The Ultimate List of Social Media Statistics to Know in 2020

This blog post was originally contributed by Hugh Beaulac, a Content Manager at MC2.

Who else wants to create an online store on social media?

Living in the era of paid ads and sponsored posts, modern customers crave peer recommendations and social proof before making purchase decisions. Today, social shopping is the future of eCommerce, so social media platforms make it easier for users to discover and buy products in-app with shoppable posts and product stickers.

For eCommerce sites, this means an opportunity to raise brand awareness, promote products, or even start an eСommerce store. The number of brands on social media is constantly growing, so you need to jump on the bandwagon if you don’t want to fall behind your competitors.

Here’s the deal:

With the global increase in social media usage, your target audience is definitely on social media. But if you are going to start with one social media site, you need to focus on the right channel (or strategy) that can help to connect with your target audience, drive engagement, and increase eCommerce sales. 

The solution? Pay close attention to the relevant social media statistics.

Read on to find out the list of the latest social media stats and learn more about social media statistics worldwide.

1. General Social Media Statistics

Over the last few years, social media platforms have gained in popularity — it seems every person is active on social media. Have you ever thought about the percentage of people using social media? If you’re looking for interesting social media facts, we’ve gathered all relevant stats for you to consider.

• There are 3.48 billion social media users which means 79% of all Internet users are on social media (We Are Social)
• 85% of U.S. customers use social media (Marketing Sherpa)
• Every second, 11 people use social media for the first time which means one million new social media users appear on the web every day (We Are Social)
• According to social media usage statistic by age, all people are on social media: 90% of people aged between 18 and 29, 82% of 30- to 49-year-olds, 69% of 50-64, and 32% of people aged above 65+ (Pew Research)
• Teenage social media statistics claim that 81% of teens say that social platforms help them feel more connected to their friends and 69% believe that social media helps to interact with a more diverse group of people (Pew Research)
• An average person has 8.5 social media accounts (Statista)
• The average time spent on social media is 2 hours and 23 minutes per day (Statista)
• Mexico, Brazil, and China consistently demonstrate the highest level of activity across a variety of platforms while Japan’s social media users have the lowest level of activity in the world, according to social media usage statistics by country (Synthesio)
• The global mobile social penetration rate is 42%, and 61% of users in North America accessed social media via mobile devices (Statista)
• 38.3% of freelancers claim that social media marketing is the best way to find new clients (Venngage)
• Facebook is the most used social network in the United States, with 169.76 million mobile users accessing the Facebook app in September 2019. Plus, the company’s other properties Instagram and Facebook Messenger rank second and third with 121 and 106 million users respectively (Statista)

Takeaway: Taking into account social media usage statistics, it’s no secret that the number of social media users is constantly growing. It gives many opportunities for common people, influencers, creators, and brands to interact with each other.

2. Social Media Marketing Statistics

Social media growth is one of the most important aspects of promoting businesses on social media platforms. Nowadays, you can find businesses of all sizes and niches in the social media landscape. Taking into account social media statistics for business 2020, there’s no doubt that the popularity of social media marketing will be growing. Here’s what you need to know about social media marketing statistics:

• 91% of U.S. businesses are using social media for marketing purposes (Statista)
• The majority of U.S. brands use social media to build brand awareness (90%), manage brand reputation (70%), or build and manage an engaged community (71%) (Hootsuite)
• 74% of customers follow brands on social media, and 96% of them interact with the brands they follow (The Manifest)
• 54% of customers use social media platforms to discover new products (Global Web Index)
• 25% of U.S. customers prefer to be contacted by brands via social media (Statista)
• 1 in 3 social media users reaches out to a brand or business on social media for customer service (Smart Insights)
• 67% of small businesses choose social media as an online communication channel (The Manifest)
• 75% of marketers claim that social marketing helps to increase website traffic (Ignite Visibility)
• 56% of companies have in-house social media managers or head of social (Planable)
• 40% of agencies produce more than 15 social media posts per week (Planable)
• Instagram is considered to be the most engaging platform, with an average engagement rate per post of 2.26%, as opposed to 0.21% on Facebook and only 0.06% on Twitter (Planable)
• Samsung is the most-followed brand on social media: The company has 160M Facebook followers, 12.1M Twitter followers, and 5M Instagram fans (Unmetric)
• NBA and National Geographic have the highest user engagement with 1.55 billion and 1.37 billion cross-platform total actions respectively (Statista)

Takeaway: The idea of using social media platforms for business growth isn’t new, but it’s getting more and more popular among famous and no-name brands. Today, various businesses use social media to reach their potential customers, promote their products, or even turn some social media sites into an eCommerce platform, and social media marketing stats prove it.

3. Social Media Advertising Statistics

With a solid number of users on social media, it’s no wonder that brands want to reach their potential customers and interact with them on these platforms. Since the number of brands on social media is growing, it’s getting harder to cut through the noise unless you use paid ads. What is more, social media advertising is effective.

• 43% of small businesses find that social media is the most effective medium for achieving their advertising goals, and 56% of them plan to spend more on social media advertising (The Manifest)
• 53% of businesses use paid social ads (Hootsuite)
• Social media ad spend has reached $93B in 2019 (Statista)
• Facebook is one of the most popular and effective platforms for advertising (eMarketer)
• 74% of Facebook users don’t know that the site lists their traits and interests for advertisers (Pew Research)
• Facebook has 7M active advertisers on the platform (Facebook)
• Facebook mobile ad revenue is $15.6B, contributing approximately 94% of total ad revenue (Facebook Conference Call)
• Across all industries, the average cost-per-click (CPC) for Facebook ads  is $1.86 and the average cost-per-thousand-views (CPM) is $11.20 (Fit Small Business)
• 67% of users have made a purchase after seeing an advertisement on social media (The Manifest)
• 71% of customers find Facebook video ads relevant or highly relevant (Promo)
• Animated Facebook ad attracts 1.5x more clicks than the static image, and it drops cost-per-click by 50% (Crello)
• The companies invested $78.1 million U.S. dollars in advertising in 2018 (Statista)
• Instagram has 2M monthly advertisers (Business Instagram)
• Promoted Pins have helped 61% of users discover new products and brands and 50% of Pinners made a purchase after seeing a promoted pin (Pinterest)
• Retail brands see a 2x higher return on ad spend from Pinterest than from social media (Pinterest)

Takeaway: Although word of mouth marketing matters, most brands want to reach their target audiences fast, so they turn to paid ads on social media. Moreover, social platforms utilize user information which helps to run highly relevant advertisements based on interactions within a specific platform.

4. Facebook Statistics

Back in 2004, when Facebook was launched, no one could have predicted how the platform would transform from a student directory to the most used social media network. Today, it is not only a communication channel but also a powerful marketing platform. What is more, the platform is still growing.

• Facebook is the world’s third-most visited website (Hootsuite)
• Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world with 2.45 billion monthly active users (Our World in Data)
• Facebook’s Messenger service has 1.4 billion users (Vox)
• 69% of U.S. adults are on Facebook and 74% of them visit the platform at least once a day (Pew Research)
• 73.5% of Facebook users are aged between 18 and 44 (Statista)
• 96% of active Facebook user accounts worldwide access the social network via mobile devices (Statista) 
• The average U.S. Facebook user spends 38 minutes on Facebook daily (eMarketer)
• The average page engagement rate on Facebook is 28.3% (Iconosquare)
• 67% of Facebook users who discover and buy products in-app say they plan to increase or maintain their c-commerce spending (Facebook for Business)
• Facebook Stories have 500 million users (Tech Crunch)
• 500 000 000 people watch videos on Facebook daily (Depositphotos)
• 87.1% of US marketers will use Facebook for social media marketing in 2020 (eMarketer)
• Facebook drive 80.4% of all U.S. social referrals to eCommerce websites (eMarketer)
• Amazon (29 million likes), Lazada (28 million Likes), and Avon (21 million likes) are the most popular online retailers on Facebook (Referral Candy)

Takeaway: The majority of adults using social media are on Facebook, and the user base is growing. Facebook is still the most popular social media platform for brands and businesses, so it’s no wonder that many companies stay creative to reach their target audience on the platform.

5. Twitter Statistics

Since Twitter is known for its “Tweets”, short messages limited to 140 characters, this platform keeps its user base engaged. As a result, it’s no wonder that various companies and influencers use Twitter in their social media marketing efforts. Let’s find out more about current Twitter stats.

• 92% of the U.S. people are aware of Twitter even if they don’t use it (Statista)
• Twitter has 275 million monthly active users and 139 million users check the network each day (Statista)
• The majority of Twitter users (48.35 million) are from the United States (Statista)
• 53.6% of Twitter users are aged between 18 and 34 (Statista)
• 66% of Twitter users worldwide are male compared to just 34% of females (Data Reportal)
• 80% of active users access the site via mobile (Twitter)
• 71% of Twitter users in the U.S. get news on the site (Journalism)
• 42% of U.S. adults say they use Twitter to discuss politics (Pew Research)
• Users post 500 million tweets per day which means around 200 billion tweets per year (Internet Live Stats)
• The total revenue is approximately $841 million and the advertising revenue has reached $727 million, an increase of 21% year-over-year (Twitter Results)
• 93.3% of Twitter users plan to purchase from a brand they follow on the platform and 68.7% of people have purchased from an SMB because of the platform (Twitter)
• 66.5% of US marketers plan to use Twitter marketing in 2020 (eMarketer)
• 87% of B2B companies use Twitter for marketing purposes (Content Marketing Institute)
• 54% of people have taken action after seeing a brand mention in Tweets (Twitter)
• Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets (Buffer)
• Barack Obama, the former U.S. President, is the most popular Twitter account with over 108 million followers (Statista)

Takeaway: With a highly engaged user community, companies of all niches and sizes use this platform for business and marketing. From using relevant hashtags to pinning Tweets, there are many ways for B2C and B2B companies to reach their target audience on the platform.

6. Instagram Statistics

Over the last few years, Instagram has evolved from a simple photo-sharing app into a powerful marketing tool. It’s considered to be the fastest-growing social media platform with the most engaged user base, and here’s the list of Instagram stats to prove it.

• Growing nearly 5%  from quarter to quarter, Instagram is the fastest growing social network (Search Engine Journal)
• The Instagram community has reached one billion monthly active users (Business Instagram)
• 71% of active Instagram users are under the age of 35 (Statista)
• An average Instagram user spends 53 minutes per day (Recode)
• 500 million users create or watch Instagram Stories daily, and ⅓ of the most viewed Stories on Instagram come from businesses (Business Instagram)
• 83% of Instagrammers discover new products on the platform, 81% of users research products and 80% of people use the platform to decide whether to buy a product or not (Facebook for Business)
• 90% of accounts follow a business on Instagram (Business Instagram)
• Over 200 accounts check out a business profile each day, and 2 in 3 of business profile visits are from non-followers (Business Instagram)
• The average Instagram engagement on reach is 11.95% (Iconosquare)
• 50% of businesses on Instagram worldwide created at least one story during a typical month (Business Instagram)
• 96% of US marketers surveyed plan to continue using Stories ads in the next 6 months (Business Instagram)
• 75.3% of US marketers plan to use Instagram for business promotion in 2020 (eMarketer)
• 72% of Instagram posts are single images (Planable)
• There’s an 80% increase in time spent watching video on Instagram (Business Instagram)
• Video posts receive up to 49% higher interactions (Quintly)

Takeaway: Since most people are visual learners, Instagram has gained in popularity. Today, the vast majority of people are on the platform, and it seems your target audience is active here, too. No matter what your business size is, Instagram marketing is a must to reach your target audience, interact with potential buyers, and acquire new customers.

7. YouTube Statistics

With the popularity of video content among modern Internet users, it’s no wonder that YouTube, a video-driven social media network, has so many fans around the globe. What is more, it is one of the best social media platforms for companies that uses video content marketing.

• YouTube is the second most viewed website after Google (We Are Social)
• The platform has over 1.9 billion active monthly users (YouTube)
• 81% of U.S. internet users aged 15 to 25 years and 71% of users between 26 and 35 years watch videos on YouTube (Statista)
• More than 90% of people around the world discover new brands or products on YouTube (Think with Google)
• 86% of U.S. viewers use YouTube to learn new things (Think with Google)
• The average YouTube user spends 40 minutes on the platform daily (Business Insider)
• More than 70% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices (YouTube)
• The platform has local versions in more than 91 countries (YouTube)
• YouTube users upload 500 hours of video every minute (Statista)
• YouTube advertising revenues are predicted to increase to 11.76B U.S. dollars by 2020 (Statista)
• The number of channels with more than one million subscribers grows by more than 75% year by year (YouTube)
• Entertainment and music are the most popular video content categories on YouTube worldwide (Statista)
• Ryan ToysReview is the highest-earning YouTuber who earned $22 million in 2018 (Forbes)

Takeaway: Modern users are in love with videos and they spend much time watching video content these days. Thus, it’s no wonder that YouTube — with billions of hours of content to watch — keeps its audience engaged. For brands, this means more opportunities to show off their products, educate viewers, and interest potential customers.

8. LinkedIn Statistics

LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media networks for business professionals. Job seekers and recruiters use this platform for recruitment efforts, so LinkedIn is a great place to spread the word about your company.

• LinkedIn has over 660 million users in more than 200 countries and 70% of members are outside the U.S. (LinkedIn)
• Around 300 million monthly active users are on LinkedIn (Data Reportal)
• 57% of LinkedIn users are male and 43% of audiences are female (Statista)
• 60% of global LinkedIn audiences are between 25 and 34 years old (Statista)
• Around 160 million Linkedin users are from the United States (Statista)
• 79% of LinkedIn members use a free account (LinkedIn)
• LinkedIn’s annual revenue has achieved $6.8B (Statista)
• 57% of LinkedIn traffic comes from mobile devices (LinkedIn)
• LinkedIn is rated the top social network for lead generation (LinkedIn)
• More than 30 million companies are represented on the platform (LinkedIn)
• 97% of B2B companies use Linkedin for marketing purposes and 82% claim that Twitter is the most successful platform for B2B marketing (Content Marketing Institute)
• Richard Branson has the most followed account with over 16.5 million followers (LinkedIn)

Takeaway: The LinkedIn community is made of smart young business professionals, so it’s a perfect place for B2B companies to promote their products and services.

9. Pinterest Statistics

Are you ready for the shocking facts about social media? Pinterest is the best social media platform for social commerce. But before you start wondering how to start an online store on Pinterest, take a look at the list of Pinterest stats to find out more about its user base and their preferences.

• Pinterest has 322 million monthly active users worldwide and 70% of these users are female (Statista)
• The United States represents the largest Pinterest audiences with 85.5 million users (Statista)
• 69% of Pinterest users are aged between 18 and 49 (Statista)
• 85% of Pinterest traffic comes from mobile devices (Pinterest)
• Users have saved over 200B pins on the platform (Pinterest)
• 75% of Pinterest users say they are “very interested” in discovering new products on the platform (Pinterest)
• 77% of Pinners have found a new brand or product on Pinterest and 98% of users have tried something new they found on the platform (Business Pinterest)
• 47% of Pinterest users shop on the platform (eMarketer)
• 28% of social media marketers use Pinterest to market their businesses (Statista)
• The Pinterest ad revenue has reached $1.028 million in ad revenues in 2019 (eMarketer)
• Travelers are 2x more likely to use Pinterest over other travel sites (Pinterest)
• Top Pinterest influencers focus heavily on style (21.7%) and home décor (28.9%) categories (Semrush)

Takeaway: The above-mentioned stats prove that Pinners are dedicated shoppers and the shopping on the platform makes it easier for businesses to promote and sell their products in-app. If you target the female audience, using Pinterest for business is a great idea.

10. Snapchat Statistics

The Snapchat community has grown to 210 million daily active users, so it has become a relevant marketing tool for businesses that target teens. Why? Taking into account the social media demographics 2019, it’s easy to say that the majority of young customers are on Snapchat. 

• Snapchat has 210 million daily active users worldwide and 97.55 million of them come from the United States (Statista)
• 61% of Snapchat users are female and 38% are male (Statista)
• 87% of U.S. users aged between 18 and 35 years are on Snapchat (Statista)
• Snapchat is the most important social network for 41% of U.S. teens (Statista)
• 63% of users visit Snapchat daily and 49% of them do it several times a day (Pew Research)
• 95% of Snapchat users also indicate that they use YouTube (Pew Research)
• 44% of Snapchatters discover brands and products with the help of influencer marketing on the platform (Global Web Index)
• The Snapchat app is the 2nd worldwide by overall mobile bandwidth usage (Sandvine)
• The average Snapchat user spends 35 minutes on the platform daily (The Daily Beast) 
• Snapchat users create 2.1 million every minute worldwide (Visual Capitalist)
• Snapchat is the inventor of social media stories, a short-lived content format available for 24 hours (Tech Crunch)

Takeaway: If you target teens for business purposes, Snapchat is the best platform to reach them, interact with your potential customers, and turn them into buyers. Since this platform brings fun and engagement, it’s no wonder that the majority of U.S. teens use Snapchat.

11. Reddit Statistics

Have you ever thought about Reddit marketing? For most brands, Reddit isn’t the most obvious social media platform to reach their target audiences. However, it is an underestimated marketing tool. Let’s find out more about Reddit.

• Reddit is among the most popular mobile social apps in the United States with almost 47.87 million monthly active users (Statista)
• 42% of U.S. Internet users aged between 18 and 24 years use Reddit (Statista)
• In August 2019, Reddit got almost 1.7 billion desktop and mobile visits (Statista)
• The average session length on Reddit is 16 minutes (Reddit)
• Reddit is the 3rd most visited in the United States (Wersm)
• Reddit accounts for over five percent of social media website traffic in the United States (Statista)

Takeaway: There’s no better way to cause a buzz around your brand or product than using Reddit. Since just a few companies use Reddit for marketing purposes, it’s a goldmine for companies that want to drive website traffic to your content, generate leads, or acquire customers.

Conclusion

If you want to plan a successful social media marketing strategy, it’s important to keep up with the current digital trends. Not only does it help to find out what your target audience wants to learn about your brand and products, but it also helps to understand where your potential customers are. Now that you know social media statistics 2019, it must be easier for you to decide what social media platform is right for your business. 
For more social media marketing tips, check out this social media training tutorial.