Breaking Down The Highest Performing Social Platforms of 2019
Social Media In 2019
According to a recent study by Statista, 79% of people in the United States have at least one social media profile. As we enter 2020 marketers agree that if you’re not investing in digital marketing, you’re doing something wrong. However, with a growing number of social media networks, the importance of understanding each platform is vital to your brand’s success.
As of July 2019, Statista reported a total of 2.375 billion active users on Facebook. Facebook’s reach extends far beyond the United States with 270 million users in India, 120 million users in Brazil and thousands of other users around the world.
Facebook introduced the option to advertise on their platform in 2007, launching themselves more than a decade ahead of most of their competition on rival platforms. Facebook’s ad platform has grown over the years to easily provide advertisers access to the stats they care about most such as return on ad spend, cost per purchase, purchase conversion value and more.
If you advertise on Facebook you’ll have access to a huge market of engaged users with the ability to optimize your ad creative and targeting to generate optimal value. Facebook additionally has known success across all age groups. Pew Research Center reported that even 50% of people 65 years old and older say they use Facebook regularly.
While Facebook is proven to drive advertising results time and time again, don’t count out including alternative advertising methods into your marketing mix. Facebook’s popularity is a double-edged sword. Their growing popularity makes advertising extremely competitive and drives up the cost of impressions.
Instagram currently has over 1 billion active users. However, the platform vastly caters to much younger users. According to Pew Research Center, 67% of 18 – 24 year olds use Instagram while the platform only reached 47% of 30 – 49 year olds and 23% of 50 – 64 year olds. If your brand is targeting Gen Z, Instagram may be the ideal platform for you.
Instagram users are predominately young and on trend so it’s no surprise their standards are higher when it comes to favorable ad creative. If you plan on advertising on Instagram you should prioritize high-quality lifestyle creative that conveys a strong atheistic. With over 100 million photos uploaded every day, it’s going to take some serious planning and brainstorming to stand out from the crowd.
While it may be harder to capture your audience’s attention on Instagram, it’s well worth the effort. According to Sprout Social over 200 million Instagram users visit business profiles every single day and 80% of Instagram users follow businesses they like.
YouTube
YouTube is the second most popular social media network worldwide with nearly 2 billion active users. The platform is incredibly popular with almost all age groups. Oberlo reports that YouTube reaches 90% of users in the United States between the ages of 18 and 44.
If your business is available both in the United States and internationally, YouTube is a great outlet to explore. The platform is extremely popular not only in the U.S. but around the world. Hootsuite reports that despite YouTube’s popularity in the United States, U.S. users make up only 15.8% of the site’s total visitors.
With over 1 billion hours of video watched on YouTube every single day, advertising on the platform is a great opportunity for marketers. A report conducted by Google reported that 90% of users said they discovered new brands and products on the site.
If you pride your ability to generate high quality video ads that easily elicit an emotional reaction from your target audience, YouTube advertising is going to be a great fit for your brand.
Snapchat
Snapchat caters to a much smaller and more niche target audience. The platform currently hosts just 294 million active users paling in popularity in comparison to Facebook and YouTube. However, the platform has dominated the young adult market.
According to Omnicore, 90% of Snapchat users are between the age of 13 and 24 and of those users 61% identify as female. While Snapchat is the ideal platform if you’re looking to target Gen Z women, bear in mind that Snapchat remains fairly unpopular outside of the United States. MediaKix reported 92.25 million of Snapchat’s users live in the United States with France coming in as the second most popular country with only 18.5 million users.
Pinterest
As Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are becoming more competitive for advertisers, many marketers are looking to Pinterest for lower CPMs and higher click through rates.
While Pinterest only has 265 million active users, their users tend to be more engaged and visit the platform specifically to find new products and make purchase decisions. Similarly to Google, many users turn to Pinterest to search for items they’re already interested in purchasing. Pinterest reports that 83% of weekly Pinners have made a purchase based on pins they saw from brands on the site.
While the Pew Research Center reports that only 28% of adults in the U.S. use Pinterest, Pinterest is still especially useful if you’re looking to target users interested in fashion, home decor and beauty. These industries have found great success on the platform where the majority of users are interested in these topics and the competition pales in comparison to what you’ll find on Facebook.
Twitter currently has around 330 million active users. If you’re looking to introduce your product to an educated and affluent market with a strong interest in current events and social justice, Twitter is the platform for you. Twitter reports that 80% of their users are affluent millennials.
While Twitter has shown little success generating ROAS for brands in the fashion and beauty space, they can provide great return if your product has ties to social advocacy or politics. If your brand strongly supports a social initiative Twitter is a great platform to investigate.
Twitter is also a great platform if you’re looking to boost brand awareness surrounding a live event. Twitter reports that Twitter ads are 11% more effective than television ads during live events. If looking to build a loyal following for your upcoming television series, Twitter is a powerful tool that allows your viewers to become part of a larger community and a dedicated fandom.
Reach out to a DRM team member today to discover which social platform is the best for your brand and how you can utilize social marketing to increase your revenue!
