesn’t mean that businesses should completely forego domains that include keywords but they do need to understand there are other factors to consider when choosing.

Domain names which include keywords offer good ranking and increased click through rates but as digital marketing evolves, a brand-friendly domain name is becoming increasingly important. Google’s Eric Schmidt explained:

“Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brand affinity is clearly hard wired. It is so fundamental to human existence that it’s not going away.”

In social media, and within search engines, a domain name is the initial way in which a user will identify a business. A strong brand is likely to demand higher click through rates.

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Brands that have maintained growth tend to be those that adapted quickly and integrated technology within their stores.

Evans Cycles uses QR codes within all its retail outlets. The company has placed the codes on the information plaques of each bicycle. They are easily located and scanning them is done with relative ease; the only potential issue for shoppers unfamiliar with QR codes being the small scanning instructions.

From scanning the code, consumers are linked to a website that has been optimised for mobile devices. This simple idea is regularly missed by other, less digital savvy retailers and Evans Cycles demonstrates it understands the need for mobile optimisation.

With serious cycle prices being relatively high, the purchase of a bicycle is a major undertaking and consumers are looking for as much information about their purchase as possible. Evans Cycles’ product pages address this issue and are awash with product information. Additionally, Evans includes a rating for each bicycle and offers consumers a link to a full review.

While many retailers are struggling with QR codes, Evans Cycles is using them with confidence; those struggling might do well to take note.

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Log In with PayPal, previously known as PayPal Access, aims to simplify online check outs. It has everything that the retailer and the consumer require to create an account and make the purchase; this includes billing information, shipping details and account holder identification.

According to one of PayPal’s users:

“Log In with PayPal adds tremendous value to Gigya clients by streamlining registration and providing merchants with a great way to reduce shopping cart abandonment.”

PayPal rolled out the optimised Log In with PayPal during the 2013 Future Insights conference, taking place in Las Vegas this week. PayPal believes the new integrated solution will ease the frustration felt by consumers when attempting to purchase online vie their mobile devices. Ultimately, PayPal believes Log In with PayPal will make online shopping easier.

PayPal claims to have over 128 million registered accounts across the globe who trust it to manage their financial transactions, safely and efficiently, on a daily basis.

Using Log In with PayPal means consumers need only remember one account and password for online shopping. If it is successful it could see mobile purchases become easier and more common globally.

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This information was released by Euromonitor, following a survey of retail technologies across 15 markets. Japanese and Chinese shoppers share a similar approach as technology trumps human interaction.

The news is likely to be of interest for marketers seeking to capitalise on the increased usage of smartphones and tablets. It has never been more vital for marketing teams to ensure they have websites optimised for mobile users; otherwise they face losing potential customers.

Euromonitor’s survey revealed that the popularity and use of mobile devices is continuing to grow in the retail sector. However, it seems that consumers are not scanning QR codes during their shopping trips.

More than 40 per cent of those asked, in the UK and other developed nations have never scanned a QR code to receive product details and information. China’s shoppers are also reluctant to scan while in stores.

It is also of interest that consumers aren’t using their smartphones to write or read reviews of products or services. Less than 20 per cent of those surveyed write reviews on their smartphones or tablets whilst out shopping. Regardless, reviews are still responsible for influencing purchases for over 50 per cent of those surveyed; this suggests that reviews are more likely to be read on home computers rather than mobile devices.

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As they face questions about budgets and ROI, Adobe has created a new analytics tool specifically for social media. The exciting news was announced earlier this week.

The tool will be rolled out this summer, complete with Facebook integration for the first versions.

The software is designed to predict how users will engage with posts and inform marketing teams of the best times to release content. The software works by using complex algorithms. The algorithmic data is taken from analytics which have recorded post time, sentiment and engagement.

The software analyses every action and learns from them. It uses the information to refine its predictions and advice with every new post made. This predictive technology should enable marketers to fully maximise their social media posts as the need to guess and estimate responses is reduced.

Adobe announced the launch of the new tool in London, on Wednesday. Bill Ingham, Adobe Social Media VP, said:

“Social marketers have had to rely on instinct to maximise engagement on social platforms. Now we can smarten up social by unlocking the power of predictive analytics.”

The new product is part of Adobe’s Marketing Cloud and following the initial Facebook-integrated launch in summer 2013, it is expected that it will be developed to enable it to work with the other major social channels towards the end of the year.

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The app will be known as LinkedIn Contacts and it is hoped that it will prove popular with professionals, expanding LinkedIn’s mobile presence.

Sachin Rekhi of LinkedIn said:

“Today we’re proud to announce the launch of LinkedIn Contacts, a smarter way to stay in touch with your most important relationships.”

LinkedIn Contacts will synchronise users’ address books, schedules and emails to ensure they are up to speed and in touch with all the changes and developments occurring with their colleagues and customers. LinkedIn Contacts is one of the most interesting developments to come out of the social network in recent times.

The new app is designed to remind users when contacts celebrate birthdays, promotions or job changes. It will also allow the user to see the last conversation they had with a colleague or customer before attending a meeting with them.

As the company rolls out the app, it will invite a select number of LinkedIn users to try LinkedIn Contacts in America over the next few weeks.

Users will also be able to obtain the app from LinkedIn itself and as on the iPhone app store.

LinkedIn Contacts will allow users to create notes about contacts and set reminders. The app will synchronise any number of address books and schedules, ensuring reminders are accurate and also that meetings don’t clash.

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Part of its approach is in the development of consumer-led ‘second screen’ content. One idea behind this is a company-branded game for customers watching major events, such as the Champions League.

In a further area of development, the company is designing apps for Facebook that are optimised for mobile and can be implemented by other brands.

Heineken’s head of digital strategy said:

“We’re working on projects at the moment that are building on consumer behaviour rather than interrupting it.”

He went on to explain that the changes in the company’s mobile strategy would allow marketing executives to use social media to converse with consumers. This conversational approach is growing in popularity as a method for marketing within social media channels.

Heineken has worked with Facebook and Google to learn about its target audience’s online behaviour. From this work it found that the consumers it wants to reach are likely to be using several connected devices.

From the work with Facebook, Heineken believes it can develop its real time marketing strategy to ensure consumers actively seek conversations with its brands. Its marketing team is building apps to integrate social media marketing that doesn’t interrupt consumer behaviour but responds to it.

In addition to its work with Facebook, Heineken is looking to get involved with Twitter in order to promote its sponsorship of music in America.

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