We live in a technology-driven world and it’s gone mobile. As digital marketers, we’re very familiar with the mantra that our marketing campaigns need to be optimized for mobile on every digital channel, from search to social to our website. It’s a valid notion considering we’ve surpassed the mobile tipping point. Mobile device usage now accounts for 60% of time spent with digital media, compared to 40% on desktop. To put this into perspective, it’s so powerful that nearly 80% of social media time is being spent on mobile.
Yet what’s the one channel that’s often overlooked as a critical element to mobile marketing? The voice channel. And what can our smartphones still do? They still make phone calls because consumers require it.
The voice channel is a critical element in your digital marketing, which includes Facebook and other social media platforms. Let’s dive into why you can’t ignore the importance of customer phone calls to your Facebook advertising.
Reason #1: Mobile Consumers Are Calling by the Billions
Believe it or not, mobile users that engage on social media platforms like Facebook are choosing to connect with businesses offline. Compared to other digital marketing channels, Facebook and social advertising have seen the largest growth in call conversion volume, which is expected to skyrocket by nearly 200% between 2016 and 2019.
There are a lot of factors that influence calls from Facebook, such as the mobile Newsfeed and a variety of ads and targeting strategies. However, marketers wouldn’t be as successful at attracting call conversions from this social channel without understanding the right audience.
Reason #2: Facebook Users Are Mobile
First and foremost, Facebook’s audience makes it a shining example of a mobile-first marketing platform. Not only is it the most popular social network in the world, but the majority of its active users are predominantly mobile. Over 1 billion of Facebook’s monthly active mobile users only access the social channel via their smartphones. That means 91% of their monthly active users are mobile and, of that percentage, 59% are only on their smartphones.
As digital marketers look to drive conversions and customers from Facebook, marketers must think beyond online conversions. Thanks to mobile the voice channel is directly connected to Facebook, and should be taken into account when digital marketers plan and optimize their social media campaigns. A large portion of their mobile users want to call businesses during their customer journey. Marketers must embrace this and optimize for it.
Reason #3: Facebook Advertising Spend is Mobile
Marketers have taken notice of this strong mobile audience by directing their advertising budgets to mobile. In fact, 82% of Facebook’s ad revenue comes from mobile. And since over half of their monthly mobile users are only on smartphones, marketers need to realize their ads are reaching mobile consumers who want to take the customer experience offline.
Gone are the days of consumers interacting with businesses over one channel. Their customer journey is much more fluid. Sure, there are consumers that prefer to interact online, but studies find that consumers actually pick up the phone to have a real conversation throughout the entire customer journey. Therefore, marketers can maximize their Facebook ad spend and increase conversions by targeting the right mobile audiences with the right mobile-optimized ads and landing pages designed to not only drive clicks, but also phone calls.
The value of a phone call is undeniable in this mobile-first world, especially when it comes to social media platforms like Facebook. Mobile consumers are engaging with businesses on Facebook via their smartphones. Facebook and social advertising is generating billions of phone calls to US businesses. Consumers are calling. And with Facebook being a mobile-first platform, it’s time you learn how you can leverage Facebook ads and targeting strategies to drive high-quality calls to your business (the same way you do for clicks).
Get started with The FacebookPlaybook to Call Conversions: How To Use Facebook Ads to Drive Quality Calls and Conversions.
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