Chart of the Week: The majority of marketers find influencer marketing to be an effective strategy, but it doesn’t come without its challenges
Influencer marketing has become a popular tactic for a number of brands, whether they’re using well-known names or micro-influencers. In fact, according to new research from Mediakix, 80% of marketers find influencer marketing to be an effective strategy.
Almost half of marketers (45%) said they find influencer marketing effective, with a further 35% saying they find it very effective. In comparison, only 5% said influencer marketing was an ineffective tactic, while15% were neutral on the topic.
This suggests that getting your influencer marketing campaign right - finding the right people to work with, promoting the best products or services and having them share content across channels that suit your audience – can help you…
By
04 Mar 2019
Chart of the Week: 36% of people have used visual search and over half say that visual information is more important than text when shopping online
Over a third of people have used or performed a visual search, according to new research from Intent Lab. A total of 36% of survey respondents said they have used visual search, which is the same rate as those who have performed voice searches, showing that search is changing.
As well as the rise of visual search, 59% also said that visual information is more important than text, showing that you should be incorporating visuals into all aspects of your marketing strategy.
Mobile is more visual
When it comes to visual search, mobile is the most popular device with 53% saying their smartphone is the main device they use for this…
Chart of the Week: More than 1.12 billion accounts spread across Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp now watch or create Stories every day
When it comes to social media marketing trends, Stories is the big one you need to watch. More than 1.12 billion accounts spread across Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp now watch or create Stories every day, representing a 987% increase since the start of 2016.
It isn’t just individual users that are causing Stories to grow hugely in popularity, more brands, companies and marketers are making the most of them. Buffer’s State of Social 2019 report has found that 57% of brands have found that Stories have been an "effective" part of their social media strategy.
The effectiveness of…
New research highlights activities from the top performers
Joe Pullizzi and team over at the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) have been doing a great job in tracking trends in content marketing over the years. I still think of content marketing as a relatively new label for a marketing technique that has existed as long as print (see this video history of how content marketing has evolved from 1895). Yet it’s now ten years since I first read ‘Get Content, Get Customers’ by Joe, which was the first call-to-action to modern content marketing that started the latest trend.
Content marketing management trends for 2019
The latest trends and success factors for the year ahead are highlighted in this research, which focuses on B2B marketer responses, but highlights content marketing strategy success factors relevant for many other organisations. These are highlighted by categorisation of respondents by ‘top performers’ who characterizes his or her organization’s…
Statistics exploding the myths that mobile marketing is less important in B2B sectors
We have documented the ongoing growth of mobile adoption in our mobile statistics compilation. Yet most of our stats are based on consumer surveys and panels. It's rare for B2B specific data to be shown. Given this lack of insight, most businesses will turn to their analytics to assess the importance of visitors from smartphones.
Looking at our own analytics, for Smart Insights it seems that mobile visits are relatively unimportant, with smartphones currently accounting for 19% of visitors, with an increase of around 8% increase year-on-year. Yet, one-fifth of all visits IS significant, especially since as you see with B2C organizations, our conversion rates are lower on smartphones, so lead generation is challenging on mobile.
The Boston Consulting Group research on mobile use in B2B
Given the lack of research on B2B mobile adoption, it was interesting to see this report looking…
Chart of the Day: 47% of content is for top of funnel buyers
Research published from the Content Marketing Institute has shown that almost half of the content created by B2B marketers is for early-stage buyers - to generate awareness and interest.
This matches the reasons that marketers gave for using content marketing, with 87% of them saying it was to generate leads and potential customers and 82% stating it was to create brand awareness.
This isn't a great surprise, as the branded content is (most frequently) available to browsers without the need to purchase or log in beforehand. A brand can promote charity initiatives, relevant survey/report results their customers may be interested in, and personal brand growth stories (new offices, securing investment, landing industry awards etc.) to establish themselves in the minds of customers.
However, what is surprising is that only…
Chart of the Day: Snapchat and Instagram dominate teens' favourite social media platform
Piper Jaffrey has released the results from its twice-annual survey of US teens into their favourite brands, websites, and social media platforms. The results show that Snapchat and Instagram have been pulled away from their competitors in the minds of the American youth.
Snapchat has held the top spot since the Spring 2016 survey, and now has a dominant 46% of people stating it's their favourite platform. Instagram has seen a major upswing from the Spring 2018 survey, moving from 26% to 32%.
Interestingly, Instagram's growth in popularity hasn't encroached on Snapchat, but it seems to have made a huge impact on Twitter. Facebook's status as 'most popular social platform' has more than halved from 12% (in Spring 2015) to 5%, while Twitter has plummeted from 21%…
Chart of the Day: Facebook still used for group events - Instagram top for following brands
Much has been made of Generation Z abandoning Facebook for the likes of Instagram and Snapchat. While Facebook has reportedly been dropping in popularity among teens since 2015, the Center for Generational Kinetics has conducted research in how Gen Z use different social apps and suggests it still comes top for some aspects of their social lives.
The CGK's State of Gen Z report found Facebook was still preferred over other platforms when users wanted to create and check a group event. When it comes to individual behaviour (posting selfies or videos of themselves) Snapchat was top, while Instagram was the most used platform when members of Gen Z wanted to follow a brand.
An interesting trend in the results found that female users outpaced…
Examples of how website designs must be optimized to support the way we hold and interact with smartphones
Our compilation of statistics showing the growth in smartphone usage highlights the well-known need to create effective mobile experiences. With mobile minutes accounting for more than two-thirds of online interactions in many countries, there is an obvious need to optimize designs so they are consistent with consumer behaviour as they use their phones. This need is also suggested by statistics showing lower conversion rates on smartphone (they’re typically between one half and one third of those on desktop).
Consumer behaviour of mobile interaction
I was recently running a training course looking at improving mobile customer journeys and experiences where our focus was on Millennial and Gen Z personas. I discovered this great new-to-me research on mobile interaction based on how a phone is held and interactions occur with a mobile handset using fingers…
Chart of the Day: Why people aren't reading your emails but are still subscribed to them
The inbox of the average customer is a cluttered one. Every online store and brand they make a purchase from wants them to come back, meaning enticing offers, discounts, and sales are constantly being thrown at them. As a result, you may find the number of people receiving your e-newsletter and the number opening it are vastly different.
Yes Lifecycle Marketing polled 1,000 people who have made an online purchase in the last 12 months to learn what motivates consumers to engage with retailers. When asked why they may stay subscribed to emails that they don't read, most people (42%) said it was because they scan the subject lines in their inbox to see which emails they want to open.
Subject lines should be persuasive and summarise the contents of your…
