2012 has been a year of significant digital change and chances for businesses. Your business likely has a marketing plan, a website, a social media presence, and might even use digital channels for marketing campaigns. However, staying updated with digital trends and metrics, considering how fast things change, is probably not a top priority on your daily to-do list.
As we close out 2012, we can’t think of a better idea than to look at some of the digital numbers that may surprise you, confirm what you already know, and hopefully inspire you look at how your business and marketing plans can adapt.
Mobile Stats
- According to recent data, U.S. consumers spend an average of 127 minutes per day on mobile apps. This is an increase of 35% from 2011 and the trend continues to grow. (Source: Flurry)
- 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action, over half leading to purchase. (Source: Search Engine Land)
- By 2014, mobile internet is predicted to take over desktop internet usage. (Source: Microsoft Tag, 2012)
- 46% of consumers are unlikely to return to a mobile site if it didn’t work properly during their last visit. (Source: Gomez)
Social Media Stats
- Facebook has 1 billion users, Twitter has 500 million users and Google+ has 400 million users. (Source: Silverpop)
- Facebook posts that include ‘Should,’ ‘would’ and ‘who’ get more comments. (Source: Hubspot)
- 43% of companies admit they have no strategy in place for incorporating social media into demand generation. (Source: Eloqua)
- 25.3% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to reach high profile influencers. (Source: MDG Advertising)
Search Engine Optimization Stats
- 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. (Source: Search Engine Journal)
- 75% of users never bother to scroll to the second page of a search query. (Source: RainbowSEO)
- 42% of search users click the top-ranking link. 8% click the second-ranking link, and the click-through rate (CTR) continues to drop thereof. (Source: Intraspin)
- On average, leads from SEO have a 14.6% close rate. Compare that to direct mail which has a 1.7% close rate. (Source: Search Engine Journal)
- 2012 saw 1.2 trillian searches in 146 languages. (Source: Google)
- 400% more indexable pages are produced by blogging. (Source: Hubspot)
- 50% of consumers use a combination of search and social media to make purchase decisions. (Source: Inc)
Pay Per Click Advertising Stats
- Sponsored results in Google account for 64.6% of clicks for commercial keyword searches, versus 35.4% from organic, unpaid results. (Source: WordStream Research)
- Sponsored ads on high commercial intent keywords take up 85.2% of above-the-fold pixels. (Source: WordStream Research)
- Google ad click through rate on high commercial intent queries are up to 600 times higher than on Facebook. (Source: WordStream Research)
Email Marketing Stats
- 64% of people say they open an email because of the subject line. (Source: Chadwick Martin Bailey)
- 7 in 10 people say they had made use of a coupon or discount they had learned about through a marketing email in the prior week (35%) or month (33%). (Source: Blue Kangaroo Survey on Marketing Emails)
- 38% of email is now opened on a mobile device, with 33% for desktop and 29% for webmail. (Source: Litmus Email Analytics 2012)
- 39% of marketers have no strategy for mobile email. (Source: eConsultancy 2012 Email Marketing Industry Census)
Content Marketing Stats
- Interesting content is a top 3 reason people follow brands on social media. (Source: ContentPlus)
- 62% of companies today outsource their content marketing — that’s up 7% from last year. (Source: Mashable)
- 70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads. (Source: ContentPlus)
- Articles with images get 94% more views than those without.t (Source: MDG Advertising)
- LinkedIn generates more leads for B2B companies than Facebook, Twitter or blogs individually. Yet only 47% of B2B marketers say they are actively using LinkedIn vs. 90% on Facebook. (Source: Inside View)
Video Stats
- A study by EyeViewDigital showed that using video on landing pages can increase conversion by 80%. (Source: EyeViewDigital)
- The most viral video of 2012 – and all time – was Gangnam Style, with over 1 billion views to date. (Source: YouTube)
- 500 years of YouTube video are watched every day on Facebook, and over 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute. (Source: YouTube)
- The duration of the average online content video was 5.4 minutes. (Source: ComScore)
- Companies that use Twitter get 2x the number of leads per month. (Source: Inside View)