millennials-mobileThe meteoric rise of mobile initially caught the advertising world by surprise and they are still trying to catch up. Growing at a faster rate than radio, television and computers, mobile has disrupted the traditional way that people get paid through the media with advertising.   The challenge is only greater when you consider that consumers have begun using ad blockers, or simply tuning out mobile advertising messages.  This presents a challenge that mobile marketers will continue to struggle with for years to come.

One of the biggest ways marketers look to target mobile is through ads on social media platforms. While this has worked for more traditional sites like Facebook and Twitter, the challenge is how to reach those users not on those networks and how to continue to engage users on newer platforms.  It turns out geo-location can help drive the right ad content on these new channels to make them more effective.

Snapchat tries out new approaches for monetization

geofilterWhile Snapchat is growing its user base, especially among millennials, up until recently they had struggled to provide advertisers with a reliable way to reach consumers. The temporary nature of the site, where mobile messages disappear after a mere 24 hours makes it hard for advertisers to want to invest in such a limited message, and the high price tag of promoted Stories or Channels is prohibitive. With limited data, it makes it harder to sell ads to marketers who are unsure what they will even receive in return. Marketers must rely on building their own followers to create engaging content that appeals to younger audiences. In return, Snapchat is offering smaller ad buys to brand as they test the waters of this new model.

Using geo-location, Snapchat has recently introduced branded geo-filters which allow marketers to reach consumers in a specific area with an overlaid ad, placed on top of the content the users are generating themselves.  This allows advertisers to hit not only users in a targeted area, but also to get amplification of of their message as the filter is applied to images/videos which are then shared with the users’ followers.

Foursquare has the data to back up their ads

Early movers in the location-based app space include Foursquare and later Swarm. These apps allow users to check-in at physical locations and broadcast this to friends within the app and share on other social media platforms. With this comes some pretty significant information for potential advertisers.

Recently, Foursquare has tested this out on a select group of users who have agreed to opt in to sharing their data. By showing one group an ad and then determining if it later brought them to the actual location versus another group that didn’t see the ad, Foursquare is creating the metrics to secure future ad prospects. With a larger demographic than just millennials, Foursquare is better suited to compete with other social platforms to sell ads.

If mobile is part of the future of advertising, then marketers better find the best way to utilize it in a way that’s natural to the medium and how people interact with it. With social media, it’s been more challenging but the potential is ripe.

Contact us to learn how we can help your organization optimize your mobile ads.