Mobile is now the first screen, Andrew McKeon, global customer marketing lead for Facebook told the ADMA Global Forum in Sydney yesterday.
“First thing in the morning, a lot of people use this as their alarm clock. Waiting in line for a cup of coffee. You see the people freaking out because their phone’s in their briefcase,” he said.
Even when watching TV, traditionally considered the first screen, McKeon says he is more interested in what’s happening on his handheld device.
“I can go days without watching TV, days without reading a newspaper,” he said. “But I can’t go three minutes without this thing.”
During the presentation, McKeon outlined how Facebook is one of the most visited sites on mobile. He says people check Facebook 14 times a day on their smartphones.
For brands wanting to get into the mobile space, unsurprisingly, McKeon suggests they look to Facebook. He says: “The easiest thing to do, is put it on Facebook. One in five minutes, 20% of time on mobile, is spent on Facebook.”
“People don’t get upset when there’s advertising on Facebook, they get upset when there’s irrelevant advertising on Facebook,” he said.
With the huge amount of information now available online and time limitations consumers face, McKeon says we all want relevant content, something Facebook is working to do with advanced algorithms. There are now more than 1.32 billion Facebook users and the algorithm ensures no two of these users’ newsfeeds are the same.
“They are as unique as your fingerprint,” said McKeon.
For ads to have an impact on the social network, McKeon says they need to fit naturally and natively into newsfeeds, and not feel like an intrusion.
“If you’re a brand and you want to play in that space then you need to deliver stuff that’s at least good quality,” he said.
