Digital marketing is constantly evolving, with marketers always exploring new ways to engage customers and create experiences that excite audiences. From trusted and true digital strategies to creative experiments, it is helpful to understand what works well across marketers and industries.
Here, we’ve compiled 70+ powerful statistics to help you navigate the digital marketing landscape and build a strong strategy for 2021.
Digital Marketing
- 45% of organizations don’t have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy.
Source: Smart Insights, 2020 - Marketing teams that document their strategy are 313% more likely to report success than those that don’t.
Source: CoSchedule, 2019 - There was a 13% average increase in budget for digital marketing between 2019 and 2020.
Source: Statista, 2020
Despite digital being a key component of marketing for several years, almost half of marketing teams still aren’t properly documenting their digital marketing strategy. However, those that do report greater success compared to those that don’t. This could represent an advantage for those with a documented digital marketing strategy.
Visual Content
- 74% of surveyed online marketers said they used visuals in their content more than 70% of the time.
Source: Venngage, 2020 - 34% of marketers create their own graphics.
Source: Venngage, 2020 - Digital asset management is now essential to marketing, as visual storytelling has become a key part of customer expectations.
Source: Real Story Group, 2018 - Visual content is the biggest challenge for 23.7% of content marketers.
Source: HubSpot, 2020 - 43% of marketers cite that their biggest challenge with visual content is producing it consistently.
Source: Venngage, 2020
74% of surveyed online marketers said they used visuals in their content more than 70% of the time.Visual content is no longer a nice-to-have – it’s table stakes to rank higher and attract consumers better than the competition. It makes content more memorable and builds trust among consumers. In 2021, building beautiful, eye-catching visuals is essential to any digital marketing strategy.
Blogging
- Blog content creation is a top priority for 55% of marketers
Source: HubSpot, 2018 - Blog posts with 2000+ words are more likely to have strong SEO results.
Source: OptinMonster, 2020 - Articles with images get 94% more views than their visual-lacking counterparts.
Source: Jeff Bullas, 2018 - 86% of marketers use blogging as part of their marketing strategy.
Source: SEMRush, 2020 - Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates 3x as many leads.
Source: 99Firms, 2019 - Organizations that prioritize blogging achieve 13x the ROI of those that don’t.
Source: HubSpot, 2020 - Customers are 40% more likely to purchase from a vendor who tailors content specific to their needs and preferences
Source: MarketingProfs, 2018
Blog posts with 2000+ words typically rank higher in search engines, as they are more likely to include higher quality content than short-term blog posts. However, it’s still important to enrich the text with visuals, headers and highlights to make it easily digestible to both readers and search engines.
SEO
- 68% of all online experiences start with a search engine.
Source: Bright Edge, 2019 - 74% of all search traffic worldwide comes from Google.
Source: NetMarketShare, 2019 - There are over 79,000 searches per second on Google.
Source: Internet Live Stats, 2019 - Video content is 50x more likely to drive organic search results than plain text.
Source: Omnicore, 2018 - On the first page of a Google search result, the first five organic results account for 67% of all clicks.
Source: Zero Limit Web, 2019 - Only 0.78% of Google searchers will click on the second page.
Source: Backlinko, 2019
Search engines frequently prioritize video content to appear first. Using a combination of relevant written and visual content is important to rank higher on Google and capture a larger audience. Long-form keywords can be incredibly effective, as people are getting more specific about what they’re looking for to sift through the vast amounts of content available.
Landing Pages
- Including a customer testimonial on a landing page can increase page conversions by up to 34%.
Source: WikiJob, 2019 - On average, using videos on landing pages increases conversions by 86%.
Source: Wordstream, 2018 - Companies that have over 40 landing pages typically generate 12x more leads than ones with 1 to 5 landing pages.
Source: HubSpot, 2017 - Landing pages with 3 form fields convert the best.
Source: Wordstream, 2018 - Only 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates.
Source: Business2Community, 2018
Including a customer testimonial on a landing page can increase page conversions by up to 34%.Landing pages require testing and adapting for success. They provide a rare ability to experiment and gain a deep understanding of audience preferences but require discipline and commitment over time to generate significant results.
Photos
- 32% of marketers say images are the most important form of content for their business.
Source: SocialMediaExaminer, 2018 - On average, posts that include images get 650x more engagement than text-only posts
Source: Medium, 2018 - 60% of consumers will give more consideration to local search results that have images.
Source: Bright Local, 2018 - When information is paired with images, people retain 65% of the information, rather than 10% without.
Source: Brain Rules, 2018 - The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text.
Source: Piktochart, 2018
On average, posts that include images get 650x more engagement than text-only postsIt’s easier for brains to process visuals over text, so using photos makes it easier for your audience to retain information and, ultimately, remember you. Photos are a core part of most marketers’ strategy, making unique, custom photography an important component to consider across both B2B and B2C industries.
Video
- By 2022, 83% of the world’s internet traffic will be video.
Source: Biteable, 2020 - Product videos can increase purchases by 144%.
Source: StacksandStacks, 2018 - 87% of marketers use video as a content tool.
Source: Oberlo, 2020 - Companies who utilize video content in their marketing strategy experience a 41% increase in traffic through web searches
Source: Forbes, 2018
- 88% of marketers are satisfied with the ROI of their video marketing efforts on social media.
Source: Animoto, 2018 - As of 2018, 35% of marketers use live video.
Source: SocialMediaExaminer, 2018 - 54% of consumers want to see more video from the brands they follow.
Source: HubSpot, 2018
By 2022, 83% of the world’s internet traffic will be video.Video has been gaining importance exponentially in the marketing industry, expanding into live video, webinars, social stories and more. Improvements in mobile technology and a surge in video tools available have made a video strategy possible for any budget, allowing smaller marketing teams to take advantage of this popular form of content.
Infographics
- 65% of B2B marketers are creating infographics.
Source: Content Marketing Institute, 2018 - Infographics are shared 3x more than any other visual content on social media.
Source: HubSpot, 2018 - 40% of marketers site original graphics, like infographics, as their best performing content.
Source: Venngage, 2020
- 41.5% of marketers state that infographics and unique visuals are the most engaging form of content.
Source: Jeff Bullas, 2018
65% of B2B marketers are creating infographics.Infographics remain an important element of a B2B marketer’s content plan, especially those that have complex offerings. They not only allow marketers to summarize information into something more digestible, they also tend to get better engagement than most other content types.
Social Media
- More than half the world is now active on social media.
Source: Smart Insights, 2020 - 75% of marketers say that their social media marketing efforts have led to increased traffic.
Source: Ignite Visibility, 2018 - 80% of marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing.
Source: SocialMediaExaminer, 2018 - On average, social media users spend over 2 hours a day on social media.
Source: Global Web Index, 2020 - 97% of digital consumers have used social media within the last month.
Source: Hootsuite, 2020
More than half the world is now active on social media.With billions of social media users worldwide, businesses have the opportunity to get in front of ideal customers and create deep emotional engagement with their brands. As a significant driver of traffic and, in some cases, sales, understanding where your customers and competitors are active on social media is important to success.
- Instagram has the second-highest ROI among social channels for marketers.
Source: HubSpot, 2020 - 67% of adults between 18 and 29 are using Instagram.
Source: Sprout Social, 2020 - Instagram has 84x more engagement than Twitter and 10x more than Facebook.
Source: Ignite Visibility, 2018 - On average, Instagram followers are worth an order value of $65, compared to $55 on Facebook.
Source: Ignite Visibility - There are over 1 billion users on Instagram that are active monthly.
Source: Omnicore, 2020 - Photos on Instagram showing faces get 30% more likes than photos without faces.
Source: Louise Myers Visual Social Media, 2020
Instagram is quickly becoming one of the most engaging social media platforms – and not just among Generation Z. With users making purchases based on the products they see on their feeds, Instagram offers the opportunity to drive business, especially in highly-visual B2C industries.
Facebook
- Facebook has 1.82 billion users that are active daily.
Source: Zephoria, 2020 - 79% of internet users in the United States have Facebook (beating out Instagram, at only 32%).
Source: Ignite Visibility, 2018 - The average CTR for Facebook ads is 0.9%.
Source: WordStream, 2020 - The average US Facebook user is expected to be online 38 minutes per day.
Source: eMarketer, 2020 - People are 5x more likely to watch a Facebook video on their phones.
Source: Facebook, 2018 - 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound.
Source: WordStream, 2020
Video represents a large opportunity for businesses on Facebook. But, with such a high percentage of video being watched while users are on-the-go, videos need to be digestible without relying on sound (using subtitles and adding clarity). This will allow users to watch from anywhere, without having to use headphones or disturb people around them.
- Approximately 42% of all Twitter users are on the platform daily.
Source: Omnicore, 2020 - 80% of active users access Twitter from their phone.
Source: Brandwatch, 2020 - On average, brands that use Twitter for business experience a 7% improvement in brand preference.
Source: Twitter, 2020 - 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand after their Tweet has been replied to.
Source: Brandwatch, 2020 - Twitter is the lowest ranking ROI driver for ad buyers in the United States.
Source: eMarketer, 2018
Approximately 42% of all Twitter users are on the platform daily.Twitter, while not renowned for its ability to drive sales, gives businesses a fantastic platform for updating customers and responding to customer service inquiries. Businesses can use Twitter to improve relationships with their customers and increase positive feelings for the brand.
- 40% of members visit LinkedIn each day.
Source: Omnicore, 2018 - The typical LinkedIn user only spends 17 minutes per month on the platform.
Source: Ignite Visibility, 2018 - 61 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers and 40 million are in decision-making positions.
Source: Foundation Inc., 2019 - 91% of marketing executives list LinkedIn as the top place to find quality content.
Source: Foundation Inc, 2019 - 57% of traffic on LinkedIn is mobile.
Source: Hootsuite, 2020 - LinkedIn drives more than half of all social traffic to B2B websites and blogs.
Source: Foundation Inc, 2019
While it’s important for both B2B and B2C organizations to have an active profile on LinkedIn, in terms of marketing, LinkedIn offers the most success in the B2B industry. Connecting companies with high-level influencers and decision-makers, LinkedIn helps drive relevant traffic and impact sales.
YouTube
- One billion hours of videos are watched per day on YouTube.
Source: YouTube, 2020 - YouTube is the second most popular site worldwide, after Google.
Source: Alexa, 2020 - The average viewing session on YouTube is 40 minutes, up 50% year-over-year.
Source: Omnicore, 2018 - YouTube is the preferred source of video for 83% of consumers globally.
Source: HubSpot, 2017 - 70% of the total watch time on YouTube is done on mobile.
Source: Sprout Social, 2020
One billion hours of videos are watched per day on YouTube.As it becomes harder and harder to reach customers with video advertisements, thanks to the addition of PVRs and streaming services, YouTube represents a massive opportunity for marketers. But, it’s important to note that companies only have about 2 seconds to grab attention, so video ads need to start with a bang.
These statistics make it crystal clear that visuals are the present and future of digital marketing. Download our eBook today to see how AI can help you power your digital strategy in 2021.
MediaValet is a leader in cloud-based digital asset management that helps organizations manage, organize and share their digital assets, improving productivity and increasing ROI.
This post was originally published on Mediavalet.