The 2019 Social Media Examiner marketing poll is out. Instagram is trending higher while marketers are losing interest in Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook remains a strong preference for marketers targeting B2C consumers, but overall the signs point to waning interest in Facebook for marketing purposes.
Most Popular Social Media Platform for Marketing
Facebook remains the most popular social media platform for marketers. 94% of marketers polled noted they were using Facebook. Instagram’s popularity with marketers grew from 66% in 2018 to 73% in 2019.
Instagram grew from 66% to 73%
Twitter fell from 62% to 59%. pg 11
Facebook and Instagram Are Most Popular
Facebook and Instagram are the most popular social media platforms for marketers. A hint as to why they are so popular is that newer marketers are defaulting to Facebook and Instagram as the brand leaders.
The trend is different with more experienced marketers. Here’s what the poll discovered:
“New social media marketers mostly focus on Facebook (89%) and Instagram (63%). The most experienced marketers are highly diversified.”
Top Business to Consumer Advertising Platform
Facebook is the most preferred platform for reaching B2C consumers by marketers. Nearly 100% of marketers use Facebook to reach B2C sales leads. Instagram is close behind at 78%.
Marketers have lost trust in Twitter as a way to reach consumers. Twitter’s share dropped from 62% to 57%.
Top Social Media Business to Business Marketing Platform
Facebook also retained the top spot for B2B marketing, although by a smaller lead than B2C. 91% of marketers said they used Facebook for reaching B2B decision makers and buyers, followed by LinkedIn at 80%. Page 14
Facebook Organic Marketing Trending Downward
10% of marketers indicated that they plan on decreasing their reliance on Facebook. This represents the largest negative sentiment compared to other social media platforms.
In a further indication of trouble at Facebook, less marketers plan on increasing their organic marketing activities in 2019 compared to 2018. 51% stated they would increase spending on organic reach in 2019 versus 62% in 2018.
Facebook has updated their algorithms to favor posts with more engagement. Facebook has also decreased the reach of viral pages. Whether these factors explain the decrease in enthusiasm with Facebook for organic reach is not discussed in the study.
Twitter Organic Marketing Trending Downward
Similarly, 35% of marketers indicated they would be increasing their spending on Twitter, which is down from 44% in 2018.
Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat are Biggest Losers
Marketers indicating that their organic related spending will be increasing at levels higher than 2018 on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat are trending downward on this metric. Only 9% of Snapchat marketers indicated they would be increasing their organic activities in 2019 compared to 16% the previous year. That’s clearly a negative trend for Snapchat.
Interest in Learning About Facebook Marketing Plummeting
When asked which social media platform marketers most wanted to learn more about, Facebook came in second for the first time. Interest in understanding Facebook marketing dropped from 79% in 2018 to 69% in 2019. Instagram pulled ahead of Facebook again.
There are many more video and social media insights at Social Media Examiner. Read the full document here.
