Top 40 Social Media Stats Brands Must Know in 2021: Social Media Platforms Overview

COVID-19 drastically impacted how consumers interact with social media – transforming consumer behaviors, data, and trends. The pandemic accelerated social media usage and adoption, making it more important than ever for businesses to leverage social media marketing. Check out the list of up-to-date social media stats that every business should know to optimize their social media strategy.

Stats on Social Media Usage

1. Globally, over 3.6 billion people use social media and the number is only projected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025.

2. Internet users spend an average of 144 minutes on social media per day.

3. 84 percent of US adults aged from 18 to 29 are active social media users.

4. An average person has an account on more than 8 different social media networks.

5. 91% of social media users are accessing social channels via mobile devices.

6. Ad spending in the Social Media Advertising segment is projected to reach $111 million in 2021.

7. Sharing and engaging often happen away from where a piece of social media content was originally posted. In fact, 84% of content sharing happens outside of social media on other platforms, including instant messenger, email, and SMS.

8. Of the people who discuss a brand on social media, 96% of them do not follow the brand.

9. Product research is one reason why 54% of internet users access social media.

10. Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and YouTube are the top 3 networks for every age group globally.

Source: Statista

Stats on Social Media Networks

11. Facebook still reigns as the most used social network in the world. In Q3 2020, the network reported over 2.7 billion monthly active users (MAUs).

12. Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million of them use Instagram Stories.

13. In Q3 2020, Twitter reported an average of 187 million monetizable daily active users (mDAUs), up 29% year over year.

14. eMarketer estimated that Instagram added 26.9 million users between 2016 and 2020 — almost double the incremental users expected for Twitter, and far more than any other social platform tracked.

15. 81% of businesses post video on Facebook.

16. LinkedIn made more than 8.1 billion in revenue in 2020, a 20% increase from 2019.

17. YouTube is the second most popular channel for businesses sharing video content.

18. As of April 2021, TikTok has 732 million global active users.

19. TikTok was the most downloaded app in 2020.

20. 87% of people on Pinterest have bought a product because of Pinterest, while 93% use Pinterest to plan a future purchase.

21. 98.3% of Facebook users access the platform on mobile devices.

22. Facebook Stories have 500 million daily viewers.

23. Link clicks account for 92% of all user interaction with tweets.

24. Instagram experienced a nearly 14% jump between 2019 and 2020 in its users’ time spent on the app, to an average of 30 minutes per day. This was higher engagement growth than all other social platforms.

25. 45% of marketers have gained customers through LinkedIn.

Social Media Customer Experience Stats

26. 37% of consumers who use social media to complain or question brands expect to get a response in under 30 minutes.

27. 18.7% of U.S. social buyers completed their most recent purchase without leaving the social app.

28. 69% of U.S. citizens said that by directly messaging with a brand (whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, or any other platform), their overall trust in that brand increased.

29. 93% of Twitter community members are open to brands getting involved in conversation, such as providing help and support.

30. 40% of holiday shoppers say they are more likely to consider buying from a brand they can message.

31. 60% of Internet users say bad customer service is a concern when making an online purchase.

32. Forrester predicts digital customer service interactions will increase by 40% in 2021.

33. 59% of brand replies to user Tweets occur within 15 minutes.

34. 35% of American customers post negative comments about companies on social media, and 53% post positive comments.

35. 64% of people would rather message than call a business.

Social Media Marketing Stats

36. 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations on social media.

37. The use of social media for marketing campaigns is growing, with more than 91% of American businesses adopting this practice.

38. 63% of marketers believe social media marketing is extremely important to their business.

39. For marketers who have used social media marketing for two years or more, 50% have seen increased sales.

40. 67% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing.

The world of social media is constantly changing – along with consumer behaviors and trends. Keeping up with the latest social media data can help keep your social media strategy up to date and optimized.

Looking to enhance your multi-location social media strategy? Request a free demo to see how Chatmeter can supercharge your brand’s social media strategy to drive business exposure and customer acquisition.