Facebook Home – A Step Up For Mobile Marketers

Facebook just recently announced the newest version of Facebook for mobile devices, an application for Android phones called Facebook Home. It is a new concept for your smartphone, gearing your actions towards the people you want to connect with instead of the applications that connect you to all of Facebook. They have studied what actions mobile users take most often and set it up for you to easily access just those features first.

“The home screen is the sole of your phone” explains Mark Zuckerberg.   You look at it about 100 times a day and because of that, the experience should be personal. That is the reason behind the new suite of applications called “HOME”. So what is Facebook Home? It is a family of apps that become the “home” of your phone and is ideal for social smartphone users who like to stay connected with what their friends are up to throughout the day. The purpose is to see people first, not applications. When you turn on your phone, the “Cover Feed” shows you updates from your friends focusing on the images.  Your friends’ updates and images flash right in front of you quickly and easily with no swipes or gestures. You like or comment right from the home screen.

Mobile Usage is Increasing, So is Mobile Advertising

The mobile advertising industry is expanding at a very high rate. MarketingMag.com.au reports “mobile publishers such as Facebook, Pandora, and Twitter are fast taking over the mobile display advertising market in the United States. Overall mobile ad spending in the US increased by 88% in 2012 to $4.5 billion, as marketers spend an increasing portion of their digital ad budgets on mobile. The share of overall spending allocated for smartphones and tablets reached 11% last year, up from 7% in 2011.”

What does this mobile revolution mean for businesses?

Businesses, even ones that do not sell online, should get on board with mobile. That means optimizing your business for mobile search so that customers that are looking for local businesses while mobile will be able to find you.  Consider these important facts:97% of consumers use online media before making local purchases, according to the BIA/Kelsey survey.  Google Research  showed that 9 out of 10 internet searches resulted in a follow up action, such as a call or visit to a business. Mobile searches triggered an additional action or conversion 73% of the time; and 28% of mobile searches resulted in a store visit or purchase. Since mobile searches are on the rise, this behavior is only going to continue to increase

Facebook Home is not just mobile first, but ‘mobile BEST’. They are striving for highest quality experience on Android that feels physical and real. Zuckerberg put the “Facebook Phone” rumours to rest and was very specific when explaining that this is not an operating system and will not replace Android phones. It will no doubt, increase smartphone usage and engagement.