Must Know Social Media Stats For Small Businesses Owners 

Another list of stats? 

Oh yeah, baby. 

This time we’ve compiled a list you can use to inform your social media strategy. This is for entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to ramp up their social media efforts this year.

Keep reading to learn:

→ What you should post on social

→ When you should post

→ What percentage high-growth businesses are spending

→ Avoid common pitfalls on social media

→ Make decisions more confidently

→ And basically how to use stats to understand the trends that will spur your growth as well.

If you have a business, you absolutely need to use social media. It is your new ally that will help your business grow and succeed.

Let’s dive in…

You Need to Know This

Thanks to Review42 for compiling this bit. This is just a taste of why it’s critical your business is on social and active…

• There are more than 3.5 billion active social media users today.
• There are more than 50 million small businesses using Facebook Pages to connect with customers.
• According to 90% of marketers, their social media marketing efforts have increased the exposure of their business, and 75% say they’ve increased traffic.
• 71% of consumers who have had a good social media experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others.
• 21% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they can reach on social media.
• 74% of consumers share video content from brands on social media.
• 80% of social marketers say their key strategy is to increase engagement across social channels.

People are communicating via social media, they look for reviews via social media, and they look for information and news on social media. Are you part of the conversation??

But Is Your Audience Actually on Social?

Absolutely! Check this out from Pew Research:

Take note below - 72% of the public uses some type of social media.  This is the MAJORITY of people. This means that social media is THE place to be for your business.

Here are the differences in social media use by generation (thank, We are social, for these stats):

• 90.4% of Millennials,
• 77.5% of Gen X,
• and
• 48.2% of Baby Boomers

Now, you might say… only 50% are Boomers, is it worth it? Again - absolutely!

Especially when you consider that - 

• Over 4.62 billion people across the world use social media
• Social media has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 12% since 2012
• In 2021, social media usage grew at an average rate of 13.5 new users every single second
• Nearly 75% of the world’s population aged 13+ uses social media
• Over 93% of regular internet users log into social media
• 72% of Americans use social media

And let’s not forget the nature of social media - it’s inherently social! That means that your daughter might find someone that interests you and pass it along. Or you might do that for your dad. Or a friend. The majority of people are using social media - and several platforms.

This is From Pew Research Center at the end of 2021 -

As you can see, the leader is still Facebook but other platforms have enough of the market share to take notice! You can also see that there are more social media platforms than ever, and more keep popping up every year.

How People Interact With Businesses On Social Media

Here are more stats from (thanks to Hootsuite for compiling this):

• 90% of social media users have already connected with a business or brand through their preferred platform.
• Adults aged between 18 to 34 are most likely to follow a brand on social media, with 95% of them doing so.
• The likelihood of a consumer to recommend a brand on social media after having a positive experience is about 71%.
• 71% of small-to-mid-sized businesses use social media to market themselves, and of those who do so, 52% post at least daily.
• On Facebook, engagement with brands is over 10 times higher than on other social platforms.
• 200 million social media users visit at least one business profile every day.
• 130 million social media users engage with shopping posts every month.

Running Social Ads? You’re Not The Alone: 

• Ad spending on social media is projected to reach over $173 million in 2022
• In 2022, social media video ad spending will grow by 20.1% to $24.35 billion
• Annual advertising spend on social media in 2022 will top $134 billion, an increase of over 17% YOY
• 52% of social media users say that when a platform protects their privacy and data, it’s incredibly impactful on their decision to interact with the ads or sponsored content they see on the channel

Stats of Note - By The Platform

Hootsuite’s research shows that Facebook usage is still at the top.

Hootsuite’s Digital Trends Report 2022

That includes the total usage, but what about just adults? eMarketer’s trends show the same trends - with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at the top.

Let’s break it down by platform, shall we? Thanks  to Hootsuite for compiling these stats:

Facebook

• Facebook’s MAUs are fast approaching 3 billion people, that’s 36% of the world’s population
• 58.8% of the world’s total internet users use Facebook monthly
• Just over 66% of Facebook users log onto the site daily
• 56.5% of Facebook users worldwide are male, 43.5% are female
• Almost 20% of Facebook’s worldwide users are men aged 25-34
• Women aged 13-17 are Facebook’s lowest demographic of users across the globe
• In America, women aged 25-34 are the most prolific users of Facebook

Twitter

• Users spend an average of 5.1 hours per month on Twitter
• Twitter is more popular with millennials than Gen-Z
• American Twitter users are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans
• 22% of Americans use Twitter
• 38.5% of Twitter’s users are aged 25-34
• Only 6.6% of Twitter’s users are aged 13-17
• Twitter’s audience is predominantly male, with 70.4% of the platform’s demographic identifying as that gender, leaving women accounting for 29.6% of Twitter’s audience
• 33% of Americans who use Twitter have a college degree
• People spend just over 5 hours a month browsing Twitter
• Almost 55% of Twitter users also use TikTok
• The number of Twitter users worldwide is expected to grow to over 340 million by 2024

LinkedIn

• Over 810 million people across the world use LinkedIn
• As of March 2021, 25% of US adults are on LinkedIn
• Over 15.4 billion people visited LinkedIn throughout Q2 2021
• LinkedIn boasts over 57 million companies listed on the site
• LinkedIn is most popular with men aged 25-34 years old, and least popular among women aged 55+
• Every week, 49 million people use LinkedIn to search for jobs
• Just over 16% of LinkedIn users log in daily via the app, with 48.5% logging in monthly
• 84% of LinkedIn users login to help grow their professional network
• The most-followed brands on LinkedIn include Google, Amazon, TED Conferences, Forbes, Unilever, and Microsoft

Instagram

• 50% of Instagram users say that they’ve clicked through to a brand’s website after viewing their Stories
• Instagram drives conversions. 92% of users say that they’ve acted in the moment after seeing a product on Instagram.
• 90% of Instagram users follow a business
• 2 in 3 people say that Instagram helps them to connect with brands
• 50% of people are more interested in a brand after seeing an ad on Instagram
• Ads are most likely to reach men and women between the ages of 18-34
• Instagram is the fourth most popular social networking site in the world

YouTube

• The channel boasts an average of 23.7 hours per month spent on the video platform
• 81% of Americans use YouTube
• 36% of American adults say that they visit YouTube several times a day
• 54% of YouTube users are male, and 46% are female
• YouTube is the second most-used social media platform in the world, with over 14 billion total visits
• Visitors spend an average of 19 minutes a day on YouTube
• 694,000 hours of video are streamed on YouTube each minute of the day
• Mobile users visit twice as many pages on YouTube as desktop users
• Sports viewership on YouTube is expected to reach 90 million by 2025
• YouTube Shorts have now been viewed over 5 trillion times
• The most popular search term on YouTube is song, followed by DJ, dance, and TikTok
• 70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing it on YouTube
• Ads targeted to users by intent (rather than demographic) earn 100% higher lift in purchase intent
• YouTube ads have the potential to reach 2.56 billion users

What’s The Take Away? Tips to Remember

1. Are you on social, and how are you engaging with your prospects? Because it’s worth it to spend resources to stay in front of your prospects.
2. Your prospects are there - and they’re looking for stuff. You can fulfill that need.
3. Understand how each platform is different and the mindset of the user when they open a specific platform.
4. Social can get you sales in the short term, but it’s also a long term play. Social isn’t going anywhere, so stay in front of your prospects, connect based on their interests, and build trust. 
5. Be human. Yes, people are connecting with businesses, but that’s because businesses are more human. It levels the playing field and allows more personal access. 
6. How to actually build momentum on social? Get some help! Click here to get SIX free social posts written on your behalf by US writers and expert social media strategists.