Recently, Google published the results of a global survey about smartphone usage and mobile marketing titled “Global Mobile Research: The Smartphone User and The Mobile Marketer,” The results related to South Africa in particular are as follows:

Smartphone user profile

The South African smartphone user is in the age group of 18 to 34, well-educated and employed full time with an average annual income of R40,000. Most of these are first time smartphone users and have owned their device for less than a year.

The usage and role of smartphones

Considered an important accessory, smartphone users carry them everywhere. While BlackBerry was considered to have the highest market share, Nokia followed. Smartphones are mostly used at home, at work and while on the move. The phone is used to access the internet for information, emailing and also as a pastime device. Most smartphone users also listened to music, watched TV or accessed the internet on another device while using the smartphone.

Internet usage

Almost every smartphone user used their device to access the web several times a day, with short sessions on the mobile and longer usage via the personal computer.  Half of these users foresee using their mobile to browse the internet in future while the others expected the current status to continue.

Search usage

Google is the most used search engine and forms a major part of the browsing activity. Approximately 10% use local search, while over 90% expect to take further action based on information, with 36% going on to make a purchase.

Video viewing and social networking

Smartphone users enjoy watching videos on their phones and YouTube tops the list for video viewing with Facebook following close behind.  Facebook is the social networking site visited the most via smartphones on a daily basis and more than 35% of respondents post personal updates regularly.

Mobile advertising

South Africa smartphone users are responsive to mobile advertising and almost 15% users have redeemed their mobile coupons in a store. More than 80% are conscious about mobile advertising via search engines and 70% took action based on a mobile ad.

Mobile commerce

Smartphone users in SA use their phones to compare prices and products before shopping and base their decisions on what they find. One fourth of users also use their smartphones while shopping to shop directly through their device. Although there are fears of security issues with mobile shopping and the preference is for personal computers, the trend for using their mobiles as a digital wallet is on the rise.

The above trends have led to businesses rethinking their mobile marketing campaign so that they can leverage the “always and everywhere” mobile device to drive sales and keep their customers engaged. How would these trends impact your mobile marketing strategy? Please share in the comments.