It’s Halloween Eve Eve, and you know what that means! Well, all it really means is that you only have two days left to find a costume, get your candy stocked and plan out your horror movie marathon for the big night. But it also means that we’ve got spooks and scares on the brain, and in our world, there’s nothing scarier than falling behind when it comes to maintaining a strong and impressive digital presence. (I know, terrifying, right?) These scary digital marketing statistics show just how fast our world is changing, and just how behind some marketers are in its wake.

• Seventy-five (75) percent of people never scroll past the first page of search engines (Source: Junto). Why it’s scary: This statistic creates high stakes for SEO. If you haven’t optimized your website pages for keywords that you can feasibly rank for on the first page, then your chances of being clicked on in a search are slim to none.
• On average, companies respond to only 30 percent of social media users’ feedback (Source: Factbrowser). Why it’s scary: You wouldn’t ignore a customer who came into your store and asked a question, would you? Social media users are your customers and potential customers, and if they are reaching out to you on social media, you are only hurting yourself to not communicate back.
• The average conversion rate for websites using video is 4.8 percent, compared to 2.9 percent for websites that do not use video. (Source: Adelie Studios). Why it’s scary: If you’re not using video on your website, you are at a disadvantage compared to the competition who is.
• By 2020, 80 percent of the world’s internet traffic will be video. In the U.S., 85 percent will be video by 2020 (Source: Cisco). Why it’s scary: Well, it doesn’t have to be scary, as long as you’re poised and ready to fully embrace video in your marketing strategy. Otherwise, you may get left in the dust.
• Eighty-five (85) percent of mobile advertisers think they are providing a positive experience for users, but only 47 percent of users agree. (Source: Unlockd). Why it’s scary: This one’s pretty obvious. There is a pretty significant discrepancy between what mobile advertisers are doing, and what mobile users want.
• The average number of organic results appearing on Google searches has dropped from 10 to 8.5 (Source: Searchmetrics). Why it’s scary: Organic search results are dropping because marketers are spending more money on SEO, which means more competition.
• Bounce rates increase by 50 percent if your website takes two extra seconds to load (Source: Junto). Why it’s scary: Web users are impatient. There are literally millions of other places on the internet where they could be spending their time. Don’t fall victim to a slow site.
• Three million advertisers are using Facebook to reach their customers, which translates to about 93 percent of all total marketers (Source: IO). Why it’s scary: Competition, competition, competition. With 3 million competitors, it’s critical that you put in the effort to make your brand not only stand out, but stand out in a way that attracts and retains Facebook followers.
• Seventy eight (78) percent of consumers unsubscribed from emails because brands were sending too many in 2017 (Source: HubSpot). Why it’s scary: Email marketing can provide tremendous ROI for marketers, but there’s a fine line among what consumers will thrive on, tolerate and toss aside. Finding that balance is the difference between marketing success and distress.
• Emails that are not optimized for mobile devices get deleted by 80.3 percent of users, and 3 out of 10 unsubscribe from an email list when emails are not optimized for mobile (Source: Bluehornet). Why it’s scary: Haven’t thought about mobile design when creating your email blasts? Your messaging will likely end up in the trash. The majority of emails (56 percent) are now opened on mobile devices.
• Users view more than 500 million hours of video per day on YouTube (Source: Business Insider). YouTube is also the second-most visited website next to Google (Source: Alexa). Why it’s scary: For one, this statistic shows that if you aren’t using YouTube as part of your marketing strategy, perhaps you should be. If you are already employing it, use this as motivation to make sure your content is top-notch, as the field of potential followers is a vast one.
• Brands that use video as part of their marketing strategies grow their year-over-year revenue 49 percent faster than brands that don’t. (Source: Wirebuzz). Why it’s scary: Using video is a must for today’s marketers, as it offers proven paths to success. If you’re not using video as one of your marketing tools, you’re only hurting yourself.

Hiding under the covers yet? If you’re worried about what these digital marketing statistics mean for your business, don’t be. There are actions you can take as a marketer to reverse the gloom and doom, and the McNutt & Partners team can help. Call us today at 334-521-1010, or visit our contact page.