Rethinking CMS for the Mobile Era

Smartphones are everywhere and there is not a shred of doubt about the fast rate they are spreading at. It is all due to the immersive experience and ease of accessibility. A lot more people are browsing web pages, writing emails and exploring social media on their phones than on other devices. Thinking in terms of content management, it is clear that it is time for some improvements in CMS to make it more mobile friendly. For small companies this might be less useful but when we talk about enterprises, the content for mobile has to be engaging. There is a lot we can do with our content on the mobile platform to increase engagement; here are some of DevriX’s suggestions…

Related: Big Data + Content = Increased ROI

Responsive Design for All Screens

We all agree that the design of a campaign across any channel has to be responsive but can it be taken a step further ahead? The CMS should be able to make that even better by introducing themes which can help create an experience for the viewer that is not qualified to only one screen or device. This way, things get simpler and the publisher is able to create top notch content no matter what sort of screen it goes to. It is important to remember that technology now is super diversified and to engage a user fully, one needs to have a strong presence everywhere. Having said that, it can be painstakingly difficult to customize campaigns for different platforms, so a CMS can help solve this problem.

Mobile platform is now the focus of many companies and they are absolutely right to give it priority. Consider this, some time ago most CMSs had monetization relegated to the right end but it changed as more users started opening websites on their mobile devices. Gradually, monetization shifted with the content as the need for in-stream experience raised. The legacy CMS vendors realized this need soon and created solutions to bridge the gap with the modern CMS. However, ideally the best solution is to have a CMS that creates advertisements and syncs it with the current ad server. Such a CMS is the one that makes use of expansive mobile usage and enhances engagement.

Taking Mobile Content a Step Ahead with Personalization

Simply putting out content and advertisements that is targeting mobile users is not enough. To be fully successful, it is important to be relevant to the user. Personalization is the key here which basically becomes the difference between an engaging content and the opposite of it. The CMS should be able to take into account an individual’s likes and preferences and streamline content and advertisements according to that. This increases the chances of user coming back to the website and reflects the whole experience as if it is all about the user and his or her likings. And in the truest sense, that is what your entire content strategy really should be in order to augment engagement.

Do Not Forget to Share

The talk about engagement is mostly confined to design, responsiveness and platform compatibility. We often forget a very important part that increases outreach and signals heightened engagement and that is sharing of content. Gone are the days when people read something and jumped to the next thing. Now that social media is a way for people to connect and speak their mind, they share what they like. And that is where a CMS can offer flexibility and ease of seamlessly connecting with the online world. People should be able to share what they like and if you look closely, it is a definite win-win situation. Not only does it increase engagement but also ropes in new users.  

Pushing Content with your Mobile

The revamping of CMS in the mobile world should not just revolve around the users. Take into consideration the people who create the content as they should also have the ability to write content right from their phones. Just like you tweet or post a photo, you should be able to write content with the same ease and mobility. Older CMS are not able to offer such a thing and that is indicative of the lack of mobile compatibility in CMS. The sooner CMS vendors realize how greatly mobile centric CMS can influence businesses and their marketing, the better it will be for everyone involved. The principal to succeed here is simple: the sooner you adapt to the change the better.

The Power of Mobile

If you still do not realize the power of mobile, you probably are living under a rock. According to Campaign Monitor, 53% of the emails are opened on mobiles. The usage of mobile phones has exponentially increased over the last decade. So much that now mobile owners are now more than desktop owners globally. According to comScore, 2014 was the year mobile users crossed the number and have since been increasing only. Smartphones have revolutionized the way we use internet today. As in many developing countries, it was a smartphone that brought internet and email to people than a regular desktop or a laptop. All these facts only point to the necessity of focusing on mobile platforms as a marketer. The need to improve CMS and make it more inclusive of mobile devices is now higher than ever.

Bottom line

It is easier said than done but if it is done, and done right, there is guaranteed success as far as the mobile platform is concerned. We are a long way from such an intelligent CMS system that basically changes the way we handle content for mobiles but looking back at the past we can be hopeful that such reinvention is quite possible. After all, publishing and content management has seen drastic changes over the years. Ten years ago, we did not have capabilities we have now so who is to say that a CMS that lets you write content for your website from your mobile and makes it fit for a mobile screen is not plausible?

Let’s have your views about it in comments below!