Or Google? Apple? Amazon? Twitter? Tencent? You should.
Brands have phenomenal optimism when it comes to mobile. They want to do what Forrester calls 'owning all the mobile moments' with their customers.-- They've built mobile apps and optimized their web sites for mobile and have happily "checked the box" on mobile strategy. But there's one major problem with this strategy. Most of their customers have not and will not download their apps.
I'll offer some free advice to brands: expand your strategy beyond "owning" mobile moments to borrowing (or buying) mobile moments from those who do own them ... and are willing to lend (or sell) them to you.
Your customers use very few apps or platforms on their mobile devices. In fact, new Forrester data shows consumers spend the majority of their time using just five apps. Most of this time is spent within social media, instant messaging, mobile messaging, email, maps, commerce, media (e.g., YouTube) and shopping apps. Consumers do discover, download and use enterprise apps, but primarily when they offer something unique and incredibly convenient such as access to a bank account, food delivery, or a boarding pass.
This means companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Twitter and Tencent and Facebook own your customers' mobile moments. But there's good news. These firms are willing to lend you mobile moments - or sell them for a price. You need to create a strategy to reach your customers within this ecosystem or miss engaging with your customers entirely on mobile devices in a meaningful way.
Firms that borrow mobile moments from apps with huge engagement will gain:
- Audience. Facebook alone has 745M mobile daily active users. Those in the US spend nearly 25 minutes per day with Facebook - giving it by far the most reach of any one service. Instant messaging platforms such as WeChat, WhatsApp, Line and KakaoTalk come close.
Acting like a destination alone is not a comprehensive mobile strategy. In 2015, make your mobile ecosystem strategy one of your priorities.