Tablet users are engaged during primetime – are you marketing to them?

Tablets are becoming more and more commonplace both in work and at home, and they are now the ultimate companion device for consumers as they watch TV.

In a new report from Flurry Analytics, tablet users are shown to use their tablets throughout the day, but during the primetime hours the usage spikes.

What does this mean? It means tablet users are using their devices as they watch TV. They’re searching, networking and playing games. Their high engagement during the primetime TV hours means that you have an additional way to get their attention instead of just TV commercials.

Imagine you run a primetime TV spot at 7:30 p.m. on a local news channel. An interested customer sees your ad, grabs their tablet and looks you up online. You have two opportunities to grab them while they are searching for your business.

The first is with a search targeting campaign. Also known as paid search, search targeting puts your ad at the top of search engines. This gives you the chance to reach people as they look up your business.

The second is with Retargeting. Retargeting displays ads to people after they visit your website, allowing you to remarket your business to them. So if the interested tablet user searches and finds your website, but leaves without taking action, you can still reach out to them through a Retargeting campaign.

Tablet users have high primetime engagement, and tend to be older and more affluent than other demographics. It’s time to target tablet users with search and display ads.


What Apple’s New iPad Means For Digital Marketing

In case you were in Siberia, you probably heard about Apple’s new iPad. It has a better screen, faster processor and a better camera.

All that sounds great if you’re in the market for a new iPad, but those stats should also sound good if you are in digital marketing. The reason is more online traffic. Tablet traffic since December 2011 has increased 50%, and tablet sales are on pace to pass traditional PC sales by 2015.

That means you better be thinking about the tablet space when you plan your advertising. Tablets don’t trigger mobile websites, but tablet users search similarly to mobile users, meaning they take action faster and search more for local businesses.

Data from the same Localeze study I shared a few days ago shows this prominently. Roughly two-thirds of tablet owners use their device at least once a week to search for a local business, making tablet owners more active than in local searches than both mobile phone users and PC/laptop users.

Tablet searchers also purchase more frequently as well. In the study, 86% of respondents said they made a purchase as a result from their most recent tablet-based local search.

So, all in all, tablets are friends of local businesses and marketers. Tablet owners search more and purchase more than other searchers, so it pays to target tablets.