As a business owner operating in a local market, the reliance of consumers on their smart phone and tablet devices has put you in the position to capitalize more so than ever before. The way in which the technology, mobile apps and social media have come together has placed the focus on “local” more so than ever before.
A recent study by comScore revealed that 64 percent of tablet owners are searching weekly and 61 percent of smart phone users conduct local searches from their device. In addition, the report shows a 67 percent increase in social network local business searches since 2010. One thing we know about social network users is that they are in large part accessing form their mobile device.
Take for a moment a real life scenario; you’re out to dinner with friends and you mention you are going to start looking to a new home. Your friend replies, “I know a great company who you should work with.” The common practice in many social circles now-a-days is to immediately Google or look up that recommendation through a social network from your mobile device. We’ve all done this in one form or another.
This means that your information not only needs to be accessible and updated in the various business profiles and on maps in engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, but it also means that the link to your website needs to work on mobile and tablet devices as well as it does on PCs. Your brand and your information need to be consistent no matter the device the consumer is using.
A great example of a brand that is consistent is Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate (PSRE), DE. They have they transitioned their brand to meet the search demands of today’s mobile consumer; if you go to their website from any mobile Internet-enabled device you will land on http://m.pattersonschwartz.com, the mobile version of their website. In addition, they have combined their mobile web presence with real life touch points to give local consumers additional access and further their brand awareness.
Each ‘for sale’ sign PSRE has out in the market has both a text code and a QR code on it. This allows consumers who are just starting their home search or who may have never heard of PSRE to instantly get access to information right from their mobile device. What’s more is that both of those mechanisms take consumers directly to the PSRE mobile website where they can access additional information. In 2011, PSRE received 29,653 text message inquiries for their listings and 2,787 scans of their QR code (from 3/11 – 2/12) in addition to all the web traffic that came from mobile devices.
PSRE’s success in engagement is a tribute to the consistency of their brand across multiple devices, search engines and social media outlets.
To see how your brand fairs on mobile go to www.TestMySiteNow.com.
