Everyday, the number of social media users is increasing, so you shouldn’t miss out on the vital information you’ll need to reach them! With this in mind, we’ve compiled 32 of the most important and surprising social media stats for 2019. By sharing the latest social media statistics, trends and news for this year, we hope to enhance your strategies and increase the engagement with your followers on social media for your business.
Here are 32 social media statistics for 2019.
General social media statistics
1. A million new social media users are born every day
In 2018, the number of people using social media on the planet increased by 13%, with the total now standing at 3.2 billion. In the UK alone, social media users hit an all-time high with a hefty 83% of the adult population now tweeting, gramming, liking and snapping on one or more social media channels every day.
2. And there’s still room for growth
A whopping 44 million people in the UK use social media daily. However, global social media usage is still only 42%, so there is much room for growth.
3. Wait… we spend how much time on social media?!
On average, people around the world spend at least 2 hours and 15 minutes on various social media platforms a day. If you don’t think that’s much, it equates to one out of every three minutes spent online!
4. Increase ROI by 119%
2018 showed us that companies who engage in social selling see 119% better ROI. Social media allows your business to reach a wider audience, and it’s a great way to reach new potential customers with paid advertising.
5. 90% of companies on social media use these platforms for brand awareness
Are you part of that 10% that doesn’t? Social media is an effective way to increase your brand’s awareness and adds a sense of personalism to your business.
Facebook continues to be the most popular of all social media channels active user wise, and a recent report also suggests it is the most favoured social media platform amongst social media marketers. As almost also content formats work well on Facebook – videos, text, images, live videos and Stories – it’s a great channel to spark engagement and drive website traffic.
Here are the latest social media statistics for Facebook that you need to know for 2019:
6. Facebook has the largest user base globally, and in the UK
Around half of the UK’s population actively use Facebook, with around 45% of these users finding themselves on the social network multiple times a day. In a recent report, a higher percentage of the UK’s females use Facebook compared to males, 84% vs 73%. Facebook is also more popular in urban areas than rural in the UK, 80% vs 75%.
Since the beginning of the year, Facebook has also seen a 15% increase in the number of global users, keeping this platform firmly at the top of the social media site rankings.
7. 70% of pre-roll ads are watched till the end
Do you always skip the ads before a video? If you answered yes, you are actually part of a small percentage who do. Surprisingly, 70% of people worldwide are watching the ads the whole way through, before they view the latest viral video of someone’s pet (the number of Instagram’s pet influencers also increased significantly, as now 65% of pet owners post about their pet at least two times a week).
8. 60% of 52-71-year-olds are active Facebook users
As it currently stands, Facebook is most favoured with those in the 23-37 age bracket, with a recent survey finding that 80% of people within this group use the platform daily. This report also found that 60% of 52-71-year-olds are active users of the social network.
9. Everything is not what it seems
According to a forecast made by eMarketer, it’s predicted that fewer than 700,000 12-24-year-olds around the world will regularly use Facebook. This is a decrease of 10%, as rivals such as Instagram and Snapchat are becoming the more favourable platforms among this age group.
YouTube
Not only are YouTube (owned by Google) rising in the social media popularity rankings, but they are also the second largest search engine after Google! If it’s a channel you are keen to tackle in 2019, here are the social media statistics you’ll need to know for YouTube this year:
10. The rise of YouTube
In the UK, YouTube ranked as the second most popular social media channel, with a reported 37.1 million adults accessing the platform on a daily basis. In 2017, people aged 18-24 watched a colossal 486 videos each in the month of July alone, compared to just 96 views among the 55+.
For the generation of cord-cutters, people who’ve abandoned traditional TV and opted for streaming services, YouTube has earned itself a reputation that provides relevant content on a wide range of topics and industries, that is viewable at a time most convenient to them.
11. 1 billion hours worth of content is viewed every day
An average of 30 million people worldwide is logging on to watch videos from their favourite creators every day, with 70% of YouTube downtime coming from mobile devices.
Experiencing substantial growth last year, the platform has undergone some major exciting changes in terms of interface and features. One feature, IGTV which enables users to share long-form video content, is expected to see rapid popularity gain this year.
To keep your finger on the Instagram pulse, here are some social media statistics you should know for the platform:
12. Instagram reached 1 billion users worldwide
With a surge of an additional 200 million accounts, user total increased to 700 million at the end of 2017. However, June of 2018 saw yet another substantial increase, as they reached the 1 billion active users milestone. The number of UK users also reached 17 million last summer.
13. 81% of 18-34-year-olds actively use Instagram
This age group accounts for 61% of their total user base, with 81% of this age bracket using the platform on a daily basis.
14. Posts with locations get 79% more engagement
If you want to drill into the inner workings of Instagram, a lot of businesses haven’t discovered – or grasped – the importance of increasing visibility of their posts.
It’s becoming increasingly popular to use Instagram in a similar fashion to Google when searching for local businesses. People that are out and about might be in the mood for a certain cuisine or searching for a shop specialising in a particular product or service. Instead of turning to Google and other search engines, they are using Instagram to search for businesses in their area that meets their needs. This is one of the many reasons why Instagram location tagging is so important.
15. 11 is the magic number
Engagement also heavily relies on hashtags. Just one of these bad boys generates a 12.6% increase in engagement rates. Research indicates that 11 is the optimum number of hashtags, even though the platform allows up to 30 per post.
Here’s a fun fact should it ever come up at a pub quiz, the hashtag symbol is also called an octothorp. The name was created in 1968 by workers at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, who needed a name for the number symbol on the telephone keypad.
16. 80% of Instagrammers follow business accounts on Instagram…
… with 200 million Instagrammers actively visiting a business profile every day!
Over 120 million Instagrammers have direct messaged a business, visited a website, called a business, or got directions from an Instagram business account. If your business account doesn’t display this information, make sure you add this pronto!
17. Instagram Stories will continue to rise
The number of Instagrammers taking advantage of Stories has grown by 100 million accounts since October 2017. There are now 400 million Instagrammers across the globe using the Story feature daily.
With the Story feature, your account becomes more personal. You can showcase behind the scenes, or take the time to speak to your followers directly about your new product and all its wonderful features.
Top tip: as a business, take advantage and use Instagram Stories to notify your followers of a new image on your feed, as the Instagram algorithm can make it harder for followers to see your posts amidst the noise.
18. Instagram drives 84x more engagement than any other platform
Instagram drives the most engagement per post, compared to other picture sharing social networks:
- 84x more than Twitter
- 54x more than Pinterest
- 10x more than Facebook
19. Over 100 million Instagrammers watch or share on ‘Live’ everyday
Since the implementation of Live videos, 100 million Instagrammers have benefitted from its real-time and interactive benefits, to host live Q&A’s and broadcast from events.
Twitter still very much remains a platform for immediate customer service. It’s important to keep an eye on the vital social media statistics specific to this channel.
20. There are 335 million Twitter users worldwide
Surprisingly, only 46% of users are daily users of the platform. On average, over 500 million Tweets are sent every day.
21. 12.6 million are UK based users
Twitter aren’t ones to release frequent statistics, but the latest estimate from eMarketer suggests that the number of UK Twitterers has dropped to 12.6 million. It’s not all bad news though. The number of Twitter users is predicted to grow, with forecasts suggesting user count will reach 13.2 million by 2021.
22. 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their Tweet has been replied to
Use this platform to interact with your customers. Answer their queries, engage in discussions, and respond to the Tweets when customers tell you how great your products are! This all adds to your brand’s online personality, even if you’re replying to Tweets that aren’t that positive.
23. For more engagement, create Tweets with images
Tweets with images are 150x more likely to be retweeted than those that are text-only. Images will stand out on a users feed, and encourage them to stop scrolling and read your Tweet, then share with others.
24. 82% of monthly Twitter users access the site through mobile
So when you’re creating posts, keep in mind how they would view on a mobile phone and how you can catch people’s attention as they’re scrolling.
Snapchat
Snapchat made the Stories format popular, which eventually was adopted on other social media platforms. Instagram Stories may have hindered Snapchat’s growth, but if this is a key social media platform for you, here are some interesting social media statistics for the quick snap sharing app:
25. 60% of Snapchat users worldwide are under 25
This is even higher in the UK, with 77% of total users under 25 sending a snap an average of 35x a day.
26. Snapchat has 186 million active daily users
The most recent figure suggests that 186 million people around the world use this picture sharing app on a daily basis. This figure has dropped significantly, since the controversial redesign of the app at the beginning of 2018, where daily user count was at 191 million.
On average, people spend 34.5 minutes per day on Snapchat and send an average of 34 messages to friends. A staggering 528 thousand snaps are sent every minute.
27. Snapchat ranked as the second most used mobile messaging app…
… beaten out by Facebook Messenger.
Snapchat saw 28.7% of active reach in May 2018, whereas Facebook Messenger saw 59.6%. However, this social media site out beat various other free messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Skype, proving how even short-term storage can keep up with conventional messaging.
With a niche audience type that differs from most social media platforms, LinkedIn doesn’t see as much growth as other sites. Nevertheless, LinkedIn remains to be the largest professional network providing B2B businesses with an ideal marketing channel.
Here are a few social media statistics to help your LinkedIn marketing strategy this year:
28. There are 590 million LinkedIn users worldwide…
…260 million of which are monthly active users, 40% of whom are daily users. If this is the case, there are over 100 million professionals that you could be targeting per day!
Even more exciting, LinkedIn users more or less use the platform to find relevant content, meaning they will be much more willing to check out what you’ve got to say and have a genuine interest in what you’re sharing.
29. 70% of users are outside of the US
In 2016, LinkedIn claimed to have over 20 million users in the UK. They haven’t released any UK stats since, but they did hit half a billion global users in 2017 so we’re sure this number has risen. The UK is their 4th most connected location in the world. London also tops the list of most connected places, with users based in the city averaging 307 connections.
30. 61 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers, and 40 million are in decision-making positions
This channel is also more popular with females in the UK and used by more 25-44-year-olds than any other age group.
31. 87 million millennials are on LinkedIn globally
According to stats from LinkedIn, millennials make up a significant chunk of LinkedIn’s total user base. These millennials are the decision-makers of the future, and LinkedIn is a great way to get in front of them.
32. 63 million users access LinkedIn via mobile
Accessing social media sites through mobile is booming, and this LinkedIn figure reflects just that. Their mobile user count is growing every month, making it easier to reach the people you want to reach.
Should you need some assistance with your social media marketing strategies this, contact Shareable today to see how we can help.
