As content marketing and social media strategy consultants, we must anticipate and respond to consumer trends and behaviors. No behavior has had greater implications for marketing communications than the accelerating adoption of smartphones.
From voice search reshaping SEO strategies to vertical-first creative formats driving social media engagement, smartphones continue to force organizations and social media marketing agencies to adjust their communications strategies to best reach and engage target audiences. According to the Pew Research Center, 91% of U.S. adults owned a smartphone in 2024, up from 85% in 2021. Smartphone adoption has reached near ubiquity across most demographics, and mobile devices now dominate how consumers access digital content, social media platforms, online shopping and search experiences.
This shift is especially important for marketers because mobile usage is no longer merely increasing; it is now the default digital behavior for most consumers. As a result, content experiences that are not optimized for mobile engagement risk losing visibility, engagement and conversions.
Social media and digital content consumption are seeing even faster adoption. Facebook remains one of the most widely used social platforms in the U.S., and mobile devices continue to dominate overall social media consumption. LinkedIn also continues to see strong engagement among professionals, particularly younger users and B2B decision-makers who increasingly consume content through mobile feeds and short-form formats.
Short-form, vertical-first platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have accelerated consumer expectations around mobile-native content experiences. Even YouTube now sees a majority of viewing time occur on mobile devices, while platforms like TikTok and Instagram were fundamentally designed around smartphone-first engagement behaviors from the start.
Given these trends, it is clear that consumers increasingly reach for their smartphones rather than desktops or tablets, for that matter, when engaging with brands, consuming content and making purchasing decisions.
While it’s important to consider macro trends in your social media marketing strategy, it’s critical to examine an organization’s unique audience segments and whether they are following or bucking these trends. There are several ways you can determine whether your audience is following this mobile-first trend:
- Explore Facebook Audience Insights, which allows you to drill down against all devices used to engage with your brand on Facebook
- Analyze paid social media advertising reports, breaking down performance by device; this will allow you to easily determine which device types your target audience favors
- Examine website referral traffic using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and apply device filters to identify which devices drive the most engaged traffic and conversions from social media channels
- Evaluate short-form video performance metrics separately across mobile placements, particularly for Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, to better understand how mobile-native creative impacts engagement and completion rates
We have found this mobile-first behavior to be a common trend across social media channels and the industries we serve. While mobile-first may not be for every organization, it certainly warrants a closer look to ensure you are delivering the best possible user experience to your target audiences.
And as you revisit your social media strategy, longtime Google CEO and executive chairman Eric Schmidt said it best: “Mobile will ultimately be the way you provision most of your services. The way I like to put it is, the answer should always be ‘mobile-first.’”