Not only is it usually free to begin using social media, but it has many benefits. One of the biggest benefits of using social media is the number of online contacts you get to make and network with. But what about the challenges?
Whether you’re looking for social media marketing statistics 2022 or wondering how many people use social media in 2019 — we’ve got you covered.
How Many People Use Social Media?
Social media usage stats
It’s no secret that social media continues to grow in popularity. We spend a lot of time on social media because it helps us keep track of friends, family and brands. Creating a social media marketing strategy is a must for reaching the audiences doing just that
- Globally, over 3.6 billion people use social media and the number is only projected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025.
- The top social media networks ranked by the number of active users are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
One of the reasons for the high usage of social media is that mobile possibilities for users are continually improving, which makes it increasingly simpler to access social media, no matter where you are.
Most social media networks are also available as mobile apps or have been optimized for mobile browsing, making it easier for users to access their favorite sites while on the go.
When it comes to Social Media for business the benefits can’t be denied!
In today’s digital age, many businesses know the importance of using social media for business. The right strategy can generate more leads and drive sales through the roof.
But with the wrong strategy, you can spend valuable time without seeing any results. Chances are you’ve tried some social media posts for your business in the past – maybe even had a few Facebook ads running. But you’ve let it fall to the back burner, if you pay attention to it at all.
Social media usage surged in 2020! It’s time to start paying attention to your social media for business. Don’t let past inexperience, disinterest, or even failure stop you from taking advantage now.
Social media is the reason many businesses have seen rapid growth. You may notice some of your competitors have gained on you. In some cases, they’re even running circles around you. They generate leads that are cheaper and flow more freely, they’re closing deals faster, and the people in charge of purchasing decisions remember them more readily. Social media trends reflect this growth.
And where are you right now?
You’re still struggling with cold-calling, emails, and conventional advertising. A few years back, that worked – the leads were pouring in. But today? Not so much.
The proverbial well hasn’t dried up, but the gush has been reduced to a trickle, at best.
It’s time to face the music – conventional marketing methods are too expensive and most of your potential customers can’t be reached using those antiquated tactics. They’re not picking up their phones, your emails are going unanswered, and paid ads are a waste of time and effort.
On the other hand, businesses using digital marketing with a strong social media presence are raking it in. They might have an inferior product compared to yours, but that doesn’t matter. Brands on social media are seen and heard, mostly for free, while you’re paying to get your foot in the door. Follow these social media tips to make sure your game plan is on message.
Like it or not, you have to adapt, and your business’s social media presence needs to grow – fast. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already played with it and failed. Persistence is key – with a firm understanding of what to expect, a detailed plan, and a few new tricks up your sleeve, you will soon harness the power of social media marketing for small business.
After all, business owners aren’t quitters and you’re not ready to throw in the towel just yet, right?
Let’s look at some social media marketing statistics as they pertain to your business, and what they might mean for you.
Facebook is the Market Leader
Facebook has been shaping the social media landscape since its launch and is continually evolving to meet its user’s needs. With over 2.32 billion active monthly users, Facebook remains the most widely used social media platform. Active users are those that have logged into Facebook during the last 30 days. Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) now report that they are Facebook users (Pewinternet, 2018). Interestingly, Facebook was also the first-ever social network to surpass the one billion active user mark, reaching this milestone in the third quarter of 2012.
Keeping this social media statistic in mind, you need to know how you can make the best out of your resources. With Facebook currently holding the position of the biggest social networking service based on global reach and total active users, it’s important to know how your content may potentially perform, and how you can optimize your paid and organic reach. If you’re thinking of posting on Facebook make sure you are up-to-date on how their algorithm works so you reach your best audience
Facebook Is An Essential Social Media Platform for Business
As one of the largest and longest running social media platforms, Facebook should not be neglected. Your ideal customers are likely there, you’ve just got to reach them.
- According to Wearesocial, there are 2.5 billion active monthly Facebook users.
- Of those active users, 74% of them log into Facebook daily (Source: Pew Research Center) and spend an average of 38 minutes per day on the platform.
- Facebook Stories attract 500 million daily viewers. (Source: TechCrunch)
- 1.4 billion people are involved in Groups every month. (Source: Facebook Insights)
- 60% of Americans watch videos on Facebook. (Source: Statusbrew)
- 15% of Facebook users shop on the platform – a number that will only grow. (Source: eMarketer)
- Facebook users click on an average of 11 ads each month, with women clicking on more ads (14 per month) than men (10 per month). (Source: Hootsuite)
- 90 million small businesses use Facebook Pages, Groups, and Messenger. (Source: Statusbrew)
Facebook stats
The oldest of all the social media networks, Facebook saw a lot of change in 2020. New features like live broadcasting from a Page, Creator Studio updates and the integration of Messenger into the Page Inbox made having an effective Facebook marketing strategy still important to brands.
- Facebook still reigns as the most used social network in the world. In Q3 2020, the network reported over 2.7 billion monthly active users (MAUs).
- The all-industry median benchmark for Facebook engagement rate per post is 0.09%. This number is mainly unchanged from 2019.
- Advertising is how Facebook makes most of its money. The network boasts nine million active advertisers in Q2 2020 and claims that mobile accounted for 92% of its total revenue.
- Links were the most commonly used content type for brands on the network at 44.2% of all brand posts.
Instagram Stories Usage
Stories are a big deal on Instagram. And they’re essential when it comes down to how to get Instagram followers. They let you share the moments of your day, without saving them to your profile. The following social media statistic shows us the number of daily active Instagram Stories users, which has increased from 150 million in January 2017 to 500 million in January 2019 (Statista, 2019).
There’s a bunch you can do to make your Instagram stories more engaging, such as adding questions, polls, and fun stickers or music to make your content as unique as possible. Instagram stories invite brands to the possibility of higher creative freedom which might help their campaign become a success with their audience.
Twitter is An Important Social Media Platform for Many Industries
Another of the most popular and prolific social media platforms is Twitter. Although fewer people use Twitter than Facebook, the platform is very different, and therefore used differently, by both consumers and business.
- Twitter boasts 330 million active monthly users. This represents a 9% growth over previous reporting. (Source: Statista)
- Link clicks make up 92% of all user interaction with tweets. (Source: Hubspot)
- 78% of people who complain to a brand on Twitter expect a response within the hour. (Source: Lithium)
- A whopping 83% of Twitter users who sent a tweet to a company – and received a response – felt better about the company and were more likely to do business with them. (Source: Twitter)
- That said, only 3% of tweets about customer service issues call out the company’s username with the @ symbol – so you’ve got to watch out for them! (Source: Marketing Land)
- People are 31% more likely to remember what they read on Twitter as compared to general online browsing. (Source: Twitter)
- 53% of users say they made a purchase they first saw on Twitter. (Source: WebFX)
- Twitter ads are 11% more effective than TV ads during live events. (Source: Twitter) Think about that next time you watch a Superbowl ad!
Instagram is the Social Media Platform To Find Millennials
Another important platform to use is Instagram, the image sharing platform. Instagram is as different from Twitter and Facebook as they are from each other. Which means you need to learn to use it (and its particular type of content) effectively with a well thought out social media marketing strategy to reach the best audience.
- As one of the fastest growing platforms, Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, and about 500 million daily users. (Source: Statista)
- Instagram boasts one of the youngest audiences, with 72% of teens saying they use it. (Source: Sprout Social)
- What’s more, 64% of users are under 34.(Source: Statista)
- Despite being known as an image sharing platform, videos actually get 21.2% more interactions compared to images, and 18.6% more than carousels. (Source: Sprout Social)
- Surpassing Twitter in 2017, 71% of US based businesses now use Instagram. (Source: eMarketer)
- Ad spending on Instagram is 23% higher than on Facebook according to an internal analysis by Merkle.
- Engagement with brands is over 10 times higher than on Facebook. (Source: Statusbrew)
- In fact, 200 million people visit at least one business profile every day, and 130 million people engage with shopping posts every month. (Source: Sprout Social)
- 11% of Instagram users shop through the app. (Source: eMarketer)
LinkedIn Is the Best Lead Generation Platform for B2B Businesses
As the premier B2B social network, LinkedIn is important to your business in different ways from Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
- LinkedIn has 690 million monthly active users. (Source: LinkedIn)
- Designed with networking in mind, LinkedIn is 277% more effective than Facebook when it comes to lead generation and customer acquisition, with 45% of marketers gaining customers through the platform (Source: Sprout Social)
- In fact, 80% of social media B2B leads, and 46% of all social media traffic to company websites come from LinkedIn. (Source: LinkedIn)
- 65% of B2B companies have used LinkedIn paid ads. (Source: Sprout Social)
- 95% of B2B content marketers have used LinkedIn for organic marketing. (Source: Content Marketing Institute)
- 76% of B2B content marketers have used LinkedIn as a paid social media platform. (Source: Sprout Social)
Daily Usage by Generation
Social media usage has been surveyed by the Pew Research Center and the results by generation are interesting, to say the least.
To break it down, 84 percent of US adults aged from 18 to 29 are active social media users (Pew Research Center, 2021). This number falls slightly to 81 percent for the 30- to 49-year-old age group and further to 73 percent for those aged from 50 to 64. US adults who are 65 years old and above use social media the least.
Young adults continue to be the generation with the highest use of social media and also the broadest access to smartphones. The older generation, on the other hand, are more likely to be using tablets. Baby Boomers are also bridging their gap with technology and are increasingly becoming more familiar with social media platforms.
Understanding this social media statistic will help you determine which platform could be of most use when marketing to your target audience.
Even B2B operations are growing wary of ignoring social media!
The writing on the wall is clear – decision-makers consult others before making a purchase. They ask friends, colleagues, and peers for their two-cents worth. And they usually take to social media to check the buzz around a product or a service.
- 65% of B2B Buyers rely on recommendations and review sites. (Source: Weidert)
How does it look when the only online reference to your company is your website and an obvious PR article? A couple of results in the search engine don’t exactly inspire too much confidence.
- 55% look for information about your business on social media. (Source: Biznology)
This isn’t really surprising – if people are going to complain or praise a company, they will do it where it has the greatest impact. Having a presence there means that you can drown out (and respond to) the negatives while making sure that you brag about the positives as much as you can. Social media management has become the new customer service.
- Articles beat advertisements and 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer them. (Source: Marx Communications )
Content marketing is more important than ever. A handful of great articles, strategically shared over social media platforms, inform and add value. They help build trust and move actions along, but they do not drive them – which is something that today’s ad-weary customer appreciates.
- Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
How easy is it for people to find your business online? If you’re depending exclusively on your website, then it’s very difficult. 90% of B2B decision-makers don’t want to hear from you (Source: DemandGen Report), which is why your telesales crew is not very successful. When they’re good and ready, they will find you – provided you’ve made an effort to stand out of the crowd.
These small business social media statistics paint a very definite picture – you’re ignoring new marketing approaches at your own risk.
How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media?
In this day and age, we’re all slowly becoming social media addicts. Whether it’s scrolling down our bottomless Facebook or Instagram feeds on the subway, or posting the perfect brunch photo on Instagram before eating, social media has become inescapable.
The latest social media statistics in 2021 show that an average of two hours and 25 minutes are spent per day per person on social media (DataReportal, 2021).
As social media is becoming more integrated into our daily lives, it unveils countless opportunities for businesses who are looking to reach out to their audience through social media marketing.
Conclusion
Social media has come a long way from its first inception back in the 1990’s. While it’s been instrumental in changing the way we communicate as a society, businesses have also been able to capitalize on this free marketing platform. In fact, you probably have social media accounts for your business already. But are you making the most of it? Social media marketing can be a career changer for any small business. Find out how you can use social media for your small business and grow your bottom line with these stats!