According to a recently released study from Pew (click here for link), cell phones are increasingly becoming the communication device of choice, especially among teens. 71% of all American teenagers have a cell phone, and among high school aged teens, that number is 83%. This is up from only a 45% penetration rate in 2004 – more than a 50% increase in usage over the past 5 years, and at what seems like an exponential pace. It seems that cell phone ownership sharply increases between the ages of 13 and 14 (when most teens enter high school) from 53% ownership to 72% ownership until ownership levels off in pre-college years at around 85%, which puts it at a higher rate than the average adult ownership rate (77%.) As more of these young cell phone users enter their adult years, the adult ownership rate can only increase to the 85% level seen in the pre-college teens.
What is more important than ownership, especially to the budding marketer or campaign strategist, is usage. Teens, while they do not disown the landline phone, are predominately on their cell phones. 38% of teens send text messages daily (up from 27% in 2006) while 36% make a phone call on their cell phone daily. To contrast that, only 29% spend time with friends in person daily outside of school and 24% IM daily – the people they won’t see daily after school are the ones they are texting and calling. Moreover, as teens migrated to a world of social networking, they become increasing reliant on their cell phones, with 54% of teen social network users sending text messages or IMs to friends through those sites. It seems that, when it comes to communicating, teens are becoming increasing dependent on this mobile technology to connect to and communicate with their peers.
Adults, on the other hand, have mixed feelings about the use of mobility. 39% are considered ‘motivated by mobility’ while 61% believe that ‘stationary media’ is fine for them. However, 18% of adults who are ‘motivated by mobility’ are, what Pew calls, ‘ambivalent networkers.’ (click here for link.) These networkers skew male, but are primarily in their early 20’s and have, ‘folded mobile devices into how they run their social lives, whether through texting or social networking tools online.’ As more of these teen texters grow up, they will, most probably, enter the world as ‘ambivalent networkers’ increasing their dependence on their mobile devices to run their social life and connect with friends and colleagues.
So, while it doesn’t seem like teens will abandon more traditional media and communication tools (still, 32% talk on a landline daily) they are adding the cell phone as into their repertoire and increasing their mobility and connectivity to friends and family. Meanwhile, their mobility will continue to increase as the use of smartphones replaces the old call-n-text cell phones of yesterday. According to the Wall Street Journal, the smartphone market grew by 78% between 2007 and 2008, and is expected to grow by over 350% by 2012 (click here for link.) As teens get their hands on this vital new piece of information technology, their communication habits and social networking abilities will just increase and more and more will enter adulthood as ‘ambivalent networkers.’
So, why is any of this important? As more teens rely on their cell phones to communicate, marketers and politicians will need to find new creative ways to use this medium to connect to their target audience. It gives companies and elected officials a chance to communicate to teens on their level – the challenge is getting the awareness and message in just about 160 characters. However, if done successfully, cell phones and smartphones, in the hands of teens, can become a powerful tool for marketers, campaign managers, and public health officials.
Take North Carolina, for example. The pregnancy prevention campaign of North Carolina set up a free text line where girls can text their question to an expert anonymously and, within 24 hours, have a professional non-judgmental text response to their question or concern (click here for link.) Or, Abilene Christian University that handed out iPhone’s to its freshman class to allow them to get digital handouts and class podcasts on their phone. Here, educators and public health officials are tapping into teen cell phone use (and, perhaps, abuse) to get them important information in a format they are comfortable with (click here for link.)
Of course, the most well-known, or at least well-documented, use of the cell phone to communicate a message has been President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign for President, which enlisted the help of the mobile phone to reach out to young supporters. And, it works. According to a Gallup study conducted in October of 2008, 38% of registered voters had been contacted directly by the Obama campaign, as opposed to only 30% by the McCain campaign. Moreover, when it came to voter contact in the crucial ‘purple’ states, Obama’s people contacted 53% of registered voters, as opposed to McCain’s 44%. Surely, this made a difference, and cell phone communication had something to do with it – particularly with the 18 to 29 year old age group, of which 40% were contacted by Obama’s staff, double the amount that were contacted by McCain’s people (click here for link.)
This, of course, raises the question: what made President Obama’s outreach successful? The answer, according to Distributive Networks, consists of 5 crucial components:
- Seize control of the mobile channel
- Build the opt-in list aggressively
- Develop robust participant profiles
- Optimize message frequency
- Leverage mobile’s unique strengths
What this means for mobile marketing is that, it must be both personal and ubiquitous, while adding value to the consumer. Just as knowing who President Obama selected as his Vice President added valued to the millions that registered their mobile number to find out, businesses must create systems that enhance value for the consumer, not just deliver a message. Allowing consumers to check their account balance through their mobile phone, as Bank of America allows, is just one way marketers can capitalize on this ongoing and ever growing trend among today and tomorrow’s consumers (click here for link.)
On such a personal device as someone’s cell phone, successful mobile marketing campaigns will be one’s that add value to the users experience. These types of campaigns will reap the rewards of an ever-growing trend among America’s teens. On the other hand, marketers who fail to increase utility and see the phone as another mechanism to bombard the consumer with messaging will not only fail but also invade personal space, which could have increased backlash. Just as AT&T dealt with tremendous backlash from consumers when they spammed former American Idol text message voters with a reminder about the upcoming season, so too will other brands be hurt if they only communicate and don’t interact – don’t create a value-added experience for the user.
As teens become adults and move into the ‘ambivalent networker’ category with their smartphones buzzing from text messages, phone calls, and Facebook alerts, marketers will have to work harder to promote their brands and interact with customers, but in an increasingly mobile society, those who invest into smart campaigns that enhance the users experience will be rewarded, others will find that they have lost their signal.
