According to new research, the average person will now spend 5 years of his or her life on social media. That's more time than they'll spend eating, socializing, and grooming.
It's amazing to consider the impact social media has had on our broader interactive process, and stats like this further underline just how influential and significant social media usage has become.
Building on this data, the team from The Manifest recently surveyed 627 social media users to learn more about the channels they prefer, how frequently they're active online, and how they access each platform.
And there are some important findings of relevance for digital marketers - here's a summary of the key notes from the report.
First off, Manifest's data shows that nearly everyone (86%) now uses social media daily.
In addition to this, 72% of respondents indicated that they check in on social multiple times a day - it's become part of people’s routines, and is an essential way to communicate, shop, find things to do, and check the news
On platform specifics, most people use Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram at least once per week.
People also use several social media channels more in 2018 than they did in 2017, including YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook.
In regards to accessing social channels, people still use a combination of methods, with mobile apps clearly leading the way - though desktop PCs are not as far behind as you might think.
The Manifests's research suggests that many of the people who do access social media on computer web browsers are likely doing so at work to take a mental break.
“Businesses which give employees the freedom to use social media can help employees break up their days at work and are likely to have more success at social media themselves.”
In terms of gender-specific usage stats, 75% of females check social media multiple times per day, compared to 64% of males. The majority of both females and males use Facebook at least once a week, but they vary in how they use other channels, including Pinterest, Twitter, and Reddit.
Females are also more likely to use mobile apps to access social media, while interestingly, men are more likely to prefer computer web browsers.
Based on these findings, here are my three key takeaways from the report:
- Based on your social media marketing plan, you should review your primary and secondary target audiences to align them with this data, and adjust your social media channels of focus, if necessary.
- Test your adjustments to see if they improve your social media marketing results. If not, consider going back to what you were doing previously. You need adequate time to examine such results, but you don't want to lose out either, so take a measured approach.
- Whether your business/organization targets consumers or businesses, your customers are using social media a lot, however I’d strongly advise using a mix of channels rather than placing all your eggs in one marketing basket. Social media marketing should be part of an overall marketing strategy.
Overall, some interesting insights into shifting social behaviors. Many of these insights would be as expected, but it's important to note the significance of social media influence, and the trends towards different platforms over time.