Is marketing driving app installs? Data say ‘yes’

prdaily.com

Apps are an integral part of many consumers’ daily lives.

Do brand managers do a sufficient job of using apps to meet consumer needs and increase engagement?

For now, yes.

Although millennials still command the lead among consumers who regularly use smartphone apps, data from comScore’s 2016 Consumer App report suggests every segment of the population is increasing their app usage.

To increase your engagement across audiences—and promote your brand—consider these insights:

How millennials use apps—and why it matters

Though it’s probably not a huge surprise, data say millennials continue to spend an excessive amount of time on their smartphones. Apps remain crucial to their heavy usage.

Which apps are they using and how can you use marketing to reach them?

Data say to align your content with the biggest names in the app industry—Facebook and Google.

Additionally, Snapchat continues to increase its popularity with Gen Z and millennial consumers.

WHITE PAPER: How to communicate with a millennial workforce.

From the report:

Snapchat has become a primary obsession among many of its users, ranking as one of the three most used apps for a fourth of its users—and even higher among 18-24 year-olds. Cracking into this rarified air is an impressive feat considering the well-entrenched positions of high engagement apps like Facebook, Pandora, YouTube and Instagram. Snapchat’s core audience of 18-to-24 year-olds is nearing full saturation, but going forward, much of the growth should come from older 25- 34 year-old millennials, where there’s still a huge opportunity.

Marketers shouldn’t lose sight of that opportunity.

From eMarketer principal analyst Cathy Boyle:

Advertisers are attracted to Snapchat for its broad reach among young millennials and those in Generation Z, which are valuable demographic groups for many businesses. To engage those often hard-to-reach consumers, Snapchat has expanded its advertising portfolio over the past year to include a wider array of video ads, and more sponsored geofilters and sponsored lenses.

The report says Snapchat isn’t the only app to interest younger consumers:

Social apps like Yik Yak, Vine, Snapchat and Timehop skew heavily toward millennials, as do entertainment apps like Playstation, Twitch, Xbox One Smartglass, SoundCloud and YouTube Music. Other hot names in the market today include Venmo, Tinder and Airbnb.

Although data suggest that general usage tends to decline with age, various demographics and segments of the population are increasing their smartphone apps usage over time.

In 2016, 55- to 64-year-olds saw the greatest increase. Their usage is up 35 percent from last year.

Are desktops and tablets still relevant?

App usage via tablets is in decline. The report attributes that decline to a rise in large screen smartphones.

The most engaged tablet users come from both the youngest and oldest demographics. Gen Z use tablet apps for games, entertainment and school activities. Older users (think Baby Boomers) rely on tablets for news and reading.

Data from eMarketer suggest mobile web consumption is also in decline.

From eMarketer:

This year, U.S. adults will spend roughly two hours a day using apps on their smartphones, which is seven minutes more than last year. In contrast, they’ll only surf the mobile web on their phones for fewer than 20 minutes a day, a decline of two minutes from last year.

Although reaching consumers via desktop marketing is in decline, you shouldn’t completely discount your non-smartphone outreach.

From the report:

Digital media usage time, driven by mobile apps, has exploded since 2013, but growth across all platforms is beginning to slow. [Though] mobile [usage] continues to be dominated by apps, tablets have a higher percentage of activity happen on the browser, given its more comparable screen size to desktop and a lighter selection of tablet-optimized apps.

Data say the majority of smartphone users’ app time is concentrated within only a few apps, which continually favor the biggest internet players. That can make it challenging for newer organizations to break through.

Where and how to post your content

Cultural and entertainment-based content is key to attracting mobile-driven consumers.

Social networking, music, gaming, messaging, retail, navigation, news and visual content are also highly sought after.

Here’s how that breaks down, from comScore:

Want to use content to increase your mobile reach?

Try video.

From eMarketer:

Video time on mobile devices overtook that on desktop last year. This year, video consumption on smartphones will exceed that on tablets. American adults will consume video on their smartphones for an average of 15 minutes a day. That figure will steadily increase through 2018, as video consumption on desktop declines slightly.

To convert the mobile masses, digital publishers—and marketers—must continue to develop their platform-specific strategies. Doing so will engage app users and turn them into loyal app visitors.

If in doubt, the report says to rely on your old-school marketing chops.

Want to break through to the app world?

Get creative with your strategy. Conceptualize a novel app idea or rely on traditional marketing and advertising for distribution.