By Bill Hipsher, Co-Founder, B² Interactive
The announcement of Apple Watch sent tech enthusiasts and the digital marketing industry into a frenzy last week. For technology lovers, it was exciting to see Apple finally join the wearable club and give Samsung and Motorola a run for their money. For the digital marketing industry, however, there were millions of questions about how Apple Watch would change marketing.
After years of redeveloping and redesigning websites, emails, and everything in between to look good on desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, it seems the digital marketing industry may have to adjust designs for yet another screen—and that screen is only 48mm tall.
Basically, it’s only a matter of time until consumers start viewing content on smartwatches.
This is all speculation right now, of course. But since technology continuously changes the way we access information, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we’ll one day display websites and content on wearables. So what does that mean for web developers, designers, and content marketers?
Here’s what we believe could change:
The Need for Quicker Content. It’s already difficult to keep the attention of a smartphone user. Now, imagine what that would be like from a watch. Content on a smaller screen would require shorter text that’s quicker to consume. Maybe this means we’d have to create wearable-only content or break up sections of text even more than we already do. One thing that’s for sure—it’s going to be a challenge.
Responsive Web Design on a New Level. There are still companies out there that haven’t updated their websites to work on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. You can get away with it on those devices (though it’s not recommended), but you wouldn’t be able to with a watch. The real question is whether responsive design will account for watch screens someday, or if we’ll need to create special versions of our websites to accommodate smartwatch use.
Voice Command Dictates SEO Keywords. The three major smartwatches (Apple Watch, Moto 360, Samsung Galaxy Gear 2) use some form of voice command. Though it’s not a feature available right now, voice command on smartwatches may be able to access search engines in the future. Because of this, the keywords we use to optimize our websites and content would have to change. Whether that means using more conversational language or focusing even more on semantic search, we can only guess. But once voice command is a major SEO factor, keywords will change.
Again, this is speculation, but that doesn’t mean big changes aren’t on the horizon. The best thing we can do to prepare for these changes now is to make sure we’re up-to-date on mobile marketing strategies.
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B² Interactive is a full-service digital marketing agency in Omaha, NE that fuses web development with content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, local listing management, and more to offer a well-rounded web presence for businesses. The co-founders of B² Interactive have years of experience building, operating and promoting sites—small and large, local and national. Services offered include Website Design and Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, and Paid Search Advertising Management. Follow B² Interactive in Omaha socially for our latest updates: B² Interactive on Twitter, B² Interactive on Facebook, B² Interactive on Google+.
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