It’s a beautiful summer day, you’ve just taken the last sausage off the BBQ when you think to yourself, ‘What’s the best way to clean my dirty grill grate?’ It’s okay, you’re having a micro-moment.

In April this year Google released their research on this new type of customer behaviour. Mobile has “fractured the consumer journey into hundreds of real-time, intent-driven micro-moments. Each one is a critical opportunity for brands to shape our decisions and preferences.” US home improvement chain Lowe’s has already predicted your post-BBQ micro-moment and created a fun six second animation illustrating the best way to soak your grill grate.

Part of their #LowesFixInSix campaign, the how-to Vine videos are the key driver of their entire communications strategy.

Micro-moments are the in-between moments - our search for entertainment whilst waiting for a friend, or the pause for an unforeseen challenge. “62% of smartphone users are more likely to take action right away towards solving an unexpected problem or new task because they have a smartphone,” says Google’s Consumers in the Micro-Moment report. Micro-content is made specifically to fill these gaps.

Smart brands will learn to anticipate the context of these micro-moments. Campari recently collaborated with Kiip, an app based company that connects brands with people in rewarding ways. Kiip helped Campari to identify key mobile moments around drinking alcohol and partnered with Lyft, a mobile taxi service, to reward people with a free ride home courtesy of the brand.

Tailoring messages for the moment not only allows brands to be useful, but can also help them to appear more personal. As marketers learn to master this new consumer behaviour, expect to see more brands seeking to fill pauses with ways to make our lives just that little bit easier.

Read on for examples…