Every year, the tech community eagerly awaits Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends report. It is packed full of rich, yummy data that lets savvy marketers know where the Internet is headed, and how to take advantage of it. She covers global internet usage, start-ups that are disrupting marketing and business communications, technology usage in the next generation, the real impact of mobile and advertising spending across various mediums. The report is critical to understanding where the internet is going, and how brands can capitalize on emerging opportunities (click to tweet).
Here are seven of the most noteworthy trends for marketers and brands that I gleaned from the report:
1. FACEBOOK ISN’T DEAD
Despite what media says, 12- to 24-year-olds use Facebook and Instagram constantly and consider Instagram to be the most important platform. Don’t believe the hype on this.
2. FACEBOOK VIDEO IS CRUSHING IT
50 percent of Facebook’s Daily Active Users watch 1 or more videos per day and 75 percent of them do so on mobile.
3. MOBILE OPPORTUNITY
Marketers still haven’t found the best way to advertise on mobile and there is a HUGE gap between the attention people give mobile and the amount of money we spend marketing on it.
4. BUY BUTTONS ARE WHAT’S NEXT AFTER VIDEO
The ability to seamlessly transact in social will get better and more accepted.
5. SOCIAL IN THE ENTERPRISE IS ABOUT TO BLOW UP
Enterprise social will impact the way we work and communicate as well as continue to disrupt the way we communicate with customers.
6. OPTIMIZE CONTENT (ESPECIALLY VIDEO) FOR VERTICAL SCREENS
Because of the rise in mobile, people are consuming content in a vertically oriented screen (holding a phone vs. watching a monitor). You must design UX and video for this.
7. ON DEMAND EVERYTHING
Driven by Millennials, we will continue to see business disrupted by On Demand Everything – Jobs, Services, and Products.
