With over 1 billion installations for iOS and 200 million users for iOS 7 in it's first two weeks, the latest iteration of Apple's iOS is predicted to have profound influence and ripple effects with consumer behavior, how people use mobile devices to interact with technology, content and brands. Below are 9 ways that iOS 7 will influence marketing and customer engagement.
1 Mobile Search will be front and center.
With iOS 7, Siri got some upgrades under the hood, with integration for Twitter, Bing, and Wikipedia user generated content will factor in heavily with Siri search results. Are you monitoring your brand on those platforms? Is there an optimized landing page to service these leads?
2 Animation and Parallax effects for web will become mainstream.
With the previous design language of iOS back in 2007, Apple helped redefine mobile user interface and app design for a generation of designers and developers. With the release of iOS 7, Apple has eschewed skeuomorphic (3D design) in favor of a flatter look-and-feel and using zoom effects, dynamic backgrounds and parallax animations to help convey transitions and flow. In addition, iOS 7's Frosted Blurs will become a popular web effect that is achievable through HTML5 as are many of iOS 7's other transition effects.
3 Yelp will get a huge boost from iOS 7.
Now when you look up a local business on Apple Maps, in addition to address, contact information and directions, Yelp reviews are front and center. Is your business listed on Yelp? What are users saying?
4 Notification Center consolidate the majority of alerts and mobile marketing campaigns.
Notification Center will aggregate all incoming messages and push notifications into one swipe down screen. Marketers will need to make sure that their marketing messaging is more engaging in order to cut through the notification clutter that many iOS 7 users will automatically filter out when checking their phones. Make sure your content is adding value to the conversation and space out the communications appropriately.
5 Location data tracking will become more and more prominent with marketers.
One neat new feature with iOS 7 is that the App Store now offers recommendations of popular apps based on location. This is a great way to promote conferences, major sporting events, or major tourist destinations.
6 Do Not Disturb will block out most after-hours marketing messaging. Plan accordingly.
In iOS 6, Do Not Disturb only silenced alerts and notifications when the screen was turned off, in iOS 7, all incoming communications can be quickly silenced with a simple swipe and a tap. With the fact that more and more mobile users will employ "Do Not Disturb" when they need quiet time, adjust your email, mobile and twitter campaigns accordingly.
7 Utilize AirDrop for live events.
AirDrop allows people to share photos, PDF's video and content wirelessly with iOS 7 users nearby. Marketers can leverage this by sharing exclusive content with others and encouraging real time marketing and engagement based on proximity.
8 iBeacon will revamp in-person shopping experiences.
Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) iBeacon allows iPhone users to communicate with tiny Bluetooth LE sensors. Commonly used for indoor mapping, pretty soon retailers to create indoor beacons and serve up custom content when users are within proximity. Customers can receive customized coupons and allow for personalized micro-location services.
9 Marketing will become more and more context-based.
What a lot of the software changes for iOS 7 means is that users, more and more, will be able to craft and filter the content that they would like to receive from their connections and brands. Being able to track and engage with customers in real time using location and proximity based data will offer marketers an unprecedented level of access and data.
Have additional questions about mobile marketing strategy? Contact John Luu at (713) 523-5711 or jluu@axiom.us.com for more information.
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