Reaching and engaging with customers is an always-valid digital marketing goal for any brand, and an always-challenging one. As online behaviour continues to evolve, marketers are struggling to find effective ways to reach customers at the appropriate time with the appropriate message.

A recent Marketing Land article by Rob Begg attempts to tackle – or at least summarize – this issue by identifying three important access points to consumers: mobile, social media, and messaging. The first two, he believes, are front and centre in today’s digital marketing landscape, while the third is up-and-coming.

“If I had to make a guess,” Begg writes. “I’d say we’ll soon see a hybrid of social and messaging conversations of a public and private nature, and it’ll happen on mobile.”

The mobile factor in this equation is already here. Today, approximately 65 per cent of all digital media is consumed on mobile, and more than half of all Google searches are performed there. Consumers, in other words, are mobile-first and the rise of artificial intelligence will enable improved targeting to reach users at exactly the right moment based on web histories and location data.

Social media, meanwhile, is a well-established means for brands to communicate with customers on an intimate, one-to-one level. It is not, however, a transactional environment where users feel comfortable handing over credit card or banking information and completing purchases.

What Begg sees in the future is a mobile platform that combines social media’s engagement with a private, conversion friendly messaging environment.

“Apps are figuring out that they can be an all-in-one solution for users, proving that a customer doesn’t need to jump to another platform to take care of business,” Begg writes.

As a Premier Google Partner All-Star Agency with access to valuable insights on Google’s preferred practices, GrowthEngine Media stands at the leading edge of the digital marketing environment. As online technology and user practices change, our job is to leverage new approaches to customer engagement to help our clients grow.

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