If you’re unsure about whether your company needs to have a professionally maintained social media account or if it’s important to advertise on social media platforms, allow us to present a compelling argument for both. Here are ten facts about social media marketing that show how important it is in our current era.
58.4% of the entire population of the world now uses social media
When comfortably more than half of the planet is using social media, you know that there is a massive opportunity for your business to reach millions, or even billions, of people. This number has grown steadily over the past decade, with the last year alone seeing a 4% increase in the number of internet users around the world. 4% might not seem that impressive a figure in isolation, but it added another 192 million people to the list, which I’m sure you’ll agree is not an insignificant number.
72% of adults have at least one social media account
While this figure is from a survey conducted in the US, history has taught us that consumer trends in the USA don’t take long to make their way to the rest of the world. It’s safe to assume that this figure will only continue to grow in the future, so if you haven’t made a concerted effort to optimise your social media presence, you really need to.
On average, people spend 147 minutes on social media every day
This accounts for more than a third of their overall time spent online and goes to show the opportunity there is on these platforms. You have over 17 hours per week to reach potential customers, interact with your clients to develop a bond and elicit feedback and project the right message for your brand.
The median age of the world is 31.4
Your audience should define the marketing content that you produce. The broader your demographic, the more you need to consider this when putting together a new ad campaign. As a digital marketing agency based in Greece, the median age of our country is significantly older at 46.4 and this is certainly something we take into account with our work.
It should be said that this figure isn’t the be all and end all, as different products and services will obviously have different demographics – especially when you live in a place that has a large influx of tourists every year. You can read more about the specific challenges a company in a tourist destination faces here.
Facebook is still the most widely used social media site
With just shy of 3 billion users, Facebook is still the top dog when it comes to social media platforms.
Considering that its parent company, Meta Platforms, also owns Instagram, WhatsApp and others, it makes sense for you to be well versed in how to use the Meta Business Suite to post across platforms.
WhatsApp is people’s favourite social media app
GWI’s latest figures showed that WhatsApp came in first as people’s favourite social media application with 15.7%, just ahead of Instagram at 14.8% and Facebook at 14.5%.
With Instagram and Facebook, it’s obvious that you should be assessing your company’s marketing opportunities on these platforms, but as a messenger, there is little scope for direct advertising on WhatsApp. but what this stat tells us is that your business should have a presence on and be contactable via this app. WhatsApp also has a business version, optimised for company accounts rather than individual ones.
YouTube accounts for more than a quarter of all mobile traffic
YouTube has more than 2 billion logged-in worldwide users who collectively watch more than a billion hours of videos every day. This presents a serious opportunity for you to advertise your company on monetised videos. The beauty of YouTube is that you are able to select which channels and videos to advertise on, so can easily base this around the type of videos that your core audience watches.
90% of people on Instagram follow a business
This statistic shows us the importance of having an engaging presence on social media.
A well-maintained Instagram account gives your business the opportunity to interact with your customers, which is important for at least two reasons. Firstly, direct interaction enables you to cultivate a positive reputation as a brand that cares about its clients and is sincerely interested in them.
Secondly, it can be an invaluable source of data and feedback about your company and its products or services. This can be through comments, mini surveys/questions with multiple choice answers or even empty textboxes in your stories to allow customers to answer your questions openly. This data is worth its weight in gold and will give you a clear indication of what is going well and what needs improvement.
A significant percentage of people research a brand through social media
GWI found that consumers of all ages used social media platforms to find information about brands and products. The clear trend was that younger people tend to do this, with a slight bias towards females (the highest percentage was found in the 16-24 year-old female group, with 52.3%) however, more than 42% of both genders aged 16-44 research brands and products on social media. The group that did so the least was Males aged 55-64 years old, yet 27.9% of them still engaged in this activity.
Sunday is the worst day to post on Social Media
All the data suggests that the weekend in general is not the time to make your move. Sunday posts on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok get the least engagement, Saturday posts have the least on Facebook, while LinkedIn posts perform equally poorly on both days.
So when should I post to social media? Analysis shows that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the three best days to post if you want engagement. In terms of the time of the day, it depends largely on the platform, but generally speaking you should post at 9am or 10am on the three days mentioned. TikTok is an outlier, probably because of its typically younger audience; 2pm is a much better bet for that platform.
What these facts mean
The bottom line is that if you’re not advertising your business on social media or at least maintaining a solid online presence to interact with your clients and attract new ones, then you’ll almost certainly find yourself lagging behind your competitors in the long run.
As a company that manages and creates social media profiles and advertising campaigns, this is our area of expertise. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business grow.