Oh how Ioath April Fool’s. I find it to a be supremely irritating tradition. Therefore, you shan’t find a joke or prank within these paragraphs. It’s cold here which is super lame because I am in desperate need for sunshine and warmth. It has yet to be confirmed but I have a sneaking suspicion that more than one member of my immediate family suffers from a little SAD and I’m running out of my ability to cope with it. Also teenagers are not for the faint of heart. If I didn’t dye my hair I’m fairly certain there’d be a lot of grey appearing of late. These last sentences make it seem odd that I despise a holiday that is supposed to make laughter ensue, but alas.
This week’s news includes a Listicle of social media facts, insight into mobile v desktop traffic, and a couple of depressing housing articles. Womp Womp. (Am I the only person still using that phrase?)
SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS
Who doesn’t love a listicle? I love writing them, I love reading them. They’re organized and no matter how long, they seem concise and to the point. You can skim them with ease and refer back to anything of note quickly. This listicle about social media is no different. For example, did you know that social media users upload 500+ hours of content every minute! I mean that is insane. Also Tiktok users spend 68 minutes per day on the site whereas Instagram users only spend 30 minutes. No wonder Insta is trying to force everyone to use Reels!
In all seriousness though, I am including this because facts like these can help businesses determine where to focus their efforts and resources.
MOBILE ISN’T EVERYTHING
In a world where we’re all so attached to our phones, it turns out that mobile traffic to websites declined by 9% last year. “The study also found that desktop had a 91% higher average order value than mobile.” I think what often happens is that initial research and cart adding is done on mobile, but for bigger ticket items or larger overall purchase value, desktop use remains key because the screen is bigger and it’s easier to conduct a product inspection or read long format content on a service you might invest in. You should always design a website to be responsive and function well on mobile, but don’t do it at the expense of the desktop experience.
HOUSING
Typically I try to err on the side of good news around here, but between conversations we’ve had with our builders recently and the articles I read this week, it’s hard to act like an ostrich and stick my head in the sand. Demand is crazy strong, there’s an insane shortage of homes available for people who want to buy them. Unfortunately demand alone does not determine the success of the market. And those rising prices are impossible to ignore. The Federal Reserve of Dallas issued a warning that there are growing signs of a housing bubble. And before that the NAHB CEO spoke to Fox Business to proclaim that a perfect storm is brewing in the housing market. It’s tough out there and what we’re seeing in terms of leads and traffic on builder sites is also indicative of a slowdown.
On that note, if you’d like to talk about strategies to help mitigate pushback on escalation clauses and rising prices, we’d be happy to help. Now is a great time to put out educational content to equip your buyers with all of the information they’ll need to make an educated home buying decision.
Have a great weekend, I hope the sun is shining and it’s warm where you are!
