Hi, Lauren Kaye here with a content marketing recap for May in this week’s content and coffee. It’s been an important month in search marketing as we hit major benchmarks for the most popular traffic sources and content formats. Here are three things to know as we head into June and kick off summer marketing campaigns: 

1. Mobile searches outpace desktop

It’s Google official. People are using their smartphones to search more often than they’re sitting down at a computer to look up information. For the most part, this probably affects retail stores and restaurants more than corporate websites, but it still means you need to rethink your strategy, prioritizing mobile.

You need to assume desktop visitors are the minority, and build experiences for people on smartphones and tablets first.

Mobile-friendly test results

2. Videos dominate mobile search

As you’re working on building a mobile strategy, think about how people search – and by that I mean, think about your last search. Most people search in questions, and if you have a video about the answer, you’ll get a lot of hits.

New research shows that mobile “how-to” searches on YouTube are growing 70 percent year-over-year. If you start building an archive of answers now, you can grab a lot of that traffic and make your brand the go-to source for answers.

smartphone users conduct mobile searches

3. Videos are the most popular Facebook content

Speaking of how valuable video is, a Simply Measured study found that video shares on Facebook have increased 43 percent this year. They’re shared more often than any other format. And posts with just text and links are pretty much getting ignored – as social becomes more and more visual, these kinds of updates are losing engagement.

Simply measured video share data

It’s a reminder to invest in visual content. You might have slid by with text only in the past, but people expect more from brands. And if you don’t have a visual strategy, you’re going to look less professional and be less entertaining that your competitors. As a matter of fact, 64 percent of marketers say they’re already investing in video content this year – so you better get on it!

So there’s your roundup! If you have any questions, leave a comment or tweet us @Brafton. Thanks for tuning in, and happy content marketing!

Lauren Kaye is a Marketing Editor at Brafton Inc. She studied creative and technical writing at Virginia Tech before pursuing the digital frontier and finding content marketing was the best place to put her passions to work. Lauren also writes creative short fiction, hikes in New England and appreciates a good book recommendation.