Every year Social Media Examiner conducts a survey of 5,700 marketers to better understand how marketers are using social media to promote and grow their business.
Here are 3 key trends from their 2018 Social Media Marketing Industry Report:
And yes, it’s all about Facebook.
- Facebook dominance: A very significant 94% of marketers use Facebook (followed by Instagram at 66%). Two in three marketers claim Facebook is their most important social platform.
- Yet, there is Facebook uncertainty: Only 49% of marketers feel their Facebook marketing is effective and 52% said they’ve seen declines in their organic Facebook reach in the last year. However, 62% plan on increasing their organic activities in the next year.
- Facebook ads reign supreme: Facebook ads are used by 72% of marketers (followed by Instagram at 31%).
Since FB is everywhere, everyone plans on a presence. Is that a solid strategy going forward?
According to Forbes, “Facebook has been facing somewhat of a “context collapse,” as many users have been less willing to share data and personal content in the face of increasing advocacy for privacy. This could potentially erode the company’s ability to serve targeted ads due to a decline in available user data, which would negatively impact revenue growth.” It will be interesting to see if there are such high levels of participation in the future.
So here’s some more SME Report stats on the rest of the pack:
Along with FB, Instagram, and Twitter were in the top three platforms used by marketers. But FB still leads by a long shot.
- Instagram jumped from the #4 slot to the #2 slot, up from 54% in 2017.
- Twitter lost the #2 slot, falling from 68% in 2017.
- YouTube moved up from 45% in 2017.
- Pinterest dropped from 30% in 2017.
Finally, the 2019 trend to watch is Facebook Messenger as the bots pique marketers’ interest. While only 15% of marketers are using Messenger bots now, 51% plan on using Messenger bots in the next year.
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About this blogger: Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Niche Media. A former sales director and corporate marketing hack, she has now found nirvana in writing and wrangling quality content. Diana is a food, wine, art and SF Giants enthusiast…who sometimes gets carried away.
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