57% of all online traffic now comes from mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. And much like with Easter bunnies, you’ve got to put carrots out for mobile consumers to attract them to your small business.

Easter is right around the corner, so we want to give you enough time to get your mobile marketing chicks, er…ducks in a row!

Need some ideas and techniques to help you get started? Check out these effective mobile marketing tips to reach mobile consumers along the bunny trail.

1. Make your mobile website a golden egg.

In order to score major points with mobile consumers, your business website should be mobile-friendly. It’s one of the most important mobile marketing tips to take into account, because your website is the center of your online presence.

Search engines like Google consider your website’s mobile friendliness before showing it in mobile search results. If your website’s difficult to navigate, hard to read, or just plain slow, search engines won’t show your business as often.

Your website needs to be a golden egg for mobile consumers. And that means you should make sure search engines don’t hide it deep their lists of online search results.

Rank better with mobile search engines:

  • Test your mobile site speed and optimize to speed up load time.
  • Avoid small font sizes and using too many different typefaces. Search engines don’t like this, so make your fonts consistent and large enough to read without zooming in.
  • Avoid pop-ups. Google hates them and may penalize you for using them.
  • Keep your web copy short and sweet. The fewer words on your mobile website to sift through, the better.

57% of consumers won’t recommend a business with a badly designed mobile website. Ensure yours is optimized for mobile consumers, or they’ll bounce away faster than Peter Cottontail.

2. Color your social media pages with immersive content.

Social media is responding to the growing mobile consumer trend, with vertical video features rising in popularity (think Facebook Live and Instagram Stories). The goal of these vertical video features is to create an immersive experience for mobile consumers where they feel like they’re part of the content they’re watching.

But what does that mean? Look at it like dip-dyeing Easter eggs. You want to immerse mobile consumers in your visual content. And the goal of that is to heighten and appeal to their senses.

You don’t have much time to grab consumers’ attention. Create engaging, personal and interesting content.

Decorate your social media pages with:

  • 360 degree photos — Let users feel they’re there with you.
  • Live video — Make users want to tune in to avoid FOMO (feeling of missing out).
  • Stories — Tell an engaging story about your business with photos or short video Stories.

Experiment with these features on your social media channels. Keep your content bright, colorful and eye-catching, so your mobile consumers won’t pass it by.

3. Peep your online listings to make sure they’re correct.

When it comes to connecting your business to mobile consumers, online listings are critical. 51% of consumers use mobile devices to find new brands, and 80% of consumers lose trust in a business whose online information is incorrect.

Have you checked your online listings lately? If not, do a quick search online for your business and look for listings with wrong information. If you see any bad eggs, get cracking and fix them ASAP.

Spring clean your online listings:

  • Claim any listings you find that you haven’t previously claimed.
  • Correct any listing information that’s inaccurate.
  • Include website links and photos of your business in your listings.
  • Respond to online reviews from customers (good or bad).

Stay on top of your online listings and reviews, so your online presence stays consistent. Promptly thank customers for positive reviews, and respond to negative reviews politely.

4. Add text messaging to your basket of mobile marketing tricks.

Even when they’re on the move, mobile consumers are on the hunt for a bargain. So why not use text marketing to send them an occasional Easter egg (like a discount or coupon code)?

With more consumers going mobile, text marketing is an easy way to reach them quickly. Specials, new product announcements, and even birthday greetings are just a few ideas for marketing texts.

Your text marketing campaigns should:

  • Be consistent. Create a schedule for your text marketing messages that you’ll stick with.
  • Target consumers accordingly. Segment (group) your customers according to purchase history or interest, so your messages reach the right audiences.
  • Read clearly and concisely. Avoid all caps, emojis, slang, and excessive exclamation marks. Save the fluff for the bunnies!
    Have a call to action. If you want customers to do something, don’t let them guess. Tell them!

Pro Tip: By law, mobile consumers need to opt in to receive your marketing texts. So be sure you get their permission before you start sending text campaigns to them. In addition, provide clear instructions for how to opt out, should they ever want to.

5. Use chatbots to keep business communication hopping after hours.

Consumer interaction with businesses is increasingly going beyond daytime business hours. And it seems if you can’t respond to mobile consumers 24/7, you’re just not keeping up with their expectations.

But did you know you can use chatbots to stay in touch with mobile consumers even when you’re closed for the day?

Chatbots are computer programs that imitate human conversation. When consumers send your business messages, chatbots automatically respond to them. You can place them on social media apps like Facebook and Twitter, or put them directly on your website.

When consumers use certain keywords in simple queries, chatbots identify them and use them to answer. More sophisticated chatbots use artificial intelligence or machine learning to answer complex questions.

Chatbots are an emerging but highly effective technology, which is why they’re on our list of mobile marketing tips. But you don’t have to go down the coding rabbit hole to get a chatbot. Try a service like Botsify or Dialogflow to help you build your own bot — no coding experience needed!