Monday was like Christmas here at the HUGHESANDCO offices, with HubSpot releasing its eighth annual report on the the State of Inbound. Each year, we anxiously wait for the comprehensive report to hit our inboxes, with actionable statistics and concerns of marketers across the globe. This year, I was particularly interested in learning more about how consumers are behaving when it comes to content, especially when it comes to their reliance on mobile devices.
In the five years that we've been working with our clients to develop strategic inbound marketing plans that make them money, inbound marketing strategy in itself has evolved. Much of that evolution has to do with the consumer and how they want to research, shop, and buy — marketers have to align their strategies to continue to entice new customers and delight existing ones.
And so, it shouldn't come as a surprise that with the explosion of mobile devices and social media networks, strategies change. For example, five years ago, when HUGHESANDCO was a newcomer to the marketing agency scene, mobile phone users spent less than 1 hour,per day on their mobile phones connected to the internet (about 22% of the total time spend with digital media per person per day). Then, in 2013, we saw that usage grow to 2.3 hours per person per day (about 47% of total time spent with digital media per person per day). Last year, it increased yet again to about 2.8 hours per person per day (or 51% of the total time spend with digital media per person to day).
That means that now, content is being shared All. The. Time. So it's time to reconsider your mobile strategy and place content to attract and engage with customers and potential customers — and don't forget that comments and ratings from other visitors are always at their fingertips.
Of course, when we're sharing through mobile channels, we're talking social networking, first and foremost. There are always the businesses who think, "Social media is not for me, my business or my customers. It won't work." But let me be clear, while we all know that not all content is made for all social media channels, there is always a way to share your content that meets your goals and suits your customers' needs. After all, social media marketing sees a 100% higher lead-to-close ratio than outbound marketing and social network users have increased content consumption to 57% on Facebook alone.
And don't forget the power of mobile video. With easy access to wifi and mobile data, internet users have adopted an increasingly popular culture of sharing video, rocketing the importance of video to the top of Facebook newsfeed algorithms and exponentially increasing the use of YouTube and other video sharing apps (Snapchat, Instagram). With the ability to push notifications to subscribers with the release of new content, video sharing sites are being added to many organizations' marketing strategies. Unsure it's worth it? According to HubSpot, YouTube is now the #2 search engine after Google and ahead of Bing, Yahoo, Ask & AOL combined.