Since 1997 when the first social media site was created, social media usage has continued to increase exponentially, and it hasn't reached its peak yet. With the advent of social media came social media marketing as businesses of all kinds and sizes searched for ways to reach users on these platforms. If you're like most people, you probably believe that social media marketing is growing in today's world, but how well is it growing? Here are some facts about the rise of social media marketing across the world.
How many people use social media?
The usage of social media around the world is ever-increasing as many different platforms exist today with a large user base. To put it in perspective, more than 4.48 billion people are using social media across 6.6 social media platforms every month. This is based on the data provided by social networks about their monthly active users (or MAUs).
According to the available data, the number of people actively using social media worldwide was 3.69 billion in 2020, which means a 13.13% increase. Also, the number of social media users back in 2015 was only 2.07 billion, meaning the usage stats skyrocketed by 115.59% in just six years. Interestingly, the number of users was projected by Statista to hit 4.41 billion in 2025, but that prediction is already a reality in 2021.
How much time do people spend on social media?
With the explosion of social media platforms and the addition of exciting features by social networks, users are slowly becoming social media addicts. The amount of time spent on social media platforms may vary from person to person, but the latest social media statistics in 2021 show that the average user spends about 2 hours and 25 minutes per day.
Going further, a survey of 46 countries found that the average person will spend 36.5 days a year on platforms from the age of 16+. Also, the survey found that users in the Philippines spend the most time on social media at 4h 15m while people in Japan spend the least time at 51 minutes.
The amount of time people spend on social media drives the growth of SMM as it unveils countless opportunities for brands to effectively reach their target audience.
Factors that have influenced the growth of social media marketing in the last decade
Social media has exceeded many growth projections, and it doesn't seem the trend will stop any time soon. The question that begs for answers is why social media marketing has experienced significant growth worldwide in recent years. Here are three top reasons:
1. Billions of users
Social media marketing is primarily driven by numbers. The number of social media users is staggering and explains why marketers are exploring the available opportunities.
2. Increase in mobile internet users
Several reports reveal that the number of users accessing social media via mobile devices is on the rise. This has resulted in an increase in the number of time users spend online.
3. Gen X and millennial effect
Combined with the rising usage of mobile devices, many millennials and Gen X users are making the most purchases from social media today. As a result, businesses are also finding it easier to sell on social media than before.
How businesses are leveraging social media marketing
Most businesses are usually careful about what marketing strategies they adopt, but social media has proven to be one of the most versatile and cost-effective strategies that boost sales over time. Many brands now rely on social media to effectively promote their products, with more than 97% of marketers admitting that they engage in social media marketing.
Furthermore, reports indicate that many customers also use social media to search for products. For example, a recent study showed that 54% of social browsers use social media to research products.
Challenges businesses face in social media marketing.
Although social media marketing holds a lot of benefits, marketers often face some challenges while attempting to market the products and services of their company. Whether you're an expert or a newbie to SMM, you will readily agree that it isn't as easy as it seems. Here are the most common challenges that get most marketers stressed regarding social media marketing.
Knowledge about what customers want: Success in social media marketing hinges on knowing your prospective customers enough to identify what they want. Knowing their interests and preferences can help you get more leads and more business. Unfortunately, many businesses struggle with discovering their customers' behavior and preferences.
Connecting social network streams to the website: You may have a live video on your social media handle that is very informative and may benefit visitors to your site. Still, unless you know how to connect the streams to your website, you may be unable to reap the potential benefits, including increased website traffic, hosting successful virtual events, boosting exposure for the content and more. Hence, you will need software that allows you to do this seamlessly.
Providing personalized experiences: While many businesses have a functional website running, they cannot convert visitors to customers and repeat customers because they display a single, one-size-fits-all experience. In addition, recent surveys show that a growing population of internet users get dissatisfied when their content on a site isn't personalized.
How DG1 can help solve these problems and grow your business
DG1 is an all-in-one digital growth system with enterprise-level capabilities designed to boost the growth of small and medium-sized businesses. DG1 has shown to be an effective solution to a variety of marketing challenges, but here is how it solves the problems listed above:
Provides information about customers' interests and preferences: The most successful marketing strategies are developed with a target audience in mind. By identifying the interests and preferences of your potential customers, you will be able to create content that will generate leads and conversions. Customer interests and preferences may sit too far in the silos, but DG1 can help you gather the relevant data you need to understand your target audience.
It has a feature to connect Twitter and Instagram streams to the website: Another intriguing capability of DG1 is that it can help you connect Twitter and Instagram streams to your website. It's an open secret that video content brings a lot of value to the business. It ranks better and is more engaging than texts. With DG1, you can easily connect streams from your Twitter and Instagram accounts to your website without any hassles.
Attract and convert site visitors to customers: Social media marketing offers a high ROI, but after bringing visitors to the site, many marketers struggle to convert them to customers - which is the overall goal of every campaign. DG1 offers promotion engines that are highly configurable while also providing visitors with a personalized experience.
Why DG1?
There are many third-party services out there that promise to help SMEs grow their business, but they typically prevent their users from accessing customer data. DG1 does the exact opposite by returning the power to business owners. According to Tony Arbolino, "When I become famous, I've been approached by hundreds of marketing reality proposing to manage my e-business. After several failures, we chose DG1, a software company. Why? Because popularity helps get results online, you need proper tools and support. That is what we got with DG1."
Conclusion
Social media marketing allows businesses to reach their target audience and spend the most chunk of their time. Given that social media marketing is cost-effective and offers a high ROI, it is expected that it will continue to grow significantly in the coming years. So, if you're looking to grow your business via social media marketing, DG1 is the solution to use.
