Mobile Search Queries Spike on Weekends

Mike Phillips — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:56:00 GMT

This week Google and Digitas announced a collaborative effort to better measure mobile marketing by combining "original Google and Digitas search and marketing data to forecast trends, inform investment strategies, and drive the creation of mobile optimized Web sites," according to the release.

As part of that announcement, some interesting data was released about mobile search, centered on the period surrounding Mother's Day. According to the data, 33% of Google queries for the term "flowers" came from mobile devices. In the week leading up to Mother's Day, desktop searches for "flowers" increased Monday to Friday then declined on the weekend. But mobile searches steadily increased all week and throughout the weekend. Also, "flowers" was searhced on mobile devices over 100% more than last year, suggesting mobile search is on the rise across the board, and that consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to shop.

This is yet another reminder that mobile search is on the rise, is taking place anywhere and everywhere, and is not limited to any particular day of the week. In fact, this data suggests that mobile search is highest on weekends. Knowing this, Web professionals might benefit from testing dayparting mobile advertising strategies to target weekends, and timing promotions and discounts to take advantage of weekend usage patterns.

Marketing in the Morning

Mike Phillips — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:20:00 GMT

Ericsson, the Sweden-based mobile company, recently conducted a survey that found 35 percent of U.S. Android and iPhone users "...interacted with such non-voice apps as Facebook on their smartphones before rising." In other words, many smartphone users check Facebook, Twitter and very likely email, before even getting out of bed in the morning.

Of course, this is just one study and 35 percent is still a minority. But it's not hard to imagine that this is exactly the case. And perhaps that number goes even higher after the user is out of bed but not yet on the way to work? Think about your own habits - what are you doing with your smartphone early in the morning? I, for one, check my email before I leave the house -- with the push of a button on my smartphone and without ever launching a browser.

The point is, most marketers don't think of early morning as the best time to send messages. But as consumers are increasingly connected at all hours, with ease, could morning marketing be a viable strategy for those businesses targeting users via social networks and email? At the very least it's worth scheduling some messages and testing it out, no?

'Net Features : dayparting

Mobile Search Queries Spike on Weekends

Marketing in the Morning