There are a lot of things people say about social media advertising. Some say it works only for B2C businesses, others that they work only for small ones. Some even dare to say social media advertising isn't effective at all.
None of that is true. Social media advertising works! How do I know that? Because there's a long list of stats that prove my point. Don't let yourself be guided by what other people say. Here are 50 of the top stats showing how effect social media advertising really is.
Be sure to checkout our Q4'17 social media advertising benchmark report for the latest CPM, CPC, and CTR trends.
Facebook Advertising Stats
1. In 2016, Facebook made $26.2 billion dollars in revenue from their ads system, 95% of their total revenue. It also boasts a massive $19.81 average revenue per user in the U.S. and Canada. – Techcrunch
2. Facebook dominates the social network ad spending market worldwide by accounting for more than 65% of the total. – eMarketer
3. In Q4 2015, the company had 50 million active business pages on its platform while only 6% of them actively advertise. – Facebook
4. Facebook has 6 million active advertisers. – Facebook
5. 70% of Facebook's advertisers are outside the U.S., while a vast majority are small businesses. – CNBC
6. Facebook is the fourth most effective social media platform to deliver content (both paid and organic), with a 41% effectiveness rate. – Linkedin
7. 78% of marketers are satisfied with their Facebook ads. – Contently
8. 52% of B2C marketers consider Facebook marketing to be more effective, while only 38% B2B marketers do so. – Social Media Examiner
9. 56% of B2C marketers have indicated that Facebook ads have helped them generate revenue for their business. – MarketingProfs
Source: MarketingProfs
10. 57% of the advertising budget of companies is dedicated to mobile. – Kinetic Social
11. Images are responsible for 75 to 90% of an ad’s performance on Facebook. – Source
12. A Facebook video receives, on average, 135% more organic reach than a Facebook photo. – Socialbakers
13. Over 70% percent of marketers plan to increase their use of video ads next year. – Mixpo
14. 44% of SMB owners and marketers plan to put money behind video content on Facebook in 2017. – Animoto
15. According to one study, the average click-through rate of a Facebook ad is 0.9% and the average cost-per-click is $0.64. – Adweek
16. Compared to regular web advertising, Facebook desktop ads have 8.1x higher click-through rates while mobile ads have 9.1x higher click-through rates. – MarketingLand
17. Link Ads are most popular kind of Facebook ad. – SmartInsights
18. The most effective length for an ad title on Facebook is 4 words, and 15 words for a link description. – SmartInsights
Takeaways
Facebook ads' popularity and usage among businesses is growing fast. Still, 94% of Facebook pages don't use them, so there's a lot of room for growth.
Add images or videos to your ads as they have higher reach and effectiveness. Also, target your ads to mobile, as it takes a big part of most advertisers' budget. That's likely caused by the fact most people use Facebook with their mobile as well as the costs are lower.
Last but not least, use ad titles with 4 words and link description with 15 words. If possible, use link ads.
Instagram Advertising Stats
19. Instagram has 600 million users, 400 of which use it daily. This surpasses Twitter and Snapchat's daily usage. – Statista
20. By 2017, Instagram’s global mobile ad revenues will reach $2.81 billion, accounting for over 10% of parent company Facebook’s global ad revenues. – eMarketer
Source: eMarketer
21. 48.8% of brands are on Instagram. By 2017, this is predicted to rise to 70.7%. If we only look at the top 100 brands in the world, 90% have an Instagram account. – eMarketer and SimplyMeasured
22. Nearly three quarters of American companies with 100 employees or more will turn to Instagram for marketing purposes in 2017.– eMarketer
23. 29% of B2B marketers use Instagram. – Content Marketing Institute
24. 63% of B2C marketers are more likely to increase their investment in Instagram ads than 48% of B2B marketers. – Social Media Examiner
25. Only 36% of marketers use Instagram, leaving you plenty of space to reach out and engage with the audience. – Selfstartr
Source: Selfstartr
26. 52% of marketers plan to increase their use of Instagram in 2015. – Social Media Examiner
27. Over a third of Instagram users have used their mobile to purchase a product online– making them 70% more likely to do so than non-users. – Global Web Index
28. Instagram users spend on average $65 per referred sale. In comparison, Facebook users spend $55, and the average referred sale from Twitter is just $46.26. – Shopify
Source: Shopify
29. 75% of Instagram users take action, such as visiting a website, after looking at an Instagram advertising post. – Shopify
30. 50% of Instagram users follow at least one business while 60% say that they learn about a product or service on the platform after looking at an Instagram advertising post. – Instagram
31. Ad recall from sponsored posts on Instagram is 2.9x higher than Nielsen’s norms for online advertising. – Instagram
Takeaways
Instagram isn't used as much by B2B businesses, but it's still an effective paid channel that's growing in popularity, especially among big brands.
Instagram is a perfect channel if you run an e-commerce store, as most Instagram users tend to act after looking at an advertisement. Also, the average spend per user and the intent of purchase are higher than other social media channels.
If you don't run an e-commerce business, Instagram can still be highly effective to increase ad recall.
LinkedIn Advertising Stats
32. LinkedIn is used by 94% of B2B marketers. – Content Marketing Institute
33. LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform to deliver content (both paid and organic), with an 82% effectiveness rate. – LinkedIn
Source: LinkedIn
34. Even though Facebook is the most important social network to marketers overall, LinkedIn is the top choice for B2B marketers—41% say it’s the most important network they use. - V3 Broadsuite Blog
35. Just 18% of B2B SMB marketers are using LinkedIn ads. These same marketers are using Facebook ads at a rate of 75%. – Social Media Examiner
36. LinkedIn generates more leads for B2B companies than Facebook, Twitter or blogs individually. – Inside View
Takeaway
As expected, LinkedIn is used mostly by B2B marketers. For some reason, however, most of these marketers work for larger businesses, while most small business B2B marketers focus on Facebook. Still, if you work for a B2B business, LinkedIn would be one of your safest bets.
LinkedIn works best for lead generation and its effectiveness rate is the highest of all social networks.
Twitter Advertising Stats
37. Twitter has an active user base of 130,000 advertisers. – VentureBeat
38. Twitter is used by 84% of B2B marketers. – Content Marketing Institute
39. 88% of B2B marketers in North America use Twitter for content distribution. – DMR
40. Twitter is the second most effective social media platform to deliver content (both paid and organic), with a 66% effectiveness rate. – LinkedIn
41. 25% of Twitter advertising budgets are dedicated to mobile, and 89% of Twitter’s Q1 revenue in 2015 came from mobile. – Infini Datum
42. Promoted tweets have been attributed to a 29% increase of offline sales. – Twitter
43. In 2014, 80% of U.S. marketers use promoted Tweets. eMarketer
44. People who see video ads on Twitter are 50% more likely to be aware of the advertiser’s brand, feel 14% more favorable about the brand, and had 18% higher purchase intent (versus those not exposed to video ads). – Twitter
Source: Twitter
Takeaways
Despite what some may think, Twitter is used by a great majority of B2B marketers. This has to do with its effectiveness to deliver content, which is the second highest among all social networks.
Twitter video ad campaigns drive positive shifts in key brand metrics for advertisers.
YouTube Advertising Stats
45. YouTube is used by 74% of B2B marketers. – Content Marketing Institute
Source: Content Marketing Institute
46. YouTube is the third most effective social media platform to deliver content (both paid and organic), with an 64% effectiveness rate. – LinkedIn
47. When it comes to deciding what to buy, 6 in 10 YouTube subscribers prefer to follow the advice of their favorite creator over their favorite TV or movie personality. This paid relationship would work like an ad, but not a direct one. – ThinkWithGoogle
48. 71% of businesses with more than 100 employees use YouTube. – Social Media Examiner
49. 48% of marketers plan to add YouTube to their content strategy in 2017. – Hubspot
50. YouTube's net U.S. video ad revenues account for 18.9% of the U.S. digital video ad market. – eMarketer
Takeaways
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. If you have video ads, use them on YouTube, even if you work in a B2B industry.
Using YouTube with the Display Network to promote your video ads isn't the only way you can foster its power. You should look to partner with influencers to promote your business. Also, instead of trying to make a sale right away, focus on teaching people, which will increase your engagement and relevancy.
Conclusion
In this article we revealed the real power of social media advertising. As you have seen, the big five social media networks are highly effective for any kind of business. It's still true, however, that some work best for certain kinds of businesses than others. That's why you need to choose the one that are most relevant to your needs.
Now it's your turn. Which of the big five social media channels shown here have you used to promote your business? Which have been the most effective of all?