Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
Over 5 billion people globally now use social media, representing more than 62% of the world's total population
The average internet user spends 2 hours and 23 minutes per day on social media platforms
93% of internet users engaged with social media in the past month
Short-form video is the #1 media format for marketers, offering the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy
Social media videos generate 1200% more shares than text and image content combined
85% of social media videos are watched without sound, highlighting the importance of captions
Facebook remains the most used social platform by marketers worldwide, with 89% using it
LinkedIn is responsible for 80% of B2B marketing leads from social media
TikTok has highest engagement rate per post of any social network at 4.25%
Social media ad spending is projected to reach $247 billion by 2027
The average Click-Through Rate (CTR) for social media ads is 1.21%
Retargeting ads on social media can increase conversion rates by up to 70%
The influencer marketing industry is valued at approximately $21.1 billion as of 2023
69% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations more than information coming directly from a brand
Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) often have higher engagement rates (approx 3.86% on Insta) than mega-influencers (1.21%)
Advertising & Economics
- 1Social media ad spending is projected to reach $247 billion by 2027
- 2The average Click-Through Rate (CTR) for social media ads is 1.21%
- 3Retargeting ads on social media can increase conversion rates by up to 70%
- 477% of marketers successfully use social media retargeting as part of their Facebook and Instagram advertising strategy
- 5The cost per thousand impressions (CPM) on social media increased by 41% year-over-year in 2021
- 6Mobile advertising spending on social/apps accounts for 77% of total digital ad spend
- 727% of marketers say that "Lack of budget" is their biggest challenge in social media marketing
- 8Social commerce sales globally are estimated to reach $2.9 trillion by 2026
- 976% of US consumers have purchased a product they saw in a brand's social media post
- 10Paid social is the 2nd most successful channel for revenue generation for B2B marketers
- 11The average Cost Per Click (CPC) for Facebook ads across all industries is $1.72
- 1267% of brands use social listening tools to inform their advertising strategy
- 13Marketers spend 14-20% of their marketing budget on social media
- 14Companies with a consistent social selling process are 40% more likely to hit revenue goals
- 15Brands lose an estimated $2.3 billion annually to influencer marketing fraud (fake followers)
- 1649% of internet users say they are likely to purchase brands they see advertised on social media
- 17The average conversion rate for Facebook ads is 9.21%
- 18Social media advertising is the second biggest market in digital ads behind search
- 1928% of consumers utilize social media to find discounts or sales
- 20A/B testing social media ads can improve Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) by up to 20%
Interpretation
Think of social media as a booming gold rush: ad spend is set to hit $247 billion by 2027 and mobile apps already claim 77% of digital ad dollars while social commerce charges toward $2.9 trillion by 2026, yet rising CPMs that jumped 41% in 2021 and an average Facebook CPC of $1.72 mean marketers must make the most of modest CTRs of 1.21%, and fortunately retargeting, embraced by 77% of marketers and capable of boosting conversions up to 70%, together with Facebook’s 9.21% conversion average and the fact that 76% of US consumers have bought from social posts, can deliver results, but with 27% of marketers citing lack of budget and brands losing an estimated $2.3 billion annually to influencer fraud, disciplined tactics like A/B testing, social listening used by 67% of brands, and consistent social selling are essential for paid social, which remains the second biggest digital ad market and a top revenue channel for B2B.
Influencer Marketing & Trust
- 1The influencer marketing industry is valued at approximately $21.1 billion as of 2023
- 269% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations more than information coming directly from a brand
- 3Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) often have higher engagement rates (approx 3.86% on Insta) than mega-influencers (1.21%)
- 482% of consumers say they are highly likely to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer
- 550% of Millennials trust product recommendations from influencers, compared to 38% for celebrities
- 6User-generated content (UGC) is viewed as 2.4 times more authentic than brand-created content
- 779% of people say user-generated content on social media highly impacts their purchasing decisions
- 8Brands earn $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing on average
- 967% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing, making it the most popular platform for this channel
- 1063% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year
- 1161% of consumers are likely to trust recommendations from a friend, family member, or influencer over the brand itself
- 1293% of marketers agree that influencer marketing focuses on building brand awareness
- 13Posts shared by employees reach 561% further than the same message shared via official brand social channels
- 1436% of brands still pay influencers with free product samples rather than cash
- 154 out of 10 consumers follow brands on social media specifically to provide feedback or criticize products
- 1686% of consumers say authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support
- 1731% of social media users say they have unfollowed an influencer who promoted a product that did not align with their values
- 1872% of Gen Z and Millennials follow influencers
- 19Nano-influencers (1k-10k followers) have the highest engagement rate on TikTok at roughly 17.9%
- 2060% of marketers say that influencer-generated content performs better and drives more engagement than branded posts
Interpretation
With a $21.1 billion price tag, influencer marketing proves people buy people, not logos, as micro and nano influencers and user generated content deliver higher trust, engagement and ROI than branded messages, Instagram leads the charge while budgets grow, and brands that underpay creators or push inauthentic partnerships do so at the risk of wasted spend and lost followers.
Platform Specifics
- 1Facebook remains the most used social platform by marketers worldwide, with 89% using it
- 2LinkedIn is responsible for 80% of B2B marketing leads from social media
- 3TikTok has highest engagement rate per post of any social network at 4.25%
- 490% of Instagram users follow at least one business account
- 5Pinterest shoppers have 85% larger basket sizes than shoppers on other platforms
- 6YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, processing more than 3 billion searches a month
- 770% of YouTube viewers say they bought a brand as a result of seeing it on YouTube
- 8X (formerly Twitter) users spend 26% more time looking at ads than on other leading platforms
- 933% of the most-viewed Instagram Stories come from businesses
- 1055% of decision-makers use LinkedIn thought leadership to vet organizations they are considering working with
- 1180% of Pinterest users are female, making it a critical platform for female-targeting brands
- 12Organic reach on Facebook has declined to roughly 5% or less for the average page
- 13Snapchat users typically open the app 30 times a day
- 1472% of B2B marketers who use Reddit say it was effective for their business
- 15Threads reached 100 million users faster than any other social media platform in history (5 days)
- 1660% of TikTok users are Gen Zers
- 17Ads on Pinterest have a 2.3x cheaper cost per conversion than other social media ads
- 1858% of Facebook users visit the site from a mobile device exclusively
- 19WhatsApp is the favorite social media platform among internet users aged 16-64
- 20The average engagement rate for Facebook posts is only 0.07%
Interpretation
Think of social platforms as different shops in a city: Facebook is the crowded mall where 89% of marketers show up but organic reach and average engagement are nearly microscopic unless you pay and optimize for mobile, LinkedIn is the conference room generating most B2B leads and where decision-makers vet partners, YouTube is the vast search library driving billions of queries and purchases, TikTok is the high-energy Gen Z nightclub with the best per-post engagement, Instagram is the polished boutique where most users follow businesses and Stories are dominated by brands, Pinterest is the affluent emporium with bigger baskets and cheaper conversions that skews female, X is the billboard that people stare at longer, Snapchat is the habitual pocket companion opened dozens of times a day, Reddit is the niche tradeshow that B2B marketers find effective, Threads is the record-breaking new arrival, WhatsApp is the favored private hangout, and the bottom line is simple: match platform to intent and audience and invest in platform-specific creative and paid distribution because organic reach and raw engagement alone won’t cut it.
User Demographics & Behavior
- 1Over 5 billion people globally now use social media, representing more than 62% of the world's total population
- 2The average internet user spends 2 hours and 23 minutes per day on social media platforms
- 393% of internet users engaged with social media in the past month
- 4Keep it mobile-first as 99% of social media users access these platforms via a mobile device
- 5Gen Z uses social media for brand research more often than search engines, with 83% using platforms to discover new products
- 676% of consumers expect a response from a brand on social media within 24 hours
- 768% of consumers agree that social media enables them to interact with brands and companies
- 820% of Gen Z consumers spend more than 5 hours per day on TikTok alone
- 9Social media is the top channel for consumers for finding inspiration for purchases, utilized by 27% of shoppers
- 1044% of internet users globally use social networks to find information about brands and products
- 11Women aged 16-24 are the most active demographic on social media, spending over 3 hours daily
- 1254% of social browsers use social media to research products
- 1371% 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
- 14About 60% of the world’s population is now online, and the overlap with social media usage is nearly 94%
- 1559% of consumers message a brand on social media to get better customer service than via email
- 1691% of social media users access social channels via apps rather than mobile or desktop web browsers
- 17Usage of social media for news consumption has risen, with 50% of US adults getting news at least sometimes from social media
- 18Fridays attract the highest engagement rates across most social platforms for B2C brands
- 1945% of consumers are more likely to unfollow a brand if they post too much self-promotion
- 20Visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content
Interpretation
Social media is the global town square, with over five billion people mostly on mobile spending hours a day, where Gen Z researches products more than on search engines, customers expect fast, helpful replies and often message brands for better service, visual and authentic content drives shares and recommendations while excessive self-promotion drives unfollows, and smart, app-first timing, especially on Fridays, boosts engagement.
Video & Content Strategy
- 1Short-form video is the #1 media format for marketers, offering the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy
- 2Social media videos generate 1200% more shares than text and image content combined
- 385% of social media videos are watched without sound, highlighting the importance of captions
- 4Tweets with video see 10x more engagement than those without
- 591% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in their social strategies
- 6Live streaming on social media is expected to become an $184 billion market by 2027
- 7Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text
- 893% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media
- 9Vertical video (9:16 aspect ratio) has a 90% higher completion rate compared to horizontal videos on mobile social platforms
- 10User-generated content videos receive 12 times more engagement than professional brand videos
- 11Stories ads on Instagram have a higher click-through rate when they include a sticker or interactive element
- 12Posts with images produce 650% higher engagement than text-only posts
- 1366% of consumers find short-form video to be the most engaging type of in-feed social content
- 14Infographics on social media are liked and shared 3x more than any other type of content
- 15Facebook Live videos produce 6 times as many interactions as traditional videos
- 1654% of marketers say that video is the most valuable content type for achieving social media marketing goals
- 17Carousel posts on Instagram have the highest engagement rate per impression (1.92%) compared to images or video
- 1862% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a Facebook Story
- 1996% of marketers have placed ad spend on video content in the last year
- 20Adding emojis to a social media post leads to 47.7% more interactions on Instagram
Interpretation
If you want outsized ROI and real attention, stop writing essays and start producing short, captioned vertical and live videos and encouraging user-generated clips, because social media videos drive 1200% more shares, viewers retain 95% of a message versus 10% for text, 85% of video is watched without sound so captions are essential, vertical and short-form formats boost completion and engagement, and 96% of marketers are already pouring ad spend into video.
