Social media seems to have taken over modern life. Spanning all age groups – it’s no longer the “kids” on Facebook and Instagram. From millennials to Baby Boomers, most of us are all busy updating our statuses. At any given moment, your cousin’s second-grade teacher’s friend is sharing recipes, posting videos of children or waxing poetic about politics.
Maybe the concept of integrating your client’s product in the same feeds as some questionable content or fake news has not been an easy sell these days. In the wake of the recent election, the claws have come out – friends are being blocked, opinions are running rampant and authenticity is being questioned. Regardless of political affiliation or opinions on any “issues” of the world, people are not leaving the sites. Social media is stronger than ever. So, spending extra money to include video or keeping it simple and small with a side bar ad, you have the chance to get in front of your target audience with any budget. Isn’t that the goal for all of us?
At the top of the pack for social media sites is Facebook. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen both their grandma and their high school foreign exchange student “like” their status update. At 1.59 BILLION, Facebook total users are more than double that of the next closest competitors with Instagram at 400 million and Twitter at 320 million. 1.23 of the 1.59 billion Facebookers are logging in daily too!
People are addicted to these sites. 18% of users state they can’t go more than a few hours without checking their Facebook. 28% of Twitter users look at their feed before getting out of bed in the morning. 85% of Twitter and Facebook users rely on the sites daily for their morning news.
So what does this mean for media buyers? Well, the obvious answer is: here’s a great way to find people! Every MINUTE there are 4.1 million Facebook “likes”, 2.4 million Instagram “likes”, and 435,000 new tweets on Twitter. Users are engaged and personally invested. They use these sites to interact with family and friends, some of which they never even see in the 3-dimensional world. Users have downloaded apps on to their personal devices that give them even faster access to the streams of information, making it even easier to keep coming back for more.
Beyond that, a recent study shows that social media sites influence purchasing decisions. The most influential site is Facebook, followed closely by YouTube and LinkedIn. Facebook’s users surveyed positively for product awareness through the site and it is the leading social media when it comes to alerting followers to a sale or special. Facebook is an obvious choice for finding and reaching your audience. Is this the reason social media spending is predicted to go from $11.69 billion in 2016 to $17+ billion by 2019? Are you planning to be a part of it?