Pew Internet & American Life Project data suggest that consumption of mobile content shows significant variation among ethnic groups. Data shows that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to access the internet via a mobile device. Although 32% of all US consumers ages 18 and older have accessed the mobile Internet (up 8 points since 2007), usage by minorities climbed more quickly. By 2009, 29% of both blacks and Hispanics went online with a hand held device “on a typical day,” versus only 17% of whites.

“Black and Hispanic households are more likely to use a mobile phone as their primary phone, and have a lower rate of PCs and broadband than white households,” said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst. “It makes sense that these groups access the Internet via a mobile device more often than whites.”

So what does this mean for the small business owner?

Well, if you your target market includes minorities, it is a good idea to explore mobile internet marketing as a means to reach your potential customers. There are multiple ways to achieve better access to your customers that primarily use mobile Internet.

• Email campaigns are great to communicate with potential customers. 16 % of Blacks and 23% of Latinos send and receive email via a mobile device. To have an effective email campaign you need to gather a list of email  addresses. Don’t want to get a reputation as a Spammer. To do this, offer a potential customer something free or at a discount, but require an email address to get the reward. Once you have gathered a nice sized list, send information about your products or services, but keep it to no more than once a week so you don’t irritate people by flooding their inboxes, especially on their mobile device.  Make your emails short and to the point and also make them text-only emails. Graphics take longer to load and they may display differently on different devices.

• 47 % of Blacks and 59% of Latinos send and receive text messages via a mobile device. Get customers that are willing or required to give their mobile phone number to give you permission to send them text messages about new deals or sales. You want to be sure to get the customers explicit permission for this because, depending the person’s individual mobile plan, they may be charged per text message. Costing a person extra money is a sure way to anger them and you lose a customer! If you do get permission, I would keep the communications to twice a month, unless your customer base seems receptive to more frequent text messages.

• Popular social networking sites (Twitter, Yuwie, etc.) have integrated mobile components. Many people get their social network sites to send updates and messages from their account directly to their mobile device. This is a great way to reach potential customers. Set up an account for your business and post things relevant to your industry, with the occasional ‘sale’ or ‘deal’ posting. Network on these sites and gain ‘friends’. The more ‘friends’ you have, the more people that will receive your updates. Be careful to remain professional on these sites, you should not talk as if you are using your personal accounts ! Avoid any offensive language and stay on topic.

• You also want to start making your web pages more mobile ready. This can be done in a variety of ways… here is a good starting point:

Get your website ready for the Mobile Web in 10 steps

High mobile usage among minorities is not limited to online content. Black and Hispanic mobile users were more likely than whites to participate in every mobile activity studied by Pew, including sending and receiving text messages, taking pictures, playing games and accessing e-mail.

It appears that mobile devices may be one of the ways in which the digital-divide is being closed. Minorities seem to gravitate to mobile devices for internet. It is not a surprise though, more minorities have cell phones than do PC’s, they are cheaper and mobile. As more and more activities and services are available on the internet the cell phone is a readily available conduit to the Internet and it is already in most people’s pocket.

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