Picture this: You turn on NBC and you’re watching #Rio2016. The women’s gymnastics event is on and you’re rooting for the Final Five. You see the 40-year old gymnast from Uzbekistan perform her vault, and you wonder, “How many Olympics has she competed in?”
You pull out your phone, you Google it, and then you tweet about it.
This was me, last month while watching the Olympics, and to be honest, I can’t remember the last time that I watched anything on television without looking something up or sharing something on my iPhone. Can you? Well, we are not alone.
According to a 2015 report by Accenture, 87% of consumers use more than one device at a time. And it isn’t just to look things up or share a thought on social media. According to a 2012 study by Pew Research Center, 38% of cell phone owners use their phone to keep themselves busy during commercial breaks. But what are they doing on their phone?
In 2014, Nielson released a report about the new digital consumer and reported that while watching a television show, 12% of people are reading discussions about TV shows on social media, and more than double that, 29%, are searching for show-related information.
According to a study performed by App Annie, the topmost downloaded iPhone apps of 2015 are as follows: 1. Facebook, 2. Facebook Messenger, 3. YouTube, 4. Instagram, and 5. Skype.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to make inferences from this data alone. People are on their phones to do one of three things: 1. Communicate, 2. Share, or 3. Consume media.
When someone watches a show or sees a commercial they don’t immediately call the business, they search for information about it or visit the website.
Now I am no television commercial producer nor Omni channel expert, but based on this data and my experience working with law firms across the country, I know that there are a few rules to make sure that your television commercials and web presence support one another to optimize for the multi-device viewers.
1. Be Brand Consistent.
It is likely you use taglines and phrases in both your web copy and your commercials and it is important to make sure that they are consistent. If you use a particular call to action in your commercial, it should be one of the first things a person sees when they come to your website. This is because they will likely remember that phrase, maybe even more so than they remember your face, name, or firm name. If your firm changes the branding on the website, the branding needs to change on the commercials as well, and vice versa.
2. Stay Recent.
Commercials and websites are both very expensive—we know that—but it is still crucial that you keep them up to date. Media is constantly changing and it is important to stay relevant. You don’t need to keep up with the commercials of the Proctor & Gamble’s of the world, but if your commercials look dated, that could decrease your credibility. If your appearance has changed drastically since your commercial or website was created, that won’t be consistent with the experience that someone has when they visit your office. Your website should be updated every three to five years.
3. Be on YouTube.
If someone has seen a commercial, but don’t remember the website, they are likely going to look up the video in the second most used search engine: YouTube. Your commercials should all live here, and be optimized for search. Be sure to use descriptive titling and provide a link to your website from your YouTube page. If you have distinctive taglines, make sure those are included in the description, as it may be what a person searches to find you.
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