Social Media Statistics and Key Insights for the Year 2022

Social media slowly crept into our lives over 20 years ago, and now we can’t imagine life without it. Unsurprisingly, it has appeared as the top marketing tool.

A large part of the world’s population uses social media sites. Brands must create a data-driven social media strategy that assists them in accessing their target markets. 

The social media world keeps changing and swiftly evolving. Old social marketing strategies are improved each year, and new social platforms appear and disappear. As one generation takes the place of an older generation, it interacts with social media sites in new ways.

The only way to keep up with this ever-changing industry is to learn about fresh and the most crucial social media statistics. These stats will offer you a sneak peek into the modifications in the area of the social media domain in 2022. It will also provide valuable insights into the various ways in which both businesses and consumers engage on social platforms.

Social media marketing agencies regularly use stats used in social media marketing and platform-specific reports. Statistics will allow you to gauge your marketing performance inside your niche and unlock new opportunities.

Social Media Usage Statistics

We are all guilty of constantly checking our social media notifications. We have provided a simple snapshot of alterations in social media usage, currently most successful channels, and the extent of customers’ engagements on social.

• As of July 2022, there are 4.62 billion social media users around the world who comprises approximately 58.4% of the total population
• Users of social media platforms have increased by 227 million over the last year
•  Social media boasts a 12% compound annual growth rate since 2012
• The user base of social media channels ballooned by more than 5 percent in 2021 which means 13.5 new users each second
• About 75 percent of the global population aged 13+ uses social platforms.
• More than 93 percent of regular netizens log into their social media accounts.

Top Social Media Apps/Sites by Demographics

Businesses should use company statements and announcements to gain statistics on the most successful social channels, as they are the best source of first-hand information.

• Primarily, Meta owns three of the four most popular social media networks with Facebook topping the list. Brands need to keep an eye on various usage trends of multiple demographics.
• Tiktok ranks as the 5th most popular social site in January 2022. It occurs due to the quantum leap it takes by increasing its revenue generation by 142% year on year in 2021
• With Elon musk’s offer to purchase Twitter, users are anticipating changes to the social networking site involving the regulations regarding freedom for users and marketers to say whatever they want
• Sprout Social reports that Facebook’s largest user pool comprises men aged 25 to 34, and its largest female demographic also belongs to this age range
• According to a report by OfCom, over 40 percent of kids aged 8-11 years utilize social media channels, rapidly rising to about 90 percent of children aged 12 -15.

Fast-growing Social Networking Services/Sites

You should have genuine research to develop social media campaigns. Businesses have only limited time for social media marketing. That is why identifying the fastest-growing social media channels is vital so that you can focus your resources there.

According to US social network user growth, in 2021, the top fast-growing social platform was TikTok with over 18 percent growth year over year. It saw approximately 87.1 percent growth in 2020.

Social Media Marketing Facts and Statistics on Consumers’ Behavior 

Social media marketing presents many challenges. Social media interactions are naturally friendly connecting talks between families, buddies, and co-workers. Considering this, companies should be sensitive while using social as a marketing channel.  

• There is a six times more chance that consumers will buy from a website if it uses social media images
• 37% of users would believe in a product recommendation made by daily social users while only 7% of them trust product recommendations by celebrities 
• 52 percent of consumers think data security and privacy by brands incredibly affect them.

Insights on Global Social Media Growth

The global social media user base thrived from 4.2 billion at the start of 2021 to 4.62 billion in 2022. Social media usage across the world grew by 10.1% year over year.

The number is significantly higher than the pre-covid-19 drop from 2018 to 2020 as new channels and technologies are helping the trend go upwards. Continuously increasing social media usage provides a goldmine of opportunities for digital marketing agencies in Dubai to bond with fresh target markets in innovative ways.

Social Media Advertising Statistics

Social media advertisements perhaps have a negative reputation in the eyes of customers. Despite it, they are still powerful, and users can’t skip them.

• Experts estimate social media ad spending to exceed 173 million dollars in 2022
• Social media spending on video ads will increase to about 24 billion dollars (20.1%) in 2022
• In 2022, annual social ad spending will increase by more than 17 percent year over year and exceed 134 billion dollar 
• Over half of social platform consumers believe they engage with sponsored posts or advertisements if the platform secures their information and privacy
• In the initial 3 months of 2021, advertisers expended 60 percent more on Instagram and Facebook advertising as compared to the first quarter of the previous year
• Businesses use retargeting ads the most because over 75 percent of B2C and B2B businesses report that their social media marketing strategy for Instagram and Facebook involves retargeting.

Facebook Statistics

Facebook has faced extreme scrutiny regarding the “meta” rebrand and a whistleblower scandal. Nevertheless, the pioneer social media site stays strong as a marketing powerhouse and has an enormously large user base. 

• Despite continuing privacy concerns, Facebook is still the most popular marketing platform all over the world with 93% of marketers using it, while Instagram is just behind Facebook with 78% of marketers employing it
• Facebook has a 25.2 percent share of digital ad revenue in comparison with Amazon (10%), and Google (28.9%) in 2020 
• By the end of 2022, experts in Facebook user statistics predict Facebook Messenger to win an astounding 3 billion users 
• About 10 million people are actively using Facebook for advertising right now
• About one-third of adults (31%) regularly use the platform to get news, indicating the usefulness of timely content there
• Businesses should use Facebook marketing because the social media site is the most used social platform worldwide.

Instagram Statistics

Ironically, the challenges Facebook has experienced in the last couple of years have benefitted Instagram. Businesses are rushing to increase their Instagram follower base.

• Instagram has more than 1.5 billion users
• About 30 percent of netizens see Instagram ads
• Instagram marketing drives conversions. 92 percent of Instagrammers report that they have immediately acted after watching a product/service on Instagram
• The social media site ranks fourth among the most popular social media channels in the world
•  90 percent of Instagrammers follow a brand, and two third of them believe that Instagram aids them in engaging with businesses
•  50% of users show more interest in a business after seeing their advertisement on Instagram
• Instagram users’ statistics inform us that an average Instagram user uses the site for approximately 11 hours per month across the world.

Twitter Statistics

Twitter is the favorite place for users wanting to debate over politics, view memes, and connect with brands regularly. 

• On average, people use Twitter for approximately 5 hours each month.
• More Millennials use it than people from Gen-Z.
• Approximately 7 percent of Twitter’s audience are aged 13 – 17.
• About 70 percent of Twitter users are male, while only 29.6 percent identify as women. It  shows that the Twitter user base is largely male.
• 16% of people aged 16 to 64 research businesses by consuming microblogs
• Twitter Ads can monetize 211 million of the platform’s regular active users
• In 2021, ad revenue on Twitter increased by 22 percent year over year and surpasses 1.41 billion dollar
• More than half of the Twitter users use TikTok as well

LinkedIn Statistics

We all know Linkedin as the default platform for all professional purposes. The social site can be a treasure trove for B2B businesses, and the fast growth of LinkedIn ads is evidence of that.

• LinkedIn has more than 810 million global users
• In 2021, its ad revenue grew by 37 percent year on year and surpasses 1 billion dollars, and organic session engagement increased by a record 22 percent
• LinkedIn stats by the platform itself says that elevated shares get 53 percent more engagement and double the click-through rate of content shared by employees 
• Elevate shares earn 30 percent more brand following 
• In 2021, LinkedIn recruited more than half of the advertisers
• LinkedIn marketing get some success as more than 10 percent of the global population watch LinkedIn ads
• Approximately 43 percent of women and 57 percent of men see LinkedIn ads

Tiktok Statistics

In the beginning, Tiktok faced difficulty in gaining recognition among people, but it made its place among the top social channels for companies by hiring TikTok marketing agencies to aid them in their marketing campaigns.

• It ranks sixth among the most-used social media sites across the world
• 62 percent of its consumers believe that brands should create TikTok-specific videos collaborating with creators to connect to their target audiences. It means brands should create unique content rather than repurposing their existing content 
•  39 percent of Generation Z customers report that they purchase something after seeing a post on TikTok
• In 2022, the platform saw the highest growth in planned new social channel investment for businesses (84%)
• In 2021, TikTok content creators with one to five thousand followers noted 17.9 percent engagement rates, the highest among other influencers. Influencers with 5k to 20k followers see13.48 percent engagement rate
• 63 percent of the ads on the platform with the highest CTR convey their message directly
• Tiktok videos shot in vertical format boast a 25 percent higher watch-through rate

Pinterest Statistics

Pinterest boasts a highly interactive, devoted, diverse, and affluent user base and is a prime place to find new products.

• More than 400 million people actively use Pinterest monthly and have saved more than 240 billion pins
•  The platform’s buyers boast 85 percent larger baskets than customers on other social channels and spend two times as much each month.
• According to Pinterest, 7 in 10 users report the platform to be their destination to search for new goods, services, and ideas they can believe in
• Pinterest marketing works because pinners are 40 percent more likely to show their love for buying than non-Pinterest users.
• They are also seven times more likely to report that Pinterest has the highest impact on their shopping experience among all social networks.  
• Pinterest usage by Generation Z has ballooned by 40% year on year
• Pinners comprise 77.1% of women, 14.8% of men, and 8.4% of others who don’t disclose their gender

Marketing Update After Covid-19

According to Datareportal, social media usage significantly increased as the global lockdowns started. And internet usage and digital marketing strategies and activities also swelled.

A few years before the Covid 19, social media growth had appeared to slow down. The report links the sudden rise in social network usage with people’s changing lifestyles during the lockdown.  

However, social media continues to thrive in 2022. Other factors may be contributing to this growth than only the initial lockdown trends.

Most Popular Times for Customers to Check Their Social Media

Social media optimization also involves testing to spot the most common times customers use social sites. It is another factor that depends on user behavior. It also identifies the ideal frequency of posts on different social media networks.

Depending on their algorithms, every social platform has an optimum point that defines how many times in a day/week/month you should publish content and the hit times for customer social media usage.

For example, many businesses used to put content on social media sites multiple times a day which benefitted them. However, the story has changed with a plunge in organic reach, and now one facebook update a day can be more beneficial.

It isn’t true for all social media channels. LinkedIn or Twitter still show that more updates daily can boost a brand’s marketing. 

The best time to post on Facebook and Instagram is around Wednesday at noon shown by experience. Therefore, you should ideally publish updates on both platforms close to these times.

Featured Article: A Guide on Building Relationships Via Social Media to Boost Your Lead Generation.

Social Media Benchmarks for Social Sites’ Engagement Rates

Here are three crucial benchmarks to measure engagement rates on social media networks.

• Number of daily posts
• Number of weekly posts
• Best hashtags by engagement
• Interaction rate

Instagram Engagement Rates

 Instagram content engagement decreased to about 30 percent during 2020 and 2021. Still, it receives substantially higher (over ten times higher) post engagement rates than Facebook

Thus, top social media marketing companies should leverage this powerful channel to boost customer relationships. 

Facebook Engagement Rates

Post engagement rate signifies how engaged users are with your social media post. Facebook’s median content engagement rate by followers was 0.064 percent in 2021. The Facebook pages of sports teams top the list with an average of 0.27 percent engagement rate. Influencers secure the second highest Facebook engagement rates (0.23%), followed by higher education (0.15%).

Tech and software and health and beauty saw the lowest engagement rates on average of 0.02%.

Customer Engagement with Different Social Media Post Formats

Social media marketing and management agency know by experience that you can substantially increase your engagement rate by using proper images and videos. Observed engagement rates support this.

LinkedIn reports that pictures can increase the comment rate twice as much. Videos can receive five times more interaction on LinkedIn, and live videos can achieve 24 times more. 

 A report by Social Bakers regarding social media trends also supports this information. The report states that longer Facebook videos (over 60 seconds) gained the highest median engagements and media reach.

Both social media engagement and reach correspond to the length of time of a video. As the length of the video increases, engagement and reach also go up.

Bottom Line

The pandemic is still going strong and increasingly prompting people to come online. It makes social media networks imperative for our day-to-day functioning and marketing of brands. Social media statistics prove to be marketers’ good friends.

They guide them on how customers use each platform and pinpoint fresh trends. These statistics help them understand how various social networks function, get in-depth data on vital demographics and collect practical tips on user behavior on every social site.

Based in the UAE, Digital gravity is a digital marketing services agency that offers various digital marketing services, including social media marketing. Our decade-long experience has made us pros in social media marketing and management. 

We never get to work without fully understanding your goals and listening to your story. Then our social media masters will design a killing social media strategy for your business. We know the science of increasing engagements and conversions on social sites.

Whether you are a B2B or B2C business, our social media services will ensure that your social media content reaches your ideal customers on suitable channels at suitable times. Our team will generate more leads for you, craft enticing content, run social media campaigns, and manage your social media profiles.