Social media is hard to imagine away from our daily lives these days. Last year, the platform BeReal appeared out of nowhere on many smartphone screens and meanwhile, the platform TikTok, which blew over from Asia, is still steadily increasing in popularity and total users within all kinds of different target groups. With all these new platforms in the Appstore, is there still room and need for 'old' platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? Besides, is there such a thing as social media overkill?
If Newcom Research and Consultancy is to be believed, we will continue to make considerable use of our favourite social platforms in the coming years, according to the Social Media Survey 2022 - now the 12th edition of this fascinating study. Despite the ever-increasing number of new entrants to the social media market, we still can't seem to get enough of endlessly scrolling through feeds, reels, stories, shorts and, of course, paid ads, although the latter is usually taken for granted. We have therefore started using social media more actively compared to the year 2021; both in absolute number of platforms and total minutes.
Rise and fall
In particular, TikTok is a big riser and also the winner in terms of total new users. However, this is not to say that the other platforms are lagging behind. Instagram is also making a remarkably big jump and other platforms are also continuing their growth of recent years. Not forgetting Whatsapp, which is now part of Meta, accounts for a very large percentage of total daily usage among most. This too is social media. Twitter is back after a couple of down years and has started a big rise. Linkedin continues to rise moderately as they have been doing for years. The only exception in this story is Facebook.
Use of this giant has been declining sharply since 2018 relative to other platforms. This is mainly due to the ageing population seen on the platform and the emergence of other platforms that cater to more specific needs than Facebook. Not everyone wants to share more photos with 1241 of their Facebook friends including their 2015 holiday romance. Oh and that great-aunt who sends a glitter card every year as a message on your birthday never actually speaks to you either. Fast forward to Snapchat or TikTok! Despite the drop in totals, Facebook still accounts for a large percentage of daily usage, just behind Whatsapp.
Panic for advertisers?
All those rising users, increase in platforms and opportunities within them... Is the advertiser feeling this in the wallet? The short answer is no. The increase in users theoretically means more 'advertising inventory' is available. After all, more users means more opportunities to display ads resulting in lower prices.
The new platforms are also shaking up the previously monopolists like Facebook and Instagram with new features and USPs for which advertisers should choose their platform. After all, 3 years ago it was not possible to advertise on TikTok, which is known for its super fast user-generated content, or to advertise on Reddit, which is known for the high engagement of the various communities within which you can advertise. The spread of advertisers across the different platforms ensures further positive competition in terms of prices and also functionalities. So don't panic!
Alona's Advice
Social is here to stay. The increase in users, platforms and functionalities offer advertisers more opportunities than ever to achieve the goals that are important to their business. However, the growth in platforms brings with it a fragmentation of consumption per platform. So think carefully beforehand about who and what you want to reach, with which objectives and KPIs, and then decide which platform suits this and what budget you need for this in relation to your chosen target group size.
