DIGITAL - Research: The Growing Importance of Visual Content

Visual content has become vital to marketing, especially in the world of social media.

A recent study by Venngage surveyed over 300 online marketers and find out exactly how visuals influenced their marketing strategies in 2016, and what their plans were for 2017.

According to the survey, 77% of marketers stated that 71% to 100% of the content they published in 2015 contained visuals. Of that 77%, 40.5% of marketers stated that 91% to 100% of the content they published in 2015 contained visuals.

When asked about their use of visuals in their content strategy during the year 2016, 83.5% of marketers stated that 71% to 100% of their content contained visuals, and 53% of those marketers said that 91% to 100% of their content contained visuals.

This shows an incredible increase of 130% in the use of visual content in articles published by marketers.

41.5% of marketers said that original graphics, such as infographics and illustrations, were the most effective.

Most marketers, 60.8%, stated that the use of visual content was absolutely necessary to their marketing strategy.

Following that, 31.7% said that visual content was very important for their marketing strategies in 2017, however the amount of budget dedicated to visuals remained relatively low.

The biggest challenge faced by marketers was finding time to produce visuals on a consistent basis.

With video growing in popularity and visuals increasing in importance to get and retain viewer interest, marketers will have to continue to allocate resources to them.

Read the detailed results, complete with infographic templates you can use, on the Venngage blog.

FUTURE TRENDS - US Adults Spend Over 12 Hours Per Day Consuming Media

According to a new eMarketer study, US Time Spent With Media: eMarketer’s Updated Estimates and Forecast for 2014-2019, American adults spend 12 hours, 7 minutes per day consuming media.

Considering time is also spent working and sleeping, that’s an awful lot of time committed to media.

How is it possible?

It’s all thanks to multitasking - eMarketer counted two hours if a person spent an hour watching tv while also surfing on smartphone.

eMarketer also estimates that nonvoice time spent per day by smartphone users will rise from 2 hours 18 minutes in 2014 to 2 hours 42 minutes by 2019.

The continued growth in the number of apps is a factor in this increase.

More and more of the digital universe is designed to cater to smartphones, and this often takes the form of apps.

You can hear more about how US adults consume media in the latest episode of eMarketer's Behind the Numbers podcast.

Interested in Canada’s media usage trends? Check out IAB Canada’s report.

DIGITAL - Snapchat Offers New Advertising Features

In an effort to improve mobile commerce and lead generation marketing, Snapchat is testing deep-linking and auto-fill in their ads.

With deep-linking, consumers can swipe up and tap a link to be taken out of Snapchat and into a new app - to a playlist in a music app, or a product page in an ecommerce app.

Auto-fill allows viewers to fill out lead-generation forms with one tap on the screen after seeing an ad.

This time-saving feature addresses the challenge advertisers have getting consumers to take the time to fill out forms, particularly when they are using a smartphone with its small screen and keyboard.

"Snap's new features make its advertising platform more amenable to the type of direct response advertising that could make it a social commerce player," said eMarketer analyst Yory Wurmser. "Mobile retail above all is about relevant, compelling images and simplicity."

Other social networks already have these features so Snapchat is taking steps to catch up to them and stay on top of social commerce in general.

Some interesting statistics for businesses thinking about advertising on Snapchat:

• Over 100 million active daily users
• Snapchatters watch over 10 billion videos per day

• 58 percent of college students would be likely to purchase a brand’s product or service if they were sent a coupon on Snapchat.

BUSINESS - Ecommerce Players who Thrived in 2016

EMarketer recently featured seven ecommerce companies, big and small, that flourished in 2016.

Two of them were purchased by other corporations and featured in InfoStream articles.

What do they have in common?

It wasn’t necessarily corporate revenue that made Dollar Shave Club and Jet.com valuable commodities, it was a strong subscriber base and established online service delivery.

More and more corporate acquisitions are being based on a different value system.

The shift of consumers to mobile purchasing, growth of ecommerce and social innovation are having a profound affect on corporations.

It is predicted that in the next three to four years the scramble to acquire subscribers and services that add to the core values (purpose) of large brands will intensify.

Other companies highlighted by EMarketer include wholesale shopping club Boxed.

Rated number one, Boxed (founded in 2013) expects revenues to surpass $100M for 2016, up from $8M just two years ago.

Mattress retailer Caspar, predicting to double their revenue to $200M this year, and MeUndies, on track to sell 5M pairs in 2017, were two other ecommerce power players featured by EMarketer.

Learn more about these top ecommerce companies - read the entire article.

FUTURE TRENDS - eMarketer Examines Emerging Technologies and Trends

With the hype of Pokemon GO and its augmented reality, the advent of self-driving cars and virtual assistants, and the surging growth of the sharing economy, it seems society is being bombarded with major developments and emerging technologies.

But what does it all mean?

Should you be excited about everything new?

In a special Thanksgiving podcast, eMarketer’s Marcus Johnson and Ezra Palmer consider some of the key developments of the year and discuss if they are ‘Thankful or Not Thankful’ for them.

While their discussion is lighthearted, with personal experience thrown in, the points they touch on cover many of the hopes and fears around new technology and trends, along with some interesting data.

For example, Johnson never played Pokemon GO but he and others have a much better understanding of augmented reality and its potential because of the game.

Listen to the podcast for an overview of trending technologies and developments.

Digital Ad Spending to Exceed TV This Year

eMarketer recently reported that U.S. digital ad spending will surpass TV ad spending by the end of 2016 for the first time - one year earlier than they had originally predicted.

Advertisers have been rushing to purchase digital at the expense of traditional advertising like print, and the shift has been happening more quickly than anticipated.

According to eMarketer, by the end of this year, US digital ad spending will reach $72.09 billion, while TV spending will grow to $71.29 billion.

That means digital will represent 36.8% of US total media ad spending, while TV will have 36.4%.

They are quick to point out that TV ad spending is still growing, particularly in light of the Olympic Games and U.S. federal election this year.

Mobile ad spending will grow 45.0% this year to reach $45.95 billion and as it grows, it will represent an increased share of overall ad spending.

Google has cornered the market on mobile advertising with a 32% share.

eMarketer predicts video ad spending will reach $10.30 billion, representing 14.3% of total digital spending this year and the figure will climb to 15.1% next year.

Display ads, where Facebook leads the market at almost $12 billion in 2016, will continue to be the dominant form of digital advertising for several years to come.