Page 348 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Looking at Consumer Trends in Mobile

The smartphone is a key fixture in the lives of nearly everyone in the United States
and around the world. According to leading research firms, 96 percent of the
U.S. population has a mobile phone. And Pew Research Center reports that worldwide
there are approximately 5 billion people who own a smartphone as of 2019.

In 2018, Apple reported that the top five iPhone apps downloaded by users were
the following:

» YouTube
» Instagram
» Snapchat
» WhatsApp Messenger
» Facebook Messenger

A telephone and much more

The mobile phone is more than a simple tool for making and receiving phone calls.
Sure, you can still make phone calls with it, but for most of us, the smartphone
has become a portal to the world and a multipath channel for the world to reach us.

The Global Web Index 2019 (http://globalwebindex.com) reports that
16-24-year-olds spend 28 percent of their time on mobile — more than than any
other age group. If this is your audience, you need to communicate with them via
their mobile devices.

Today’s mobile phones are newspapers, maps, books, magazines, cameras, radios,
stores, game consoles, video and music players, calculators, calendars, address
books, stereos, TVs, movie theaters, and concert halls. More specifically, people
are using smartphones to

» Access news and information
» Check up on the latest celebrity gossip
» Check the weather

» Look up addresses and find directions
» Access competitive business information
» Buy products, images, ringtones — and pizza

332 PART 5 Old Marketing Is New Again with SMM