About 70% of the world is now hooked into social media, half of which uses more than one social media platform. This means 2.1 billion people have at least one social profile and that number is expected to increase to 2.5 billion by the year 2018.
Social media has many uses other than just posting selfies and animal videos, as research shows that social media marketing affects both B2B and consumer purchasing alike. Purchasing decisions are largely influenced by social content and 57% of purchasers have said that positive feedback found on social media platforms influenced their purchase decisions. This has caused social media marketing to take the drivers seat when it comes to B2C communications today.
Most businesses use social media platforms to market themselves and their products to their target audiences but are finding the inherent value tricky to quantify.
Image credit: The CMO Survey
Social Media will continue to become more important as time goes on. This is illustrated by the figures that show 90% of 18 to 29 year olds are connected to social media, compared with 35% of those 65 and older. The millennials are fully immersed in social media and use it as a communication channel with businesses.
Actual ROI is difficult for businesses to measure. A whopping 46% of B2B digital marketers are unable to quantify the effect of social media marketing on their revenue generation. Social media marketing seems to be more about paying attention to metrics such as how many “likes” or “shares” are obtained. These make up 80% of the metrics used by digital marketers to judge impact while 56% are using website traffic to gauge success.
What do you take away from these numbers? Well it goes to show that social media may be more about trust building and becoming involved with your audience than it is about direct sales. Social media is still growing fast and it’s turning into the go to place for businesses to find their customers meaning quantifiable numbers shouldn’t be far behind.
The Demographics of Social Media: 7 Statistics
- 52% of adults that are online have active profiles on at least two social media networks. (Source: Pew Research)
- In the US, 70% of the population maintains at least one social media profile. (Source: Statistica)
- Of the 3 billion people worldwide with Internet access, 2.1 billion use social media and 1.7 billion of those log in from mobile devices. (Source: Link Humans)
- 2.5 billion is the expected number of social media users by the year 2018. (Source: Statistica)
- Your average user of social media keeps five active accounts. (Source: Link Humans)
- The most active demographic on social media is mothers with children under 5 years old. (Source: Link Humans)
- For the age group of 12-24, the most used social media networks are Instagram at 32%, Twitter at 24%, Facebook at 14%, Snapchat at 13% and Tumblr at 4%. (Source: Mary Meekers Internet Trends)
10 Marketing and Advertising Stats Affecting Social Media
- Today, social media marketing budgets are about 11% and are expected to double in five years. (Source: The CMO Survey)
- Advertising revenue for social media will hit $9.8 billion by the end of 2016. (Source: Link Humans)
- Outside agencies perform 22% of social media marketing tasks. (Source: The CMO Survey)
- 35% of millennials say their preferred business communication channel is social media. This is compared to only 5% of those aged 55 and older. (Source: Marketing Sherpa)
- Sales people with excellent knowledge of using social media to prospect clients, nurture relationships and close deals are over six times more likely to beat their sales quotas. (Source: Forbes)
- 52% of marketing professionals say that Facebook is the number one social media platform to market and grow their business. LinkedIn is the runner up with 21%. (Source: V3B Blog)
- A massive 96% of small businesses use social media marketing and 92% of those “strongly agree” with this phrase, “Social media marketing is important for my business.” (Source: Social Media Examiner)
- The top goals of social media marketing are brand awareness at 74%, web traffic at 53% and generating leads at 41%. (Source: Simply Measured)
- 61% of startup businesses employ social media platforms for their marketing practices. (Source: TNW News)
- More than half (57%) of consumers are influenced by comments or feedback found online through social media. (Source: Direct Marketing)
Social media platforms have been embraced by our online society and are here to stay. Businesses worldwide have discovered the benefits and capabilities of customer interaction made available causing them to embrace social media, incorporating it into their day-to-day operations. Social media marketing has become one of the most important marketing channels your business can utilize and is second only to television marketing. If your business hasn’t gotten involved in social media marketing then now is the time.
