13 Key Insights About Mobile Commerce, Payments, and Content Marketing: E-commerce Link Digest

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Hey, Big Thinkers! Hope you’ve had a great week. We’re going to skip any big setup this time around and instead just offer you this great list of 13 key insights about mobile commerce, payments, and content marketing. Enjoy:

1. In what is no doubt the most exciting mobile commerce news of the last week, Wired writes, “Who Cares About the New iPhone Camera? The Real Change Is Apple Pay.” As Jeremy Liew said on Twitter: “Apple Pay now works with mobile websites, dramatically decreasing friction for Mcommerce.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
2. On a related note, CNet reported that “Facebook Messenger’s Bots Will Soon Take Payments.” As with the Apple Pay news, this is a really big deal, reducing friction and helping to drive increased conversion rates for mobile commerce everywhere.
3. Given these changes, I’m going to have to update this “Quick Snapshot of the State of Mobile Payments” to reflect how these will shift customer behavior and drive greater use.
4. So we’re ringing in the new, but we’re not really getting rid of the old. According to eMarketer, “Email Continues to Deliver Strong ROI and Value for Marketers” — and strong usage amongst consumers. That’s a really good thing and an opportunity for you to keep building relationships with your customers.
5. Shifting gears a bit, ABC News explains “Why Apple CEO Tim Cook Prefers Augmented Reality Over Virtual Reality.” Sounds about right to me.
6. While we’re on the topic, you might want to check out this round-update of “VR, AI, and UX: 7 Posts Highlighting Top Trends for 2016.”
7. Marketing Land has a great look at “The 7 Pillars of a Healthy Marketing Organization, According to The CMO of GE Healthcare Digital” that’s well worth your time.
8. Meanwhile, we looked at “How Can You Succeed at Digital Marketing Next Year? 17 Great Posts Offer Answers.”
9. One great way to succeed at digital marketing is to focus on creating great content marketing. And to help you do that, the fine folks at TopRank put together this post that recommends for “Content Marketing: Answer These 4 Questions in the First 15 Seconds.”
10. Marketing Charts looked at how companies use content marketing and found that “Blogs and Videos Are the Most Commonly Produced Content Marketing Types.” We might need to add that information to these “15 Colossal Content Marketing Insights to Kick off Your Week.”
11. Of course, you should check out this podcast episode that uncovers “Why Content Marketing Matters.” At the same time, I’d recommend you remember that “Content Marketing is a Powerful Hammer But Not Everything’s a Nail.”
12. Snapchat is probably the most dominant driver of the state of content marketing. As Farhad Manjoo noted on Twitter:
    

    With so many app makers copying it, I think you can make a pretty good case that Snapchat is setting the tone for app design

    — Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) September 22, 2016

    That’s not just true for apps. It’s true for all forms of content as this reply shows:

    All social networks, too. Who knows if Snapchat will survive as a company, but its legacy will be, ahem, yuuuuge. https://t.co/rYiwf5jSgQ

    — Tim Peter (@tcpeter) September 22, 2016

13. Finally, with all these changes, you might appreciate this “Digital Transformation: A Brief Introduction” guide that we put together for you. Check it out when you get a chance, OK?

If you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You can also check out these slides and video from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions: Three Key Trends Driving Your Marketing Next Year”:

Finally, you might enjoy some of these past posts from Thinks to help you build your e-commerce strategy and your digital success:

• 6 Mobile Commerce and Strategy Insights: E-commerce Link Digest
• Content is Still the King
• The Digital Strategy Myth
• Why Mobile Payments Will Rule
• Driving Seamless Experiences in 2016 (Thinks Out Loud Episode 149)
• Mobile is So Much Bigger Than You Think (Thinks Out Loud Episode 140)
• It’s Not “Mobile First.” It’s “Customer First.”
• 8 Killer Entries About Improving E-commerce Experience: E-commerce Link Digest