Companies in the Caribbean have been slowly catching the net bug lately. We’re seeing a few more execs appreciating the power of a good web approach for sales as well as consumer relations. But many are still teetering on the edge, unsure of whether or not they should digitize their approach. And for the ones who have invested in a few digital spaces, we’re still seeing some fear and uncertainty about how best to engage people in this region. Well, here are some statistics that we thought Caribbean businesses should print out and paste all over their marketing departments and recite every morning before work begins and hopefully help in their overall web engagement.
1. Video results command 3 times more attention than any other content type
Yep. That’s right. If orange is the new black, watching is the new reading. We’ve known for some time that less copy means more reading, but now it seems that not even 140 characters is enough of an abbreviation. It’s understandable why people just want to sit and watch these days. Videos allow you much more interaction with your content than reading does. You can scroll, rewind, skip all the boring bits and jump straight to the big kiss, and you get a much more illustrative look at the subject matter. Google in particular places an emphasis on content that engages, educates and incentivizes users to stay on a website. So when search engines return results, webpages that contain video appear more prominently since they contain an eye-catching thumbnail image of the video which ultimately encourages more clicks.
2. 85% of internet users say social networks help them decide what to purchase.
According to IBM’s Generation C Study, most internet users rely on how products are marketed on social media to make up their minds about a purchase. This is due to the rapidly evolving popularity of consumer reviews as well as the trust factor associated with brands that actually talk to their consumers
3. 38% of 2-year-olds use mobile devices.
Yup. Common Sense Media says that the average age for a first cell phone these days is 13 and that tots as young as 2 are tech savvy with mobile devices. What does this mean?
Well it means the limits for how you can market to youngsters have just expanded or probably don’t even exist anymore. Internet marketers once had a problem with reaching youth below a certain age because the internet was previously an adult space. If 13- year-olds are all tweeting on the go, there’s an expanded arena for kid-related products.
4. 46.1% of people say a website’s design is the number one criterion for discerning the credibility of the company.
(Source: Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab)
Woops! We may have just stepped on a few Caribbean corns there! So many companies in this region sacrifice design for functionality (sometimes even both) because of the money factor. What they don’t realize is that design in many cases can influence the average internet user even more than functionality. Also here’s another shocker: great design doesn’t have to be expensive! Woah there! You may wanna get yourself near a soft divan. Yes, there are tons of great web designers, right here in the region who are able to do a good job for a decent price. So stop bothering your nephew and request a quote!
5. One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook
And yes, the Caribbean seems to be steadily adding to this global number. By latest counts, about 28% of the 41 million people in the Caribbean are regular internet users and about 15% of them are on Facebook. So just over half of the total population of internet users in the Caribbean is on Facebook and this number is growing every day. So if your Caribbean business doesn’t have any social engagement yet, you’re missing out on more than you think especially if you’re in the Eastern Caribbean. It just so happens that the islands in this region seem to have better net infrastructure than the larger islands, which is resulting in a larger penetration rate for internet and social media users. St. Kitts for example, one of the smallest in the region, has one of the highest penetration rates for both internet (44%) and Facebook (42%) users. If you’re interested, you should have a look at your own country’s internet penetration rates.