Thrival Guide 2022: Exploration of the Human Condition
I have been mulling over this year’s Thrival Guide numbers, contemplating what it means and what it could mean… not only for our marketing plans but the human condition.
Truth is, marketing is the exploration of the human condition…the evolution of how we feel and respond. When we look at how Social Media has changed and the influence of Google, we are looking at how humans are changing.
Google searches were BACK to 3.5 billion/day from the 5.2 billion we saw during the height of COVID. Here’s what this might tell us and what it brings up for me:
How much of the remote scenario burned people out that they STOPPED searching?
How much of the remote learning situation was impacted by that number?
AHREF tells us that the top 10 Google Searches in the US were:
When looking at this, you can sum up how many of us live: trying to connect with others, shopping online (for necessities or leisure), checking our email, caring for our surroundings and trying to translate the world around us…human.
This also shows how busy our lives are and that we often forget the people we are selling to are human as well. Complex plans and narratives are created when a quick glimpse at trends can reel us back to reality:
Take a look at last year’s data. There is only ONE green number on the entire sheet. Tik Tok.
I know you aren’t surprised. You see people everywhere scrolling through Tik Tok and people sharing what they have seen….but what does it tell us as an indication of trend ?
It tells us humans want:
information fast
to share
to be seen
reality
Tik tok is not flooded with professional videos but with real people, doing real things or telling real facts. Again, human.
Okay, that doesn’t mean it is appropriate for your business to have 200 tik toks about office life or design life but it does tell you how people think and/or how your next generation of clients will think.
When we look at broad based data trends, it gives us the first step. The next step is to look at the basics of your own data.
Clients always tell me that they want to make sure a new website is responsive and looks good on mobile. When we look at broad base data, mobile accounts for 61% of overall traffic, so that makes sense. Your website should be responsive for mobile, of course but I remind many people to look at THEIR data.
Many B2B clients have only 20% mobile usage. Which means that their design should be responsive but we absolutely can’t ignore the desktop version either and need to ensure the usability is inclusive.
“You are moving fast. Take a moment to pause to recognize your successes and identify areas of improvement.”
More than ever, we need to remember to pause and reflect on what is happening around us AND how we are happening around us. How are we interacting within our day?
We can have loads of data feeding us information but if we don’t take a second to assess our reality alongside of it, it becomes a time suck and is not authentic to you moving forward.
Remember to pause, to pay attention, to be fair to yourself and to stay human.
With you, always,
A