Social media marketing constantly changes how businesses interact with their customers in new and exciting ways. So how do you stay on top of this vital but ever-changing social media landscape with your marketing campaigns? By having your finger on the pulse of the trends and best practices in social media marketing. This blog post breaks everything you need to know in our 25 Social Media Marketing Statistics for 2022.

What Does the Digital Advertising Landscape Look Like?

1. Digital advertising in the United States is expected to increase from $211 billion in 2021 to $240 billion in 2022. This is an increase of ~14%. 
2. This corresponds to a digital ad spend of $585 per person in 2022, which is a 6.5% increase from 2021. But this increased focus is causing the price of digital advertising to increase by 45% on average. 
3. How does this look on individual platforms? Facebook and Instagram saw an increase of 60% in how much marketers spent on their ads year over year from 2020 to 2021.

Social Media Usage in 2022

1. 4.26 billion – that’s right, billion – people have social media accounts worldwide. That’s a market you simply must be able to tap into to effectively market your products.
2. When people spend time on the internet, 1/3 of it is on social media sites.
3. In the US, 68% of internet users are on social media, with the percentage increasing with how young the user is. This breaks down into 90% of teenagers being on social media, 90% of millennials, 77% of Gen Xers, and 48% of Baby Boomers.
4. And on average, these groups spend 2.5 hours on social media and messaging apps.
5. And 40% of internet users between the ages of 18 – 34 are using social media to buy products.
6. Even more telling is that 54% of internet users sign on to social media for product research. 

Interacting with Customers on Social Media 

1. And it matters how you treat your customers. Nearly 71% of customers who have positive social media interactions with a brand recommend it to their friends.
2. And when companies interact with customers on social media, customers will spend anywhere from 20% to 40% more on products.
3. It’s all about the visuals. Visual formats, like pictures and text, have a much higher rate of being shared on social media – 40 times more likely, in fact.
4. And if people like your branded content, they’ll share it – 74% of users share branded video content.  
5. But unfortunately, 40% of customers are using ad blockers, which disables the ability of your ads to get through to your customers.
6. But when ads get through, they’re effective. 49% of users between the ages of 18 and 29 have bought a product they saw from a social media ad.

What’s Important to Consumers?

1. Transparency! Surprisingly, 86% of US internet users valued transparency so much that if the brand wasn’t being transparent, they’d buy items from a different company.
2. Social consciousness is also very important to consumers, with 70% saying that they want brands to take public stands on issues.
3. This sentiment is true across the political spectrum, with 78% of liberals and 52% of conservatives agreeing that brands should be more political.  
4. But taking a public stand can have a huge backlash because 55% of consumers said they might boycott a disagreeable brand. 

How Are Businesses Utilizing Social Media Advertising?

1. The verdict is in: social media marketing campaigns are used by pretty much everyone, with 92% of American businesses utilizing them.
2. And the rate is even higher among small business owners, with 96% of them using social media marketing campaigns.
3. And these campaigns are having a positive effect. 90% of businesses say it has improved their exposure, and 75% of marketers say that these campaigns have increased traffic to their websites.  
4. By the end of 2023, digital advertising spending is expected to be $270 billion in the US. This is an increase of 13%.
5. And this trend is expected to continue. By the end of 2025, digital advertising spending is expected to be $315 billion, which is an increase of an astounding 106% from 2020 levels.

What can we learn from all these statistics?

We know this is a lot of information to wrap your brain around. But the takeaways are clear: digital marketing across social media sites makes up most advertising spending, and all signs point to this continuing to be the case. Likewise, consumer behavior and brand expectations are also changing. Consumers now value transparency and a feeling of connection to the brands they use.  

SocialToaster can help you make the most of this changing landscape. With SocialToaster, you can amplify your social media marketing efforts by turning your brand fans into content-sharing machines. Learn more and schedule your demo here.