The curious case of the shrinking screen

Filtered Media's content assistant, Samantha Waterworth, recently attended AIMIA's forum on 'The Future of Digital Publishing,' where a selection of industry leaders offered their insights on the tumultuous world of online content. She shares her thoughts from the day, where leading digital publishers highlighted a growing trend...Digital media today has so many opportunities and challenges but those who speak of strategy success always refer to the same platform again and again: mobile."The mobile is not the second screen, it is THE screen." This was the opening comment from Clive Dickens, chief digital officer at Seven West Media at 'The Future of Digital Publishing' workshop hosted by AIMIA last week.In fact, The Australian has seen mobile viewing increase by 6% from 2014-15, according to the publisher's head of digital, Stuart Fagg. And they certainly aren't the only ones. Bauer Xcel Media's Carl Hammerschmidt noted that, for them, "The mobile is now the device of choice for customers across the board," with 53% of their traffic coming from mobile platforms.Mobile is the future, so what is the future of mobile?The rise of the mobile has seen media users embrace the technology in a way that is different from its first intention. As Michael Stoddart, director of APAC digital publishing at Adobe, pointed out, we do not only use mobiles when we are mobile – we use them everywhere.These publishers are all scratching on the surface when it comes to the significance of mobile content both now, and also moving into the future. A recent report from Cisco has noted that 2014 saw the number of mobile-connected devices actually surpass the number of people on Earth. Usage is also predicted to skyrocket with the average mobile device expected to generate 4GB of traffic per month by 2019, a figure five times the average amount generated in 2014.So what does this all mean for brands and their content marketing strategy?Put simply, your content must be platform-specific. As Daniel Rowlands, director of supply at video advertising platform SpotXchange, reiterated – content is "still king".Producing engaging, quality content today means that it is not longer enough to push out exactly the same content over varied platforms. Every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses; and it will also have its own unique audience. It is for these reasons that content today has to be personalised in terms of its target audience as well as it desired platform.It's all about the experienceAt the end of the day your content marketing strategy should be multi-channelled, involving collaboration between each of the platforms you utilise. This is how you deliver a premium experience in the media climate of today.In other words, this is what will get you onto the homepage of your audiences' smartphones, and this should be exactly where you aim to be.

Samantha's top three tips to mobile success:

• Get to know your customers. Data and analytics abounds in this media era so ensure that you are personalising your customers' experience and targeting your content as a result.
• Segregate your content in terms of platform. You cannot deliver a premier experience to your customers if your content is not platform specific.
• Collaborate. Segregating your content should not come at the price of losing consistency. Collaboration across platforms will ensure increased customer engagement levels.