The speed of digital marketing’s spread is changing competition.
Accenture’s 2013 CMO Insight Report shows that 66 percent of chief marketing officers will spend more than one quarter of their marketing budgets in the digital space next year. But spending it wisely will be harder, given rising competition for attention. In 2012, U.S. Internet users saw 5.3 trillion display ads, a trillion more than 2009 and roughly 1,707 banner ads per user per month.
The message is clear: jockeying for consumers’ attention by making noise won’t cut it anymore; there is just too much noise on the Internet. So, companies face two big questions, “How can we strengthen ties with consumers to stand out in the digital channels?” And “Where in the digital space must we be to make that connection feel authentic?”
To stand out against the noise, companies must first work to humanize their marketing by making the company-consumer relationship feel more reciprocal than transactional. This can start with photos.
According to Facebook’s best business practices, photo posts are generating 120 percent more user engagement than the average post. Instagram, meanwhile, is averaging upwards of 45 million photos being shared per day according to statistics on their website. Intuitively this makes sense; there’s nothing more intimate, relevant, or engaging than photos of people doing something that they value. And if this is what the consumers find engaging, shouldn’t companies engage them with that same medium?