Social media continues its steady market penetration, making it indispensable to anyone who wants to sell a product or service. According to a recent survey, more than 95 percent of world’s working-age internet users use social networks and messaging services each month.

In addition:

  • Nearly 57 percent of the world’s population—or 4.48 billion people—use social media.
  • That number increased by more than a half-billion users in just the last year.
  • Nearly 49 percent of people use social media to look for brands to make a purchase.
  • Once they’ve found a brand they like, 57 percent will follow it to learn about new products or services.
  • Another 47 percent will follow a brand to stay up to date on the company’s news.

This is good to know if you’ve been spending much of your marketing efforts on social media. But which sites are the most popular? Here’s the latest social media marketing research.

Top platforms

According to the Pew Research Center, YouTube is tops, with 81 percent of adults reporting they regularly use the site.

Facebook follows, with 69 percent of adults as regular users.

Here are the rest, with the percentage of adults visiting each site:

  • Instagram: 40 percent
  • Pinterest: 31 percent
  • LinkedIn: 28 percent
  • Snapchat: 25 percent
  • Twitter: 23 percent
  • WhatsApp: 23 percent
  • TikTok: 21 percent
  • Reddit: 18 percent
  • Nextdoor: 13 percent

Frequency matters

Of the regular users of these sites, a majority of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram users report they visit these platforms on a daily basis.

Pew Research reports:

  • 49 percent of Facebook users visit several times a day; 22 percent visit about once a day.
  • 45 percent of Snapchat users visit several times a day; 14 percent visit about once a day.
  • 38 percent of Instagram users visit several times a day; 21 percent visit about once a day.
  • 30 percent of Twitter users visit several times a day; 16 percent visit about once a day.

How to lose followers

There’s a warning, however, for companies, stores, or brands whose social media practices may end up driving fans away:

  • 49 percent of customers will unfollow a brand on social media if they believe they’ve received a poor-quality product.
  • 49 percent will quit due to poor customer service.
  • 45 percent will unfollow a brand if they perceive the social media site is offering irrelevant content.
  • 45 percent will be driven away by too many ads.

It’s all about your goals

This new social media marketing research can help you better sharpen your social media marketing strategy, as long as you know what you’re trying to accomplish on the various platforms.

If you want your social media marketing to be effective, you must know before investing time and money what you want to your business to achieve.

Therefore, you should know which of the following typical goals your campaign is aiming to accomplish:

  • building brand awareness
  • managing your brand’s reputation
  • increasing engagement
  • driving more traffic to your website
  • increasing conversions/sales
  • gaining customer or market insights
  • identifying and nurturing leads
  • delivering customer service and support
  • identifying crises and managing communications

Once you have specific goals in place, you’ll have a better idea of which platforms can help you reach them.

Targeting your audience

While it’s useful to have top-level research, it’s also important to understand the demographics of your particular customers to help you decide which social media sites will best suit your business.

For example, Pew reports that 84 percent of all adults ages 18 to 29 say they use social media regularly; that number begins to drop a bit, to 81 percent in the 30-49 age category. It’s even lower (73 percent) with those ages 50-64, and lower still (45 percent) among those ages 65 and older.

Further, most of the younger age groups spend most of their social media time on Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and TikTok, while older age groups tend to shy away from these sites. For instance, just two percent of those over 65 say they use Snapchat.

Facebook, on the other hand, remains popular with all age groups, capturing 70 percent of those ages 18-29, 73 percent of users in the 50-64 bracket, and half of adults ages 65 and older.

Don’t overlook Pinterest and LinkedIn, either. Pinterest is actually a search engine for shoppers: half of Pinterest’s 320 million monthly active Pinners log on to the site to shop. And about half of LinkedIn’s regular users tend to be more highly educated, meaning they are more likely to have higher incomes.

There’s a great deal involved in conducting compelling social media marketing. You’re likely to be far more successful by working with people who know all the latest strategies, like our social media management experts. So let us help you analyze the traits of your ideal customer and devise effective social media marketing strategies tailored to your particular audience.