Social media has become an integral part of our lives.
From Facebook to Instagram, Twitter to Snapchat, TikTok to Pinterest – everyone uses social media platforms to connect with friends, share their thoughts, find inspiration, and stay updated with current events.
It wasn’t too long ago that social media was a small slice of the marketing pie, but now it’s impossible to ignore. You can now find social media content in just about any marketing campaign.
And it’s no wonder marketers are using these sites to reach potential customers and increase sales.
By the time you’re reading this, more than 3.2 billion images will be shared by social media users, 8 billion videos viewed on Facebook, and 65% of those views will come from mobile users – all in one day.
People are in love with social media platforms. Not a crush or infatuation, but the type of love that keeps them up at night and interferes when they’re trying to concentrate – literally.
If you’re a business owner or marketer looking for ways to boost your company’s visibility online, here are some facts about social media marketing that might change how you think about these platforms and their potential to reach your consumer.
30 Insane Social Media Facts
There are plenty of statistics out there to fill you in on all the details of social media, but many of them are – frankly – boring.
So, why not lighten things up a bit?
You need to optimize your social media strategy, and you need a few numbers to make it happen.
We want to make it easy for you to enjoy, remember, and apply what you learn, so here are 30 insane social media facts to light your marketing fire.
Social Media Usage Stats
1. We like to share the love. The average internet user has 8.6 social media accounts.
2. The number of social media users skyrocketed with 72% of adults using at least one social network.
3. Young adults were early adopters of social media platforms. However, older adult usage continues to increase in recent years with more 50-64-year-olds using Facebook than those 18-29.
4. Need evidence that we’re a visual species? Today in excess of 3.2 billion photos and 720,000 hours of video are shared per day across social media.
5. 59% of WhatsApp users and 53% of Facebook users in the United States post content to their accounts.
6. We spend an average of 145 minutes per day on social media worldwide.
Social Media Marketing Stats
7. As of the third quarter of 2020, 10 million brands are advertising on Facebook. This is a significant increase from 7 million advertisers in the first quarter of the previous year.
8. And it makes sense considering 73% of marketers believe their social media marketing efforts have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business.
9. This includes B2B marketers who ranked social media advertising second in success (29%) behind paid search (33%) for producing content marketing results.
10. Social media’s ad spend in the United States was $40.3 billion in 2020.
11. According to a report from Dentsu, spurred by an 18% growth in social media, global digital ad spending is projected to grow 10.1% YoY.
Remarkable Instagram Facts We Bet You Never Knew About
12. Instagram reports 50% of users are more interested in a brand when they see ads for it on Instagram.
13. There are 200+ million Instagram business accounts. From mid-sized companies like Fashion Nova (20M followers) to large corporate behemoths like Nike (90M followers), it’s the perfect social platform for visibility and engagement.
14. There are over 2 billion monthly active users on Instagram.
15. Companies use Instagram Stories or influencer marketing with an estimated 500,000 active influencers who are only on Instagram.
16. Instagram users spend 30 minutes each day on Instagram. And for any brand, this kind of social media usage is a marketer’s dream.
As an example, the fashion brand Adore Me saw great results with its influencer marketing campaign on Instagram and Facebook.
Content shared by influencers had a two times higher click-through rate, 7% higher sales conversion rate, and 37% lower cost per incremental purchase than traditional creative ads.
YouTube’s Hold On Social Media Users And How To Use It To Your Advantage
17. YouTube is responsible for more than 25% of total worldwide mobile traffic by volume.
18. It is no surprise given social media users upload 500+ hours of content every minute! That’s more content than ABC, CBS, and NBC combined, and enough to keep you glued to your screen – just what marketers need.
What’s more, even these broadcasting networks now use social media (YouTube included) and it’s not surprising that they do.
Why?
19. YouTube has 2 billion monthly active logged-in users worldwide. This makes it seem like the entire world is on YouTube; you’ve most likely even visited YouTube today.
Brands like Nectar use YouTube ads to increase brand visibility. After developing video ad creative that was geared for performance that resulted in a 382% lift in brand interest.
TikTok’s Fascinating Social Media Statistics
20. On average, TikTok users in the U.S. spend 68 minutes a day on the website; 50 minutes of 15-second videos are soundtracked by music clips. For the most part, the content revolves around lip-syncing, dancing, and comedy skits. It mostly appeals to young people.
21. TikTok has the youngest user base of all social media sites with 68% of its users under 30 and 28% under the age of 18.
22. This is a key reason TikTok increased its year-over-year revenue to $1.9 billion in 2020.
Looking at these statistics, the potential for social media marketing is striking.
23. Here’s a platform dominated by youngsters and available in 154 countries worldwide. Surprisingly, marketers are just catching up to it.
It’s where you go to find a younger, active global audience, exactly what Mango needed for its fashion brand.
Mango’s TikTok Strategy That Earned 14,000 Followers
When Mango, the Spanish fashion brand, needed to create more awareness, they turned to TikTok’s TopView – an advertising tool designed to present your videos as soon as users turn on the app.
TopView ads are 60 seconds long, full-screen, and play automatically with sound.
For this reason, Mango used the tool to showcase international influencers clad in their outfits. Their videos featured official music and a call to action asking viewers to join the Mango community.
The Game-Changing Results
By day one of going live, Mango’s videos had an engagement rate of 17.1%. The days after, the brand saw an astounding 1,900% rise in followers, from 700 to 14,000 TikTok followers.
A statistics-backed example of how to use social media.
Facebook’s Excellent Open Rate You Need to Know About
24. Businesses on Facebook Messenger exchange over 20 billion messages with consumers per month.
25. Facebook users spend 34 minutes a day checking their feeds, reacting to notifications, and responding to messages.
26. 49% of Facebook users log in to the network several times per day.
27. But that’s not all: 41% of American social media users use Facebook to share engaging content while 25% of them like a company’s post.
28. It’s no wonder there are more than 10 million advertisers on the platform.
29. Of the ad clicks generated by these advertisers, over 18% of U.S. adults complete a purchase.
30. All promising implications to a marketer looking to create ads for Facebook’s 81% of users with income between $60,000 and $70,000.
It’s social media facts like these that inform a digital marketer’s decision when selecting a platform.
And, when you’re looking to generate leads, create brand awareness, or increase conversions, you need a platform that’s designed for the job.
My English School’s Smart Facebook Strategy
Luigi Sguerri, Founder and CEO of My English School, needed an efficient way of generating leads for the 33 My English School branches across Italy. Not only that, he needed to turn those leads into conversions.
This meant finding people who were interested in learning English and were likely to enroll.
Sguerri decided to use Facebook for the platform’s ability to target a wide but relevant range of potential customers, encourage action, and guide potential clients throughout the customer journey.
The strategy involved three campaigns targeting different audiences and ThruPlay billing.
- Mobile-friendly videos targeted people within 10 km of any of the branches.
- Lead ads targeted travelers, travel professionals, and people interested in travel.
- Conversion ads targeted teenagers as well as people aged 55-65 and interested in languages.
- ThruPlay billing ensured they only paid for videos watched to completion.
Result Within A Month
My English School’s strategy earned them 4,000 quality leads within a month and at less than half the price of previous years’ campaigns.
This was twice as many leads as the past year, 58% cheaper, and the company’s best-ever performance.
Summary
Social media is constantly changing, and it remains critically important to your digital marketing strategy.
The first step is becoming familiar with these social media facts and some of the successful techniques that have been employed.
However, there is a lot more that goes into creating a successful digital marketing plan.
For example, you may need to understand each platform’s different strengths and weaknesses or the best approaches to use.
It isn’t enough to just show up. You need to also understand the rules of the game and know how to rise above the competition.
These 30 social media facts are just a jumping point. What you do with this information is completely up to you, but we know we’ll see some pretty impressive results.
More Resources:
- 15 Awesome Examples of Social Media Marketing
- 5 Social Media Strategies You Can Use to Boost Your SEO
- Social Media Marketing: A Complete Strategy Guide
Featured Image: Darko 1981/Shutterstock
