The internet minute has been a popular post in the past couple of years. Depending on which “hat” you’re wearing then you look at this infographic, you can get a lot of takeaways.
Curious to find out what happens in an internet minute?
Take a look at the latest infographic created by Lori Lewis and Officially Chadd.
The infographic represents the online activity of billions of people and condensed in a single image.
Looking at this from a marketer’s perspective, I see a lot of opportunities and debunking some of the widely-held beliefs out there.
Here are some of my thoughts:
Internet Minute Statistic #1: 14.1 Million Search Queries
In a single minute, there are approximately 4.1 million search queries.
Think about that.
People are using search engines like Google to find something.
Whether that’s a simple calculation, directions to a location, or shopping—people spend a lot of their time online searching for something.
From a business perspective, this just shows how important it is for your website to show up on search engines in this process.
Billions of people globally are literally searching the internet to solve their problems.
If you are not found online, you are already fighting a losing battle.
Key Takeaways
If you don’t have a website, or if you do and aren’t showing up on the first page for your main keywords, then you have to consider improving your online presence.
Remember that progress is better than perfection. If you keep planning and planning, you will never move forward.
Find out where you are currently by analyzing your data. If you don’t know where to start, you can find instructions here on how to get started with some free tools to help you create your baseline metrics.
Once you have that, it’s time to move to the next step and improve those numbers.
Internet Minute Statistic #2: 190 Million Emails Sent
A lot of people have been saying that email marketing is dead for a couple of years now. But that only holds true for marketers who don’t know how to generate leads properly, nurture them, and send emails that add value to its readers.
In the business world, email is still the most preferred medium of communication.
While short-form messages are on the rise (more on this below), this is mostly in the non-business setting or initiated by customers when they have a problem.
Live chat, chatbots, and other messaging are on the rise because they are new, but there is a lot more catching up before they can replace email.
Key Takeaways
If you aren’t using email marketing properly for your business, you’re at a disadvantage.
Remember that across all media of communication, email is the only one where you “own” your data.
If you rely on Facebook Messenger to do your business, then Facebook suddenly decides to no longer use Messenger, you’d lose all means to communicate with your leads and customers.
But with email, you can simply choose another provider. And even if you don’t switch to another email marketing software, you can still email them directly.
Internet Minute Statistic #3: 6+ Million Videos Viewed
People don’t have time for long-form content. That is why you should only create content that can be read or watched in under 60 seconds.
This is something you probably heard before because people have short attention spans. It’s mostly advice you hear when it comes to content posted on social media.
But that cannot be farther from the truth.
If you combine the videos watched on YouTube and Twitch alone, you’d be amazed at how much time people spend watching videos online.
Did you know that the average video length on YouTube is almost 12 minutes?
The only reason why other marketers claim that people have short attention spans is they don’t have the content that captures their audience’s attention.
Key Takeaways
Poor content is the main reason why this advice came to being.
No matter how long or short the content you post on social (or on your website), what matters is the value it brings.
Note that the number above doesn’t even include Netflix.
Think back to the number of nights you stayed up late to binge-watch.
All those hours you spend watching the Marvel movies in a particular order, or the annual Star Wars marathon are signs that people can and do spend hours consuming long-form content.
The only reason long-form doesn’t work for you is because your content sucks.
In order to address that, make sure you are creating content that your customers are asking. Focus on solving their problems, not on your content calendar.
Learn how you can create high-quality content every time using AI-assisted tools.
Internet Minute Statistic #4: 78 Million Messages
This number combines the Messenge/Whatsapp and SMS/text messages sent data.
Messaging apps are on the rise. There’s no doubt about it.
Because of this, consumer behaviors have also changed.
This is also the reason why 79% of consumers prefer live chats because they offer instant responses.
But as mentioned above, most of the time, this is done by customers who have complaints about your product or service.
Key Takeaways
As a business, it’s your responsibility to adopt to your customers’ needs.
This includes being present in as many channels as possible where your customers are. That means having an omni-channel approach to your business.
That means your marketing, sales, and customer support teams have to work together and not pass around a customer.
Conclusion
According to Lori, brands should look at this data and focus on these three things:
- More meaningful measures of engagement
- Come at content from the audience point of view
- Monetize this now
These recommendations aren’t new. In fact, these have been repeated over and over throughout the years.
For example, the first recommendation means measuring beyond likes, hearts, and follows. That includes actual conversations with fans, not just sharing links on your social media accounts.
At the end of the day, marketers have a lot of opportunity this 2020.
Build a strong foundation online first. That means focusing on the basics. Once you have that covered, continue creating content that solves your target audience’s problems.
Over time, you’ll see the results come in.
What opportunities do you see for marketers this 2020? Are you thinking of creating more videos on YouTube or join the growing Tik Tok network?
Or maybe you’re thinking of going the other way and create less content?
Either way, let me know below.