Social Media Facts & Statsintelligence.communicatieonline.nl/.../15_Social_Media_Facts_Stats_… · We all know social moves fast and changes every day. Here are the latest facts

Social Media Facts & StatsFuel your Smart Social Strategy with the latest industry insights.

We all know social moves fast and changes every day. Here are the latest facts and stats to help you stay informed without slowing down. In a nutshell, more people are more social than ever—and we’ve got the data to prove it. The leading platforms are still going strong, even as new channels and formats are expanding our concept of what it means to be social. And there are some significant overarching themes that marketers in any industry might consider.

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More people are more social than ever.

More than half of online adults use more than one social channel. 52 percent of online adults used two or more social media sites in 2014, a 10 percent increase over 2013.1 By harnessing this trend, social marketers can create interesting campaign synergies across channels and audiences.

While Pinterest is still dominated by women, significantly more men are now using the platform. In 2014, 13 percent of online men were on Pinterest, showing a statistically meaningful increase year over year.2 By pinning content that’s relevant to men, social teams can jump on this emerging trend and draw more users to their Pinterest boards.

Instagram use grew impressively across almost every demographic. In 2014, the platform saw a nearly 10 percent increase among all online adults, with growth across almost every demographic group. Among online adults aged 18-29, more than half were on Instagram.3 Moving forward, Instagram is likely to be a vital part of any well-balanced social strategy.

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1. Multiple authors, Social Media Update 2014, Pew Research Center, January 9, 20152. Ibid.3. Ibid.

The big players are still getting bigger.

Facebook is still hugely popular, and user engagement levels continue to increase. Last year, 70 percent of Facebook users engaged daily, including 45 percent who did so several times a day. That’s a significant increase from 2013.4

More than 500 million Tweets are sent each day.5

With 288 million monthly active users,6 Twitter is frequently where the hottest social action is—particularly for real-time marketing.

Google+ accounts recently topped 2.25 billion.7

Recently renamed Google Streams, Google’s social platform offers active brands unique SEO benefits and platform-specific tools like Ripples and Circles. Big brands were already on Google+, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the evolving opportunities for your social campaigns.

LinkedIn continues to climb among degreed professionals.

Half of all Internet users with college degrees used LinkedIn last year—a 12-point increase year over year.8 This underscores LinkedIn’s position as the social network for existing professionals as well as up-and-comers.

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4. Multiple authors, Social Media Update 2014, Pew Research Center, January 9, 2015.5. Twitter.com6. Ibid.7. Greg Miernicki, François Beaufort, Google+ Growth, plus.miernicki.com, February 4, 20158. Multiple authors, Social Media Update 2014, Pew Research Center, January 9, 2015

Tumblr’s active user base grew a whopping 95 percent last year.10

The platform showed the second-highest rise in active users, second only to Pinterest. If Tumblr hasn’t been part of your social strategy, now may be the time to reconsider. Because Tumblr is so focused on storytelling and creative expression, marketers could embrace user-generated content and gear their own posts to be “re-blogged” as much as possible.

Snapchat is solidifying its popularity, especially among millennials.

As of January 2015, the photo messaging channel had 105 million users worldwide, a figure growing by 10 million per month.9 This year may well be the tipping point for Snapchat, so marketers could explore tailoring their content for this informal, time-limited, and highly personal platform.

Emerging channels expand our concept of social.

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9. Snapchat Company Statistics, Statistic Brain Research Institute, The University of Washington, January 7, 201510. GWI Social Q4 2014, Global Web Index, January 21, 2015

The impact of consumer context.

Social media activity is increasingly mobile.

Out of the top 15 smartphone apps, five were social media apps.11 With app usage continuing to soar, social marketers might shift their thinking about where and how more social engagement is taking place. What’s more, mobile devices account for half of all YouTube views.12 Increasingly, the most effective content will be optimized for a mobile platform and the smallest screen—the phone.

11. Comscore Mobile Metrix®, November 201412. YouTube statistics, reported as of April 6, 201513. The U.S. Digital Consumer Report, Nielsen.com, February 10, 2014

10.Media and entertainment are now two-screen experiences.

Whether they’re looking up character information, chatting with their friends about the awards show, or researching advertised products, 84 percent of smartphone/tablet owners use their devices as second screens during TV shows.13 By integrating social content into compelling second-screen experiences, media properties can generate new revenue via sponsorships. And by sponsoring these experiences, brands can create a relevant way to be part of the social buzz around the show.

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New social imperatives for brands and media.

Real–time marketing has big–time brand adoption. More than 3x as many major brands adopted real-time marketing (RTM) in 2014. Compared with 2013, RTM adoption for brands listed in the Interbrand 100 grew by more than 260 percent.16 More brands are learning how to best capitalize on trends, breaking news events, and other moment-by-moment social conversations.

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14. The 2014 State Of Enterprise Social Marketing Report, Spredfast & Forrester, 201415. Omer Minkara, Social Customer Care: Steps to Success in 2014, Aberdeen.com, August, 201416. Chris Kerns, Trendology

More companies integrate social content into their owned sites.

In fact, nearly 61 percent of companies pull relevant social content into their websites.14 Social curation and integration has become more popular as brands and media properties look to capture conversations that matter, draw more eyes to their owned sites, and leverage positive word of mouth.

Social care has become a “must,” not just a “should.”

Nearly 60 percent of contact centers had adopted social care in 2014—a 4x increase since 2010.15 Consumer-facing businesses have shifted their strategies around the deluge of customer-service-related social messages. They’re discovering that great social care has tremendous power to drive loyalty as well as revenue.

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