2020 Social Media Stats You Need to Know

On the ever-growing platforms that make up social media, marketers are always on the lookout for the latest social media statistics and trends that could help inform their existing strategies.

The world of social media can experience drastic changes in just a matter of months, which means it’s crucial to adapt to connect with your audiences where they are now.

For marketers looking to triumph more on social media in 2020, below are 100 social media figures that can help identify the best platform for your business and provide greater clarity on where to expend resources such as time and money.

Cross-Platform Social Media Marketing Statistics

Social media is evolving at lightning speed, and it can be challenging to know what’s merely hype and what delivers compelling results. To stay in touch with the continuously evolving social media space, below are some universal social media statistics.

• There are 3.5 billion users worldwide in 2019 on social media. This is roughly 46 percent of the world’s total population
• The average person has nine different social media accounts and spends an average of 2 hours and 16 minutes on social media each day
• 91% of social media users are accessing their social accounts via mobile devices, making it vital to publish smartphone-friendly content
• Experience unmatched growth, Instagram stories are the rising star of social media, increasing from 150 million to 500 million daily active viewers in just two years.
• Facebook and Instagram have long ruled social media as the most popular platforms but are facing increasing competition from niche platforms
• TikTok is one niche platform that is making gains having started just three years ago and now has more than 500 million monthly users

Social Networks by the Numbers

Facebook is still the biggest social media network worldwide, with 2.41 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2019.

As of this writing, we examined a total of 17 social media platforms which have 250 million or more monthly active users:

Drilling Down by Platform

Facebook

Marketers and businesses aiming to get the most out of Facebook in 2020, should focus on creating highly engaging content, actively participating in related Facebook groups, and using Facebook’s built-in advertising targetting to reach likely customers.

• Facebook is the third-most visited website and is only outranked by Google and YouTube
• 74% of Facebook users access the app daily and spend an average of 38 minutes per day using the platform
• Facebook stories  are viewed by 300 million people  daily which is behind only Instagram stories (500 million)
• Each month, the average Facebook user sees ten posts, makes four comments, and clicks on eight ads
• Videos on Facebook generate the highest rate of engagement, despite only making up 3% of the content on Facebook
• 1.4 billion people belong to Facebook Groups
• 90 million small businesses presently use Facebook Pages, Groups, and Messenger
• Facebook remains the most popular social network for U.S marketers. An estimated 87.1% of U.S. marketers will use Facebook marketing in 2020
• 2+ billion people can be reached via Facebook ads
• Facebook provides 80.4% of U.S. social referral traffic to eCommerce websites
• 15% of U.S. social media users shop on Facebook behind only Pinterest (47%)
• The average organic reach for a Facebook post is 5.5% with the average engagement rate at 3.6%

Instagram

Instagram stories are the clear winner for businesses looking to engage with likely customers on the platform. Furthermore, Instagram posts with carousels will generate more organic engagement than standard posts.

When planning your 2020 Instagram marketing strategy, bear these facts in mind to make sure you’re capitalizing on the latest trends.

• Users will spend an average of 28 minutes a day on Instagram in 2020
• 200 million Instagrammers will visit at least one business profile daily
• Brand engagement on Instagram is ten times higher than on Facebook, 54 times higher than on Pinterest, and 84 times higher than on Twitter
• Image Carousels generate more organic interactions than either videos or images
• 150 million people use Direct Messaging to communicate with a business on Instagram each month
• 60% of companies on Instagram engage with audiences at least once a month using interactive elements in stories to
• Brand stories have a leading 85% completion rate
• Instagram provides 10.7% of social referral share to e-commerce sites
• 11% of U.S. social media users shop on Instagram

Over two-thirds of marketers report spending most of their 2019 marketing budget on Instagram.

Twitter

Marketing for businesses on Twitter can be especially complex, as a result of its short life span of 3.39 minutes per session and tricky character limit.

With that said, providing customers and potential buyers with prompt engagement and customer service is essential for brands intent on improving their marketing efforts on Twitter. Another option to drive fast results is partnering with an influencer.

When formulating a 2020 social media marketing plan for your business, keep these Twitter statistics in mind.

• 1.3+ billion Twitter accounts have been created since the network’s launch in 2006. As of 2019, 330 million people used Twitter monthly
• 500 million tweets are sent each day
• Twitter is the third-most-popular social media platform for marketers, with 59% of marketers indicating they actively use the platform
• Tweets that include videos or images are 394% more likely to be retweeted
• The average Twitter user follows at least five businesses and 60% of the Twitter users expect a business to reply to their question within an hour
• Tweets that contain hashtags can result in a 1,065% increase in engagement compared to a similar tweet without hashtags
• Influencers have been the direct trigger for purchase for 40% of users on Twitter 
• Twitter users spend 26% more time engaging with ads than other social media users
• Ad engagements by Twitter users were up 91% year-over-year in 2019
• 85% of people who follow businesses say any company must provide customer service on Twitter
• 85% of small and medium companies are using Twitter to provide customer support.
• 80% of Twitter users have mentioned a business in a tweet
• 77% of Twitter users feel increased positivity about a brand when their tweet is replied to

YouTube

For marketers and business owners, developing a YouTube presence can have a significant impact on business. Check out the most recent YouTube statistics below to get an advantage over the competition and set yourself up for success in 2020.

• YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine behind Google itself
• With 82% of Americans report using YouTube, it’s the most popular social media platform in the US
• At 2 billion monthly active users, over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are consumed daily
• The average length of a YouTube video on the first page is 14 minutes and 50 seconds
• Not including YouTube’s automatically generated channels, the most subscribed YouTube channels belong to T-Series, followed by PewDiePie
• Over 90% of users say they have learned about a new business or product on YouTube
• 68% of YouTube users report having watched a YouTube video to help make a buying decision
• Over the last two years, the number of small and medium-sized businesses advertising on YouTube has doubled according to YouTube’s data
• 79% of marketers agree that YouTube is the most effective platform for video marketing
• 92% of sponsored YouTube videos are from YouTube influencers 
• According to a survey conducted by Ipsos, YouTube mobile ads are 84% more likely to hold viewer attention than TV ads

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is fast becoming one of the most engaging social media networks for companies. The platform is regarded as being capable of generating three times more conversions than other social media platforms.

Learn how to boost your LinkedIn marketing approach by taking a look at these statistics.

• Over 100 million job applications are posted on LinkedIn each month
• LinkedIn posts that contain images have a 98% better comment rate, and posts including links have a 200% higher engagement rate
• With over 630 million professionals on LinkedIn, 90 million users are senior-level, and 63 million are in decision-making positions
• 49% of LinkedIn users beat the national salary average making $75,000/year
• 3 million American jobs are listed on LinkedIn each month
• LinkedIn advertisements have a reach of 605.4 million people
• LinkedIn is capable of generating three times more conversions than other top social networking platforms according to a Hubspot study
• 92% of business to business marketers favor LinkedIn over other social networks
• LinkedIn generates more than 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites & blogs
• 59% of B2B marketers claim LinkedIn to be effective at generating new leads for their business
• 91% of marketing executives trust LinkedIn as the top place to discover content

Pinterest

The power of Pinterest is often overlooked, but from a global perspective, it is the fastest-growing social platform. Businesses aiming to drive more revenue from Pinterest should create theme-based content around their product or service. When deciding on which platforms to focus efforts on, consider these stats.

• Pinterest now has over 300 million monthly active users
• Pinterest advertising revenue is projected to surpass $1 billion by 2020
• Users spend an average of 14.2 minutes on Pinterest
• 70% of users are females
• With over 14 million articles getting pinned each day, there are now over 200 billion pins saved
• 50% of millennials report using Pinterest every month, and 47% of them indicate having purchased something they interacted with on the platform
• 55 percent of Pinterest users are looking specifically for products, which represents four times as many as other social platforms
• 8 in 10 weekly active users on Pinterest indicate they have purchased products based on the business’ content on the platform
• Only 28% of global social media marketers report having used Pinterest to promote their business
• Instagram provides 25% of all referral traffic that goes to popular retail websites

Social Media Ads

Businesses of all sizes can leverage social media advertising to attract the right people. Companies looking to connect with millennials can notably benefit from targeted advertising.

• Global ad spend on social media exceeded $98B in 2019 
• The budget share dedicated to advertising on social media is expected to double by the year 2023
• 40% of small businesses rely on social media ads for sale generation
• As many as 26% of people who click on Facebook ads ended up making a purchase as a result of one
• 50% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials believe social media to be the most relevant advertising channel
• 30-second ads on YouTube generate a view-through rate that is 30% higher than 15-second ads

Social Media Engagement

Improving social media engagement rates also enhances the other aspects of a business’ performance online. Monitoring the latest social media statistics concerning engagement developments is an excellent way for businesses to ramp up their social efforts.

• Instagram provides more user engagement than any other platform
• Posts containing visual content are 40x more likely to be shared on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
• Posts on Facebook with less than 250 characters get 60% more engagement

Social Media Statistics For Businesses

Social media has totally altered the dynamics of doing business both online and offline. With an ever-growing number of people turning to their smartphones and social media as part of the buying journey, there are several reasons why your business needs to be active on social media. Learn how businesses are taking advantage of social media with the below statistics.

• 85% of businesses are using third-party tools and services to assist in managing their social media presence. 
• 50% of consumers indicate they follow brands on social media to learn about new products and services
• According to 61% of consumers, brands can encourage purchases by creating posts offering discounts or trials
• 21% of consumers prefer to message a business on social media instead of calling customer service
• According to a SproutSocial report, 56% of consumers will unfollow a brand if they provide poor customer service on social media
• As of the end of 2019, 91% of retail brands use a minimum of two social platforms

In Conclusion

Social media is an ever-evolving set of platforms and what happens one year can be entirely different from the next. As a business, it’s critical to develop a social media strategy that is in keeping with the latest trends to ensure maximum impact. Make the most of your 2020 social media budget by learning from these statistics. Optimizing your marketing strategy and effectively managing your social channels can be time-consuming, so let the team at Shop Style Design help you out.