Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
Over 5.04 billion people use social media globally as of 2024
The average internet user spends 143 minutes per day on social media
99% of social media users access platforms via a mobile device
Short-form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy
91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool
Tweets with video get 10x more engagement than those without
Social media ad spending is projected to reach $247 billion in 2024
The average Click-Through Rate (CTR) for social media ads is 1.1%
Facebook ads reach 62.6% of all Americans aged 13+
The global influencer marketing market value is estimated at $21.1 billion in 2023
69% of consumers trust influencers more than information coming directly from a brand
82% of brand marketers intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2024
Facebook remains the most used social platform by marketers worldwide at 89%
LinkedIn generates 80% of B2B distinct social media leads
TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2022 with 672 million downloads
Ad Spend & ROI
- 1Social media ad spending is projected to reach $247 billion in 2024
- 2The average Click-Through Rate (CTR) for social media ads is 1.1%
- 3Facebook ads reach 62.6% of all Americans aged 13+
- 477% of B2B marketers use social media marketing retargeting ads
- 5The cost per thousand impressions (CPM) on social media increased by 61% year-over-year in 2022
- 626% of social media users who click on ads eventually make a purchase
- 7The average cost per click (CPC) for Instagram ads is between $0.20 and $2.00
- 8Mobile advertising accounts for 77% of digital ad spend
- 9Total social media advertising spend in the US is expected to hit $80 billion by 2025
- 10Brands lose $218 million a month to ad fraud on social apps
- 1150% of Generation Z and 42% of Millennials say social media is the most relevant advertising channel
- 12Marketing campaigns that include personalized content see a 19% uplift in sales
- 13Carousel ads on Instagram drive 10 times more traffic than single-photo ads
- 14LinkedIn ads can command a CPC more than double that of Facebook but offer higher B2B conversion quality
- 1593% of social media advertisers use Facebook Ads
- 16The ROI of influencer marketing is 11x greater than traditional forms of digital marketing
- 1728% of marketers identify measuring the ROI of social campaigns as their top challenge
- 18Advertising on TikTok creates a 14% increase in brand recall
- 19Automated social media ads save marketers an average of 6 hours per week
- 20Conversion rates for user-generated content ads are 4x higher than brand-produced content
Interpretation
Welcome to the attention economy: with social ad spend set to hit $247 billion in 2024 and mobile gulping 77% of digital budgets, marketers are battling rising CPMs, widespread ad fraud and ROI headaches, and only brands that use Facebook’s massive reach, smart retargeting and automation plus personalized content (about a 19% sales lift), user-generated ads (roughly 4x the conversions) and influencer partnerships (around an 11x ROI) will reliably turn expensive clicks into customers.
Influencer & Creator Economy
- 1The global influencer marketing market value is estimated at $21.1 billion in 2023
- 269% of consumers trust influencers more than information coming directly from a brand
- 382% of brand marketers intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2024
- 4Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) have a 60% higher engagement rate than macro-influencers
- 567% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing, making it the most popular platform for creators
- 636% of brands pay influencers with free product rather than cash
- 7The creator economy comprises more than 50 million independent content creators
- 84 out of 10 Millennial subscribers say their favorite creator understands them better than their friends
- 9Affiliate marketing is used by 80% of brands to monetize creator traffic
- 1060% of influencers believe that the quality of content is the most important factor in negotiating rates
- 11TikTok is the most popular influencer marketing channel for 56% of brands in the US
- 1272% of Gen Z and Millennials follow influencers
- 13Influencer marketing content delivers 11 times higher ROI than traditional banner ads
- 1489% of marketers say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels
- 15Only 28% of influencers are full-time content creators
- 16Fashion and Beauty are the two largest industries for influencer marketing
- 1761% of consumers are likely to trust recommendations from a friend/family member or influencer
- 1850% of consumers have taken some action after seeing an ad from an influencer
- 19Google searches for "influencer marketing" grew 400% in the UK from 2016 to 2021
- 2090% of influencer marketing surveys indicate that authenticity is the critical success factor
Interpretation
Influencer marketing has evolved into a $21.1 billion engine of trust, powered by more than 50 million creators, many part time and sometimes paid in product rather than cash, where brands favor Instagram and TikTok, lean into micro-influencers and affiliate programs, and prioritize authenticity and high quality content because it drives far higher engagement, consumer action, and ROI than traditional banner ads, which explains why budgets are surging and why consumers increasingly treat creators as the new trusted gatekeepers of culture.
Platform-Specific Data
- 1Facebook remains the most used social platform by marketers worldwide at 89%
- 2LinkedIn generates 80% of B2B distinct social media leads
- 3TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2022 with 672 million downloads
- 4Pinterest users spend 80% of their time on mobile devices
- 5Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users every day
- 6Twitter/X ads are 11% more effective at driving engagement than TV during live events
- 7YouTube Shorts gets 50 billion daily views
- 8Snapchat reaches 75% of millennials and Gen Z
- 989% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for lead generation
- 10Instagram engagement rates are roughly 4x higher than Facebook
- 11Threads reached 100 million users in just 5 days
- 1298% of Pinterest users say they try new things they find on the platform
- 13Facebook Pages with smaller followings generally have higher reach percentages than large pages
- 1440% of TikTok users do not have a Facebook account
- 15LinkedIn members have 2x the buying power of the average web audience
- 1670% of YouTube viewers bought a brand as a result of seeing it on YouTube
- 17Reddit has over 100,000 active communities (subreddits)
- 18The average reach of an organic Facebook post is down to 2.2%
- 19WhatsApp opens are 98%, making it a high-potential channel for direct marketing
- 20Twitch has an average of 31 million daily active visitors
Interpretation
Think of social media as a crowded global mall where Facebook remains the heavily trafficked entrance used by 89% of marketers, LinkedIn is the executive suite generating 80% of B2B leads and housing audiences with twice the buying power, TikTok vaulted to the front with 672 million downloads in 2022 and many users who never touch Facebook, Instagram Stories and short-form video dominate attention with 500 million daily Story users and YouTube Shorts racking up 50 billion daily views while Instagram drives roughly four times the engagement of Facebook, Pinterest and WhatsApp turn mobile discovery into action, Snapchat and Twitch own younger live audiences, Reddit offers deep niche communities, Threads showed lightning adoption, and Twitter ads beat TV at live-event engagement even as organic Facebook reach has plunged to about 2.2 percent, so the smart play is to diversify into mobile-first, short-form and intent-rich channels, prioritize engagement and conversions over vanity reach, and meet audiences where they actually act.
User Demographics & Behavior
- 1Over 5.04 billion people use social media globally as of 2024
- 2The average internet user spends 143 minutes per day on social media
- 399% of social media users access platforms via a mobile device
- 4Gen Z uses social media for brand research more than search engines
- 554% of social browsers use social media to research products
- 676% of consumers look for visual content on social media before visiting a physical store
- 7Consumers are six times more likely to make a purchase if the page includes pictures from social media
- 871% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend it to others
- 933% of consumers would rather contact a brand via social media than call customer service
- 10Internet users have an average of 6.6 social media accounts
- 11Women are more likely to use Instagram than men, with 56.5% of users identifying as female
- 1284% of US adults aged 18 to 29 use social media sites
- 13Roughly seven-in-ten Americans say they ever use social media
- 1444% of internet users obtain brand information from social networks
- 1520% of Gen Z spend more than 5 hours per day on TikTok
- 1649% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations on social media
- 1791% of people believe social media has the power to connect people
- 1896% of users who discuss a brand online do not follow the brand’s owned profile
- 1968% of consumers agree that social media enables them to interact with brands and companies
- 20Only 2.6% of users are unique to a single social platform
Interpretation
With more than 5 billion people spending roughly 143 minutes a day mostly on mobile, social media has quietly become the world's visual storefront, research engine, and customer service desk, powered by Gen Z habits and influencer photos that make shoppers six times more likely to buy, yet brands still struggle to win follows while users juggle an average of 6.6 accounts and only 2.6% stick to a single platform.
Video & Content Trends
- 1Short-form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy
- 291% of businesses use video as a marketing tool
- 3Tweets with video get 10x more engagement than those without
- 485% of Facebook videos are watched without sound
- 5Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text
- 6Vertical video has a 90% higher completion rate compared to horizontal video on mobile
- 766% of consumers find short-form video to be the most engaging type of in-feed social content
- 8Live streaming usage increased by 55% among marketers in 2023
- 9User-Generated Content (UGC) is 35% more memorable than other media
- 10Instagram Reels get 67% more engagement than standard Instagram videos
- 11Interactive content generates 2x more conversions than passive content
- 1280% of marketers say video has directly helped increase sales
- 13Posts with emojis get 57% more likes and 33% more comments and shares
- 14Captions on videos increase view time by 12%
- 15Infographics are liked and shared on social media 3x more than any other type of content
- 1673% of marketers prefer to create live events using video
- 1758% of users are more interested in a brand after seeing it in Stories
- 18Long-form content generates 9x more leads than short-form content
- 1940% of consumers said they have purchased a product after discovering it on YouTube
- 20Social media posts with images produce 650% higher engagement than text-only posts
Interpretation
Cut through the noise by making short vertical captioned videos and interactive user generated live content for feeds and Stories, because people often watch silently yet retain far more from video than text, Reels and video tweets spark massive engagement, images and infographics multiply shares, emojis boost likes and comments, interactive pieces double conversions, and while short form delivers the highest ROI and immediate engagement, long form still generates far more leads and YouTube often seals the sale.
