As we approach 2019, now is the time to begin developing a marketing plan for future. I’ve put together some of the trends and stats to help you know where to spend your time, and your budget.

2.56 billion global mobile social media users, equaling 34% penetration; globally with 1 million new active mobile social users added every day (Source: We Are Social).

YouTube might have surpassed Facebook for total users, Facebook is still grabbing the most of people’s time. Facebook also has the most usage by all age groups.

One caveat: While Facebook adoption is slowly flatlining, sites like Instagram are seeing record increases in users.

You can’t afford not to use Facebook. But a secondary social platform is important to optimize your reach. Choose a platform based on the social site that matches demographics of your target audience.

For example, B2C companies like Twitter with its high click rates on links (92% of all tweet interactions are clicks (Source: HubSpot)), whereas B2B company probably would be better off investing in LinkedIn, where you find a lot of college grads and high income professionals 

We eat with our eyes. We judge a book by its cover. A picture is worth a thousand words…

You’ve probably heard these clichés. They’re well-known because they’re true. Humans depend primarily on the sense of sight for survival since the days we were hunting woolly rhinos and running from cave bears.

This instinct has carried over into our modern world. We will use our eyes to make quick judgement, and visual content will draw attention more quickly than text.

On social media, visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared than other types of content. (Source: HubSpot)

When you post on social media, include an image whenever possible. 

Create infographics, which are Liked and Shared on social media 3X more than other any other type of content. (Mass Planner)

Whether you’re including a stock image from a blog, a photo you snapped of your team at a lunch meeting, or your booth at an event, the more images and photos you use, the more eyes you’ll get on your posts, which means more engagement and ultimately will build your brand.

On our Facebook and Instagram pages, my posts of photos of our team at events like the NIADA Convention get the highest engagement of any organic posts.

YouTube total users has surpassed that of any other social site. There are 1.8 billion logged-in Youtube monthly active users visiting the website at least once a month.

Even YouTube on mobile alone reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S.

And usage of video sites like YouTube are becoming dominated by mobile. More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices, and the average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes. (Source: YouTube) 

LinkedIn has seen record rises in video sharing. 38% of marketers shared video content last year – this is set to rise to 55% this year.

Takeaway

Video marketing is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. You should have a presence on YouTube, and find ways to incorporate video into your marketing. Choose a great video creation company, or give it a try yourself.

Don’t just create a beautiful website. Spend time thinking about what resonates with your audience, and focus on conversion optimization.

While your website is important, you need to also consider the customer journey, and your ultimate goal. Then craft your website, and landing pages within your website, with your goal in mind.

Try different media types, such as video, on your website. 4.8% is the average conversion rate for websites using video, compared to 2.9% for those who don’t. (Adélie Studios)

Make sure you test, test, and test some more to see what is working and what isn’t. Long landing pages can generate up to 220% more leads than landing pages with above-the-fold CTAs – but make sure to test to see what works for you!

Use landing pages for your offers to increase your website effectiveness and get more leads. Companies see a 55% increase in leads when increasing their number of landing pages from 10 to 15.

Is your website really mobile friendly?

You’ve gotten a new responsive website. It looks pretty good on your iPhone and tablet. You pat yourself on the back on focus on other things.

Having a responsive website isn’t enough anymore. 85% of mobile advertisers think they’re providing a positive experience; only 47% of users agree. (Source: Unlockd)

You need to be providing a great experience for your users as well as the search engine bots.

Check your load speed. Mobile loading times are way behind the 2-second target. (Marketing Charts, Google). 

Do all you can to optimize for mobile, even if it means losing some of the widgets or fancy features on your website. No one will be there to see the fancy design if your website loads too slowly on mobile; they’ll be looking at your competitor’s faster-loading website.

Believe it or not, it is now even harder to rank your website at the top of search results.

The average number of organic results on Google searches has dropped from 10 to 8.5. (Searchmetrics) Google is really pushing their adwords campaigns, and now that ads are listed before organic results, rather on the right side of the page, that is less real estate for your website to appear in results.

It also isn’t enough anymore to throw some keywords on a page or right some fluff blogs to help your ranking. You need valuable, well-written, in depth content. The average world length of content that ranks on the first page of Google results is 1,890 words. (Backlinko)

Instead of focusing on ranking at the top of Google, spend your time making meaningful connections with your audience through email, on social networks, and curating a small but faithful blog following.

Spend more time on your blog and publish less, if necessary. Longer, more useful content is going to perform better with your audience, and with the search engines.

Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads. (Demand Metric)  72% of marketers worldwide said relevant content creation was the most effective SEO tactic (Marketing Profs)

Consider paid advertising if you need a boost in traffic to get those top rankings on Google. And don’t just look at Google. Bing still has over 122 million searches a day, and their ads are less competitive than Google’s. You can also advertise with industry-specific sites or apps that people are more likely to use from a mobile device.

Email marketing is still the best way to get in front of your audience and create a meaningful relationship that can result in repeat customers.

But with so many companies using email, what are ways to stand out?

Send your emails at the time that works best for your industry. The best time of day to send emails is between 4pm and 8pm.(Experian, Marketing Charts) However, test the time and day of the week. It can vary by industry and audience.

Segment your emails. Segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.32% higher than non-segmented campaigns. (Mailchimp)

Use automated emails, such as cart abandonment follow ups. eCommerce customers who receive multiple abandoned shopping cart emails are 2.4 times more likely to complete the purchase than those who receive only one follow up email. (Experian)

Facebook is plateauing, but is still the social media giant that can be a huge boost to businesses’ marketing campaigns. Don’t jump ship yet, but watch for other social media niche sites where you can engage your target audience.

Use all media types in your marketing, particularly video. Get ready to step outside your comfort zone to connect, particularly with younger audiences.

Create a website that is focused on your end goal, and create landing pages to get better conversion rates.

Put mobile first when it comes to your website. Load time is crucial, and the mobile experience needs to be flawless.

When it comes to ranking, think quality over quantity. Write good content, interact as much as possible, focus on local audiences, and don’t stress about being ranked at the top of Google. That’s what Adwords is for.

Use email marketing, but be smart. Test the best times to send, segment your audience for higher click rates, and make your life easier by using automated emails as much as possible.

And I’ll leave you with this final thought: Statistics are useful in determining what is working in general, but it is just as important to find what resonates with your audience. Don’t be afraid to go against the flow and try something counter-intuitive. You never know what new trend you might be setting.

Any of these stats surprise you? Don’t think something is true? I want to hear what you think about digital marketing statistics and if they’re going to help shape your strategy for next year.