Dispatches from BMA14: Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago

If there’s any company to take mobile marketing advice from, it’s Facebook. As of last month, Facebook surpassed 1 billion active users on mobile— way more than their desktop version will ever get. CMO of Facebook Gary Briggs gave an awesome presentation at BMA14 demonstrating just how important mobile should be in our overall marketing strategy.

 

When Facebook first launched its mobile app it was fraught with problems. It was too slow, had poor quality (and low ratings and reviews) and it was unprofitable. Then they completely changed the way they did business.

 

Here are a few of the lessons Gary shared with us:

 

Make it Fast

First, Facebook completely re-built their apps. Gary said speed was the most important thing to think of when building an app. Now the Facebook app is updated every four weeks, if not more often, in order to keep up with their audience’s needs.

 

Target real people

Marketing 101 still applies. It’s not about blasting as many people as possible. You have to target the right people and build messages that are like content.

 

Quality is Key

The average smart phone user checks their mobile device 150 times a day for two total hours! This means the mobile service your customer interacts with you on is going to be the dominant message for your brand.

 

Mobile Team= Every Team

Most importantly, Facebook changed their organization. Instead of having a mobile team, mobile became ingrained in everything they did. Apparently CEO Mark Zuckerberg would stop a meeting if people showed him the desktop version of something first. Go, Mark!

 

While Gary didn’t address B2B specifically, I think these lessons certainly resonate with business-to-business marketing, too. I look forward to seeing how mobile continues to evolve and shape our marketing efforts.

 

Stay tuned for more from the Tell Your Story team at BMA14!