86 Stunning Facts and Statistics on Social Media Marketing

Most of us use social media in our free time. This may involve chatting with friends, staying up-to-date with news, or enjoying escapism. You might use it for other things, too — engaging with up-and-coming brands, seeing what your favorite celebrity influencers are up to, or even buying products directly via a social platform.

It’s these last three actions that make social media marketing so valuable to businesses around the world. There is a huge potential audience and a huge scope to grow and thrive in the online marketplace. There are competitors, but the right approach to digital marketing can give your business a real advantage.

With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of 86 stunning facts and statistics on social media marketing. Take a look, get inspired, and use this information to craft your strategy for 2023 and beyond.

General social media statistics

The social media phenomenon took off hugely around a decade ago, and ever since then, it has shown almost no sign of slowing down. People from all walks of life and ages use social platforms to connect with friends and stay on top of the latest trends and news stories.

Even more important for your organization, they buy products and engage with businesses. But what exactly does the landscape look like in 2023?

We’re taking a more general approach to kick off this list of 86 stunning facts and statistics on social media marketing. Let’s learn more about how people are using social media this year and the vast potential of this area of digital marketing by looking at these stats:

• 4.89 billion people use social media worldwide, translating to around 60% of the global population. (Statista)
  
• Among those aged 13 and above, the figure rises to 75% of the world’s population actively engaged on social media. (Hootsuite)
  
• The number of social media users is still growing each year. January 2023 saw 3% year-on-year growth from January 2022. (Smart Insights)
  
• On average, social media users have seven platforms they visit regularly. The average user visits 7.2 platforms each month. (Hootsuite)
  
• Some reports say that millennial and Gen Z social media users have an average of 8.4 accounts across different platforms, up from only 4.8 in 2014. (Backlinko)
  
• Social media ad spending is expected to top US$207 billion around the world by the end of 2023. (Statista)
  
• The average internet user spends around 2 hours and 27 minutes on social media websites and apps every day. (Hootsuite)
  
• 91% of social media users utilize mobile devices to access their social channels. (Oberlo)
  
• Among social media users, almost 80% of the time spent browsing is done on mobile devices. (Adstrux)
  
• Over half (54%) of people researching products on the internet use social media in their searches. (GlobalWebIndex via True List)
  
• Videos are highly effective marketing tools, and 64% of users said they had purchased a product after watching a social media video. (Biteable via True List)
  
• Consumers believe social media is a valuable support channel, and 33% would prefer to contact brands via social media than over the phone. (OptinMonster via True List)
  
• Almost two-thirds (62%) of digital marketing professionals prioritize social listening when marketing. This means examining social media channels for brand mentions and discussions. (HubSpot via True List)
  
• Women in the 16 to 24 age bracket are the most active users of social media, spending around 3 hours and 18 minutes a day on various platforms. For men, most users are aged between 20 and 29. (G2)
  
• Every day, 200 million social media users around the globe will visit the profile of at least one business, demonstrating high levels of engagement. (G2)
  
• Almost two-thirds (63%) of customers say they expect businesses to deliver customer service directly through their social media channels. (G2)
  
• Users are highly engaged with shopping posts – 130 million users from around the world will access these posts each month. (G2)

Social media sharing

Sharing is a huge part of social media usage. We all love to send engaging pieces of content, fun and exciting updates, and even just funny memes to our friends and family. The communal aspect has always been a big part of what social media is all about. This represents a significant opportunity for marketers to gain an advantage in a crowded field.

When posts go viral, spreading all by themselves across the internet, brands gain almost free promotion. Yes, you have to create the content, but users will share this content themselves, with little further effort required from your end. This also helps to build your brand reputation by word of mouth.

A positive share acts like a recommendation, making this form of marketing extra valuable. Discover more about the current state of social media sharing:

• Video content is perhaps the most valuable to marketers, as 51% of people said they like to share this type of content more than other types. (Wyzowl)
  
• Marketers are already tapping into branded video content, and 91% of digital marketing professionals use it as part of their strategy. (Wyzowl)
  
• Over a quarter (26%) of users said their favorite content to share was a social media post or update, 13% said a blog post and 8% said a product page. This demonstrates how important a diverse content strategy can be. (Wyzowl)
  
• Three-quarters of internet users prefer to watch short-form videos on their mobile devices, making sharing easy between users. (Insider Intelligence)
  
• On average, 54% of users will view videos all the way through. (Vidyard)
  
• The global average for watching video content is 100 minutes. But in China and Sweden, the average is around 103 minutes per day. (Social Shepherd)

Paid social media ads

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads have been a big part of social media marketing since the beginning. Businesses use these ads to jump the queue, appearing at the top of the feed or within social media search results. When a user clicks on one of these ads, the business pays for the click, but they might achieve a sale and long-term customer as a result.

So, what is the current state of paid social media advertising? Explore the facts and statistics below to learn more about this area of marketing and build your strategy:

• The paid social media advertising market is expected to be worth US$137 billion by the end of 2023, after a year-on-year growth of 25%. This suggests it is now more important to marketers than paid search engine marketing, at only US$135 billion. (Zenith)
  
• Paid advertising is growing increasingly important for marketers, as 49% of shoppers say they found the right product via a paid ad rather than an organic post (40%). (Sprout Social)
  
• The average American company will devote 17% of its marketing budget to social media marketing endeavors. (Statista)
  
• Around 93% of businesses have some sort of Facebook presence, even if they are not using paid advertising tools. For those who are using paid ads, the figure drops to 86%, which is still very high! (LocaliQ)
  

Social media influencer marketing

Influencers understand what users will engage with, how to promote themselves, and how to build a brand. Moreover, consumers trust their opinions and may even make purchasing decisions. In other words, influencers are critical to your social media marketing strategy.

When you partner with the right influencer, you tap into their audience. This influencer can encourage users to buy your products and will generally expose your brand to more potential leads and customers.

The landscape of influencer marketing is evolving rapidly, so take a look at some of the trends and movements we are seeing in this area in 2023:

• TikTok is the most popular social platform for influencer marketing. Around 56% of marketers using influencer partnerships are turning to TikTok for content promotion. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
  
• Almost 50% of social media users say they rely on influencers to help them make purchases and other important buying decisions. (LocaliQ)
  
• For 17% of digital marketers, more than 50% of their marketing budget is devoted to influencer partnerships and strategies.
  
• 61% of customers say they trust their favorite influences and act on their recommendations. (Social Shepherd)
  
• American influencers have the most partnerships. Canada, the UK, and Australia are close behind. (Social Shepherd)
  
• The vast majority of influencers are women — 84% of influencers on Instagram are female. (Social Shepherd)
  
• There is a huge interest in influencer marketing, and it’s growing. Google searches for the term influencer marketing grew fourfold from 2016 to 2023. (Social Shepherd)
  
• In 2021, almost half (44%) of B2C brands said they planned to increase their influencer marketing budget, compared to only 7% who said they would scale back. (Social Shepherd)
  
• Micro-influencers are also growing in popularity, making small but valuable impressions to nudge audiences in the right direction. In 2021, 91% of influencers were micro-influencers. (Social Shepherd)
  
• Influencer marketing really does make a difference, providing a return on investment ratio of $5.2 for every $1 spent. (Social Shepherd)
  
• Over half (51%) of digital marketers say that influencer marketing has helped them bring in higher-value customers. (Social Shepherd)
  
• 80% of customers say they have purchased a product specifically because it was recommended by an influencer they trust. (Social Shepherd)

Platform-specific social media marketing statistics

With so many different social media platforms out there, digital marketers find themselves at a crossroads. Is a diverse strategy best, targeting various platforms and channels? Or is it better to identify key marketing targets and focus on these channels?

A comprehensive strategy is generally best, but you still need to narrow your approach and decide which platforms are the most important to you.

In this section, we’re looking at some platform-specific statistics, including the top platforms among today’s users, as well as facts and figures related to individual platforms themselves.

Top platforms

• Facebook is still the most used social media platform around the world. Video platform YouTube is in second place, while messaging tool WhatsApp and another Meta property, Instagram, are tied in third place. (Smart Insights)
  
• Popular Chinese platforms like WeChat and TikTok are in fourth and fifth place, respectively, but boast less than half of the global active user figures of Facebook. (Smart Insights)
  
• However, this might not tell the whole story, as TikTok is perhaps the most frequently used platform around the world. Users spend around 23.5 hours a month on the platform, almost an entire day. (Data Reportal)

Instagram

• Instagram is one of the most common social media channels leveraged by digital marketers, and more than 200 million business accounts exist on the platform. (Omnicore Agency)
  
• Instagram is still the most popular platform for Gen Z users and for younger people in general. The highest proportion of Instagram users are in the 25 to 34 demographic. (Hootsuite)
  
• Around 70% of online shoppers find the products they want to purchase via Instagram (Instagram via Omnicore Agency)
  
• Businesses in the home, interior, and automobile sectors are the most followed on Instagram. The home and auto category has 120,000 followers alone. (Mention via Omnicore Agency)
  
• Around 33% of the most viewed Instagram stories come directly from business accounts. (Embed Social)
  
• Roughly a quarter of all Instagram-sponsored posts are related to the fashion industry — another important sector on the platform. (Oberlo)
  
• Instagram engagement is higher among businesses with smaller audiences. Accounts with less than 10,000 followers achieve an average engagement rate of 1.11%. (Mention via Omnicore Agency)
  
• In comparison, Instagram business accounts with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers achieve an average engagement rate of 0.93%. (Mention via Omnicore Agency)

Twitter, or X

• After the controversial rebrand to X, Twitter is growing — there are 528.3 million active users defined as monetizable by the platform in 2023. This is projected to reach 652.23 million in five years’ time. (Demand Sage)
  
• Twitter users (X) posted a total revenue of $4.4 billion in 2022. (Demand Sage)
  
• The largest demographic of Twitter (X) users is American (95.4 million). 38.5% are aged 25 to 34, and 56.4% are male. (Demand Sage)
  
• Owner Elon Musk is the most followed person on Twitter (X) in 2023, with 156.8 million followers. (Demand Sage)

Facebook

• 81% of Facebook users only use the mobile version of the platform, never logging in on a computer or other device. (G2)
  
• 16% of currently published Facebook profiles are duplicate profiles or fake. (G2)
  
• On an average day, 1.93 billion people around the world will log into Facebook. (G2)
  
• Facebook records a “like” 4 million times every minute on average. (G2)
  
• Facebook is the third most visited website on the planet across all website types. (G2)
  
• The average time spent per Facebook visit is 21 minutes and 52 seconds. (G2)

TikTok

• More and more businesses are waking up to the power of TikTok. 40% said they planned to incorporate the platform into their social media strategy for 2022, accelerating its growth in the social media marketing landscape. (Browser Media)
  
• Many social media marketers are now pivoting toward TikTok, and the marketing usage of the platform is growing by 15% year on year. (HubSpot)
  
• Posting on TikTok seems to be very time-dependent. The best window for posting is 6 to 9 p.m., followed by 3 to 6 p.m. and then 12 to 3 p.m. in third place. Friday is the best day to post. (HubSpot)
  
• The TikTok platform has 1.1 billion monthly active users in 2023, and this is still growing. (Demand Sage)
  
• Increasing numbers of millennials are joining in with TikTok, shifting the dominance of the platform away from Gen Z. Most of these older users are in China. (HubSpot)
  
• Of Gen Z users, 36% said they wanted to learn about products through short-form TikTok videos; this was 22% for millennials. (HubSpot)
  
• Almost half (46%) of users are engaged in multi-screening when they use TikTok — basically using multiple devices at once. (TikTok)
  
• In the United States, around 25% of adults say they access news content on TikTok. (Pew Research Center via HubSpot)

LinkedIn

• 82% of B2B marketers say they have achieved the best social media success with LinkedIn. (Sprout Social)
  
• More than 57% of LinkedIn users are male. (Sprout Social)
  
• LinkedIn users tend to have an above-average level of household income. (Statista)
  
• In 2022, around 33% of LinkedIn users were educated to a bachelor’s level, while around 23% had a master’s degree or higher. (Statista)
  
• LinkedIn polls and listicles are the best-performing pieces of content on the platform in terms of likes, comments, and shares between users. (Sprout Social)

Snapchat

• Snapchat has proved popular among business owners. While it is not the main social media marketing channel by any means, the number of businesses using Snapchat’s local search Snap Map feature is greater than 30 million. (Backlinko)
  
• Snapchat exists outside of the influencer marketing model, and close friends are considered to be four times more influential than celebrities. (Hootsuite)
  
• Users are more likely to share their shopping experiences and favorite products on Snapchat than on any other platform. (Hootsuite)
  
• Just under a quarter (23.2%) of users specifically use Snapchat to research potential product purchases. (Hootsuite)
  
• 90% of Snapchat users say that they feel good and positive when they use the platform and view Snapchat stories. (Hootsuite)
  
• Snapchat advertising provides real scope to businesses, with a potential global reach of almost 576 million. This is 11.4% of the world’s total internet user population. (Hootsuite)

YouTube

• 70% of YouTube users said that seeing a company on the platform influenced them to make a purchase. (Google)
  
• Targeting ads by viewer intent is shown to be very effective, doubling the number of sales resulting from the video. (Social Shepherd)
  
• 29% of marketers, the highest proportion, said that the skippable ads that appear before a YouTube video presented the prime advertising real estate on the platform. (Social Shepherd)
  
• Only Google is a bigger search engine than YouTube. (Social Shepherd)
  
• More than half (55%) of marketers are using YouTube. (Social Media Examiner via Social Shepherd)
  
• Both short-form and long-form content are popular on the platform, but the most popular videos, on average, are 10 minutes long. This does vary according to topic and sector, however. (Social Shepherd)
  
• YouTube performed very well during the pandemic, as consumers elected to take up new hobbies and learn new skills. Beginner and how-to videos experienced a 50% increase in popularity over this period. (Social Shepherd)

Social media marketing is just as important as ever

Social media marketing might be nothing new, but it’s certainly not going out of fashion. Instead, you have an increasingly diverse and engaged landscape to work with, with new platforms, new user behaviors, and a wealth of new tactics.
It’s an exciting time to be a social media marketer. Hopefully, the above statistics have pushed those excitement levels even further and given you some ideas you can use as you plan the next steps of your strategy.