Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
52% of social media marketers list quantifying the ROI of their efforts as a top challenge
80% of B2B business leaders believe social media has a positive impact on the company's bottom line and is a valuable marketing channel
Marketers who use social media data to inform their strategy are 15% more likely to say they can demonstrate the impact of their social efforts on the business
Short-form video offers the highest ROI of any social media marketing trend according to 30% of social media marketers
87% of video marketers say video has increased dwell time on their website, indirectly boosting social discovery ROI
Social media posts with video have 48% more views than those without
Businesses earn an average of $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing
89% of marketers say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels
Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) boast a 60% higher engagement rate than macro-influencers, offering better ROI efficiency
LinkedIn generates 3x more conversions than Twitter and Facebook for B2B lead generation
40% of B2B marketers utilize LinkedIn as their primary channel for high-quality leads
TikTok has the highest engagement rate per post of any social media network at 4.25%
76% of consumers have purchased a product they saw in a brand’s social media post
Social commerce sales in the US are expected to reach $79.6 billion by 2025
54% of social browsers use social media to research products
Consumer Behavior & Sales
- 176% of consumers have purchased a product they saw in a brand’s social media post
- 2Social commerce sales in the US are expected to reach $79.6 billion by 2025
- 354% of social browsers use social media to research products
- 471% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family
- 549% of consumers rely on influencer recommendations on social media to verify a product before purchasing
- 6Resolving a customer issue on social media costs 1/6th as much as a call center interaction
- 790% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support via social media
- 840% of Gen Z consumers use TikTok and Instagram for search instead of Google
- 981% of consumers say social media posts from their friends directly influence their purchasing decisions
- 10Customers spend 20% to 40% more with companies that engage effectively on social media
- 11Sales for brands promoting on social media channels are 32% higher compared to those that do not
- 1244% of internet users would rather contact a brand via social media than call a phone number
- 1387% of eCommerce shoppers believe social media helps them make a shopping decision
- 141 in 3 consumers use social media to discover new products and brands
- 15Brand awareness is the top goal for 70% of marketers when running social media campaigns to influence consumer behavior
- 1659% of consumers are likely to buy from a brand they prefer and follow on social channels
- 1760% of Gen Z shoppers have made a purchase on a social media platform using a "Buy Now" button
- 18Responding to a complaint in social media can increase customer advocacy by as much as 25%
- 1963% of customers expect companies to offer customer service via their social media channels
- 20Social media referral traffic to ecommerce sites grew 110% in two years
Interpretation
Treat social media as optional and you're ignoring a modern storefront, search engine, and customer service center that, when met with authenticity, responsiveness, and engagement, cuts support costs, boosts sales and referrals, converts browsers into buyers, turns friends and influencers into trusted validators, and lets Gen Z discover, research, and purchase without leaving the app.
Influencer & Creator Economy
- 1Businesses earn an average of $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing
- 289% of marketers say ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels
- 3Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) boast a 60% higher engagement rate than macro-influencers, offering better ROI efficiency
- 461% of consumers trust influencer recommendations, compared to 38% who trust brand-produced content
- 572% of marketers use Instagram for influencer campaigns, making it the highest ROI platform for creator partnerships
- 6Influencer marketing content delivers 11x higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing like banner ads
- 767% of brands use TikTok for influencer marketing due to its high viral potential and low CPM
- 882% of marketers have a dedicated budget for influencer marketing in 2024
- 936% of brands pay influencers with free products rather than cash, which can maximize ROI for product-based businesses
- 10Nano-influencers (under 10k followers) yield the highest engagement rates on Instagram at roughly 4%
- 1151% of marketers say influencer marketing helps them acquire better customers who have higher lifetime value
- 12The influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately $21.1 Billion in 2024
- 1360% of marketers shared that influencer-generated content performs better and drives more engagement than brand-created posts
- 14User-Generated Content (UGC) campaigns involving creators result in 29% higher web conversions than campaigns without it
- 15Affiliate marketing via influencers accounts for 16% of all global eCommerce sales
- 1671% of marketers plan to increase their budget for influencer marketing over the next 12 months
- 1740% of survey respondents said they purchased a product online after seeing it used by an influencer on YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram
- 1877% of fashion micro-influencers prefer Instagram offering high ROI for fashion brands targeting visual buyers
- 19Collaboration automation tools have reduced influencer campaign management time by 50% improving operational ROI
- 2050% of Millennials trust product recommendations from influencers, compared to 38% for celebrities
Interpretation
Influencer marketing has moved from experiment to engine, delivering about $5.20 for every dollar spent and roughly eleven times the ROI of banner ads, earning higher trust and engagement—especially from micro and nano creators on Instagram and TikTok—and backed by growing budgets, UGC-driven conversions, affiliate sales and automation that halves campaign time, which explains why brands are pouring more money into a channel set to top $21.1 billion in 2024.
Platform-Specific Metrics
- 1LinkedIn generates 3x more conversions than Twitter and Facebook for B2B lead generation
- 240% of B2B marketers utilize LinkedIn as their primary channel for high-quality leads
- 3TikTok has the highest engagement rate per post of any social media network at 4.25%
- 4Facebook Ads reach 62.2% of all social media users, effectively identifying it as a volume-ROI driver
- 5Pinterest yields a $4.30 return for every $1 spent on ads, higher than many other social platforms for retail
- 670% of shopping enthusiasts turn to Instagram for product discovery
- 7YouTube mobile ads are 84% more likely to hold attention than TV ads
- 8Twitter adds result in a 40% higher ROI than other media channels for media and entertainment brands
- 9Adding a call to action button on Facebook ads boosts the click-through rate by 2.85 times
- 10SnapChat ads catch 2x more visual attention than comparable platforms like Facebook or Instagram
- 11The average cost per click (CPC) on Facebook is $0.97 across all industries
- 12LinkedIn is responsible for 80% of B2B leads generated from social media
- 1393% of marketers use Facebook Advertising regularly, making it the most saturated but proven ROI platform
- 14Instagram’s potential advertising reach is roughly 1.48 billion users
- 1555% of users say they use Twitter to get news, making it effective for PR-related ROI
- 16TikTok users spend an average of 95 minutes per day on the app, providing maximum ad exposure time
- 1790% of Pinterest users say the platform helps them decide what to purchase
- 18The average organic reach for a Facebook Page post is now only 5.2%, pushing marketers toward paid options to maintain ROI
- 19Threads reached 100 million users in 5 days, presenting a new untested frontier for organic reach ROI
- 20WhatsApp marketing messages have an open rate of 98%, far surpassing email open rates
Interpretation
Think of social platforms as specialty tools: LinkedIn is the B2B workhorse, generating three times the conversions of Twitter and Facebook, producing roughly 80% of social B2B leads and serving as the primary channel for 40% of B2B marketers; Facebook is the volume engine, reaching 62.2% of users and used by 93% of marketers despite organic reach collapsing to 5.2% and a $0.97 average CPC, while adding a call to action can nearly triple click-through rates; TikTok and Snapchat command attention and time, with TikTok delivering 4.25% engagement per post and 95 minutes of daily use and Snapchat catching twice the visual attention versus peers; Pinterest and Instagram drive purchase intent and discovery, with Pinterest returning $4.30 per ad dollar and 90% of users saying it helps decide purchases and 70% of shoppers turning to Instagram for discovery; YouTube mobile ads hold attention 84% better than TV, Twitter is a news and PR hub with 55% of users seeking news and generating 40% higher ROI for media brands, Threads is a rapid new organic experiment after reaching 100 million users in five days, and WhatsApp marketing boasts a staggering 98% open rate, so pick channels based on whether you need targeting, reach, attention, or purchase intent.
ROI Measurement & Strategy
- 152% of social media marketers list quantifying the ROI of their efforts as a top challenge
- 280% of B2B business leaders believe social media has a positive impact on the company's bottom line and is a valuable marketing channel
- 3Marketers who use social media data to inform their strategy are 15% more likely to say they can demonstrate the impact of their social efforts on the business
- 431% of marketers state that their biggest challenge is the lack of resources (budget, time, people) to effectively execute social strategies
- 582% of marketers agree that social media is a core part of their digital marketing strategy for customer acquisition
- 661% of marketers say that generating leads is the top way they measure the ROI of their social media efforts
- 7Only 29% of marketing campaigns rely on attribution models to prove ROI, highlighting a gap in data proficiency
- 858% of marketers plan to increase their social media budget in the coming year to secure better ROI
- 9Social media advertising spend is projected to reach over $230 billion annually by 2024 showing high confidence in ROI
- 1091% of marketing executives anticipate that their company’s social media marketing budget will increase over the next three years
- 1144% of marketers use social listening tools to identify customer preferences and improve strategic ROI
- 12Companies with high social media maturity are 4 times more likely to report that their social media efforts definitely contribute to the bottom line
- 1335% of marketers report that proving the value of social media to stakeholders is legally verified as a significant hurdle
- 14Retargeting ads on social media are used by 77% of marketers to increase ROI by reaching users who have already interacted with the brand
- 1566% of marketers report that social media listening has become critical for their competitive analysis and strategic planning
- 1628% of marketers say their brand uses social media primarily to improve customer retention which increases lifetime value ROI
- 1785% of marketers say that integrating social data with other marketing tools is critical for proving ROI
- 18Brands that respond to customers on social media see a 20% increase in average spend per customer
- 19The average ROI for social media marketing campaigns is estimated to be $2.80 for every $1 spent according to varied industry aggregates
- 20A lack of clear social media goals is cited by 43% of marketers as the primary reason for failing to achieve ROI
Interpretation
Social media is a powerful engine most companies own but few know how to tune, with executives ramping budgets and expecting bottom-line impact while many marketers still struggle to prove ROI because of weak attribution, scarce resources, and unclear goals, and yet those who leverage social data, listening, integration, retargeting, and timely responses consistently report stronger results, roughly $2.80 back for every dollar and higher customer spend.
Video & Content Performance
- 1Short-form video offers the highest ROI of any social media marketing trend according to 30% of social media marketers
- 287% of video marketers say video has increased dwell time on their website, indirectly boosting social discovery ROI
- 3Social media posts with video have 48% more views than those without
- 491% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, an all-time high indicating strong perceived ROI
- 5Vertical video (like Reels and TikToks) has a 90% higher completion rate than horizontal video on social platforms
- 654% of marketers say that video is the most valuable content type for achieving social media goals
- 7Live streaming on social media generates 3x more engagement than pre-recorded video, improving organic ROI
- 892% of marketers who use video say it forms an important part of their marketing strategy due to high returns
- 9Tweets with video see 10x more engagement than those without
- 10User-generated video content is viewed 10 times more than official brand content, offering high engagement for low production cost
- 1196% of marketers have placed ad spend on video and 91% say they are happy with the ROI of video marketing on social media
- 1273% of consumers prefer to watch a short-form video to learn about a product or service, speeding up the conversion cycle
- 13Instagram Reels offer a 67% higher engagement rate than standard Instagram videos
- 1466% of consumers find short-form video to be the most engaging type of in-feed social content
- 15Stories ads on Instagram have a lower cost-per-click compared to feed ads, often resulting in better ROI for varied budgets
- 1680% of users can recall a video ad they viewed in the past 30 days, boosting brand awareness ROI
- 17Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text on social posts
- 18Interactive content (polls, quizzes in stories) generates 2x more conversions than passive content
- 19Captioned videos on social media have a 12% increase in view time, improving content ROI
- 2062% of people say they become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a Facebook Story
Interpretation
Short-form video is the new currency of social ROI, with short, vertical and live formats, especially user-generated, captioned and interactive clips, delivering dramatically higher views, completion rates, dwell time, recall and conversions than text or horizontal video, and with overwhelming marketer adoption and satisfaction, ignoring it is essentially burning budget that could be working harder.
