50 Stats That Should Guide Your Social Media Marketing Strategy in 2018

Originally Published on Holbi.co.uk

In the past year, social media has become the essential part of forming strategies for digital marketing. Using social media, it becomes easier to gather lots of useful information on users and you can sell your products using several different platforms. It also allows you to build your brand making it popular and visible to many users around the world. In essence, you can reach a great number of customers at a low cost.

Your future customers are already on social media, waiting to stumble upon your content and follow you. Find the best platform for your needs and you will definitely be noticed by new different users.

The world of social media is always changing. Be sure to keep up with the numbers.

Here is a list of 50 stats that can help you build your marketing strategy in the year to come.

1. Posts that have visual content are 40 times more likely to get noticed and shared than any other types of posts.

Boost your social media attention by adding images to your posts. Use some engaging images and get more shares and more views. Visual content is something that will always get more attention.

2. Posts that have tags with another user (56%) or a tagged location (79%) have remarkably higher sharing and participating rates.

When adding your next post, be sure to add some tags of people and places. Show your readers where are you and with whom. Let your followers know that you are on the move and that some interesting people are part of your everyday life.

3. It usually takes about 10 hours for a brand to get back to a customer when communicating online.

Try to keep your response time under 4 hours. Your followers and users will appreciate it. In this fast world we live in, everybody wants to get everything done in no time. Efficiency is a great way to show your fans that you take your brand and your customers very seriously.

4. About 89% of messages sent to brands via social media are being ignored.

This is something you should avoid. Your customers will stay loyal if you engage with them. Your presence on social media is all about communicating with your followers. Every customer should get your attention, don’t let them down by not answering their messages.

5. 91% of marketers that spend about 6 hours a week on social media said that this has increased their social media success.

By spending as little as 6 hours a week on your social media presence you can make more sales and get noticed by more new users. The more time you invest, the more success you will get. But, in the world of social media, even a little time can come back as a lot of new fans.

6. Posts that ask questions bring 100% more comments.

Your goal is to get more engagement from your followers. Try to post content that poses some interesting questions. These can be related to your brand or some general questions.

7. When making a purchase, 46% of users turn to social media for feedback.

Social media is the best way to see feedback and reviews from other customers before you decide to purchase from a specific brand. Having a team that is dedicated to social media is very important. They will make sure to answer questions from users and handle customer service problems.

8. Social media is used by 72% of marketers to establish more loyal customers.

Being on social media is the perfect way to create relationships with your fans. Brand loyalty is incredibly valuable and that is something to aim for. And interacting with people that follow you will for sure help you get customers that will stay loyal.

9. 78% of Twitter users that post a complaint to a brand expect a response within an hour.

Monitor your social media everyday. Customer service that responds in a timely manner is very important to keep users happy.

10. Out of all internet users, 72% are active on social media right now.

Your customers are online on social media right now, and you should also be there connecting with them.

11. People under 35 make 90% of Instagram users.

Instagram is the social media to go to when targeting Millennials. Teenagers believe that Instagram in the most important social media platform. Out of all internet users, 38% of women use Instagram, and 26% of men use it.

12. 71% of customers that have a good social media experience with a brand are going to suggest it to others.

Social media is a great way to engage with customers and setting up a good customer service will bring more new consumers. Providing a great social media experience is always a good thing to be known for.

13. Instagram has 58% more interaction per user than Facebook, and 68% of Instagram users interact with brands more frequently.

The Instagram trend is only going to expand. More and more companies are starting to use Instagram as a big part of their internet presence and for social media marketing strategy.

14. Optimal days and time for Facebook posts are Wednesday 3 PM, Saturday and Sunday 12-1 PM and Thursday and Friday 1-4 PM.

To cover all of the popular posting time, try using some tools that allow you to schedule your posts. Most of those tools are free and easy to use.

15. About 64% of marketers use social media for 6 or more hours per week, 41% use it for 11 hours every week.

There are those that spend more time on social media. 20% of marketers spend more that 20 hours every week dedicated to social media activities.

16. 54% of marketers use Instagram, 63% are planning to enlarge their Instargam presence.

70% of marketers want to learn more about how to use this social media platform. Instagram is a powerful platform when it comes to social media marketing. If it isn’t a part of your strategy, you should definitely rethink it.

17. About 61% of marketers are planning to start with live video services like Facebook Live and Periscope.

And there are 69% that want to learn more about how to use and benefit from live video. The live video is just a new trend that you would need to follow to get the most of social media marketing.

18. The number of users between 45 and 54 years old is the fastest growing population on Facebook.

For Facebook, this group increased by 46.

Social media is definitely not just for teenagers anymore. Age makes a difference when it comes to our interests and taste, so keep in mind older users too. Don’t force your content only on younger followers, you could be losing some of the older audience.

19. About 30% of Millenials communicate with brands at least once per month.

If this is your target group, regular posts and updates can get the attention of your young followers. Millenials like fun and visual content, try adding a little humour to your posts and your fans will just love it.

20. 67% of luxury brands in retail are active on Instagram.

On Instagram is all about photos, and this is great for luxury brands because they can show off their products and help their customers visualize that they already own some of their products.

21. On average, every Twitter user follows 5 or more brands.

Twitter users have always been known to be more loyal to brands than Facebook users. Use that in your advance, and engage with your Twitter fans more.

22. People between 18 and 34 years old are more likely to follow a brand on social media.

See what would be the best social media platform for your customers to follow your brand. Every platform has its perks and your new customers are definitely out there.

23. 97% of users between 16 and 64 years old say that they logged into at least one social network in the past month.

There are about 3.7 billion people using the internet and if you target it well, your content will definitely seen by some of them.

24. More than 3 million businesses are advertising on Facebook.

Attract more customers with your ads and make use of the huge reach that Facebook offers.

25. There is a 89% better engagement rate on posts with pictures on LinkedIn, and 200% more engagement on posts that have links.

LinkedIn should definitely be a part of your startegy purely based on the amount of people on the network that have a large budget to play with.

26. 62% of marketers are on Facebook.

Facebook holds the highest spot when it comes to social media marketing. New statistics show that might not be for very long.

27. 93% of marketers use Facebook ads regularly and 64% are planning to expand their ads actions.

Facebook ads have brought lots of success, so this is definitely a thing to consider.

28. 80% of marketers have shown that their social media strive has increased their audience.

29. On Facebook posts usually contain photos (75%) and links (10%)

Photos are most used in posts and they also get most of attention and also more shares. Try a photo editor to make your pictures more unique and eye-catching.

30. People follow brands on social media for five reasons: customer service, product information, discounts, promotions and for some fun content.

31. 83.8% of luxury brands have profiles on Pinterest.

A great way to incorporate your products into some boards on Pinterest. Pinterest users make boards on dream homes, vacations, dream closets and on everything from their wish list. This way they can use some of your pictures for their posts.

32. eBay is the most interacting brand on Twitter.

Learn from the best in order to see what will work best for you.

33. Two new members join LinkedIn every two seconds.

LinkedIn is a platform worth paying attention to. You can connect with other professionals from your industry and a good way to focus on new customers.

34. Social media is used for business by 93% of marketers.

It has become very common and very essential to include social media in marketing strategy and in the overall marketing budget. Be sure to find the best best social media management tool that will fit your needs.

35. Instagram has the highest per-follower interaction rate, wich is 4.21%. That is 58 times more than on Facebook and 120 times more than on Twitter.

Instagram is a very powerful social media platform for marketing and it is just growing more and more.

36. Facebook has about 8 billion video views on a daily basis from 500 million users.

Include some videos in your Facebook posts and those will definitely be noticed.

37. On average, every Twitter user has 707 followers.

Put some interesting content in your tweets to get more shares and more audience. Some fun pictures and interesting questions are always got to incorporate in your tweets and you will for sure get a good feedback from your fans.

38. 1 billion hours are spent every day by people watching YouTube videos.

If YouTube wasn’t part of your social media marketing strategy, you should definitely consider it now.

39. More that 50% of YouTube views come from mobile devices. 40 minutes is the length of an average mobile device viewing session.

With more and more users use their phones all the time, brands have the possibility to reach them on the go.

40. After Instagram launched videos, more than 5 million were uploaded in 24 hours.

Instagram videos are something you sould not take for granted. That is a great way to get more shares from your followers. It is a great way to tell a little story about your brand in a short video.

41. 200 million users are actively using Pinterest every month. 67% of those users are under 40.

Pinterest is a great way to target younger population. Try incorporating your content into a good picture so that your follower can include it in their board and share it on.

42. The best time for Pinning is Saturday from 8- 11 PM.

Pinterest also has it’s prime time for pinning. When planning your Pinterest content, also try some tools for scheduling your pins.

43. Social media is the number one activity on the internet.

Social media is here to stay. More and more platforms are created and social reach continues to grow. If you were not putting your 100% into your social media marketing strategy, this stat should definitely make you rethink that.

44. YouTube has more users between 18 and 34 than any cable network.

It is time to consider putting YouTube in your strategy. Start with simple and short videos about your company.

45. 95% of people between 18 and 34 years old are most likely to follow a brand page on their social media.

See where could you find most of your customers. Do a bit of research about your targeted audience and what social media platforms they are using.

46. About 189 million of Facebook users access it only from their mobile device.

There are surely more users that are mobile-only. See how your content looks when viewed on a mobile device and on a small screen before you post it.

47. Over the year, Snapchat’s Daily Video Views have expanded about 400%.

Snapchat ads are viewed more that 1 million times a day and this means that there are more opportunities to stand out on this social media platform. Snapchat now has more video views than Facebook.

48. 67% of Twitter users would buy from the brands they are following on Twitter.

This is why you should be present on Twitter and interact with your followers. Fans will always appreciate the effort you put into your social media appearance.

49. 66% of marketers have a team that is dedicated only to their social media marketing.

Managing social media can be a lot of work when done right. More and more brands have their own team for managing social media marketing strategies or they hire an agency to do that for them.

50. 1.65 billion social accounts are active globally and every day that number rises by 1 million.

Mobile ads are not expensive and are very easy to make. These numbers are telling you that you need to optimize your mobile social media strategy right now. Now what are you waiting for? #GetCracking.