Our digital habits and the digital market in Australia and globally are dynamic entities that are constantly evolving and, as a business owner or marketer, you need to adapt accordingly. Social media plays an enormous role in a modern approach to digital marketing and no business can afford to ignore the need for, and benefits to be derived from, including social media marketing to your overall digital strategy.
Savvy marketers and business owners must harness the power of social media to optimally expand their reach, generate leads, and attract and engage with new customers.
What is the social media state of play in Australia in 2022?
We Are Social and Global Statistics recently released the Digital 2022 Report. This provides an analysis of Australians’ online behaviour over the last 12 months and reported that:
- Australians are spending much more time and money online now and we have the highest social media penetration rate globally today. (GlobalStatistics)
- We are joining and interacting on social media more than ever before, with almost 83% of Australians being active on social media (one million more than a year ago).
- The average Australian spends almost 2 hours on social media every day and 88% of us use social media to keep in touch with friends and family – who can be captured as organic lead generators for the brands they prefer.
- 80% of all online activity in Australia occurs via mobile devices. (ABS)
- Social influencer marketing is more valuable to businesses in 2022 than celebrity endorsements for Gen Z and Millennial audiences.
- In terms of popularity and penetration in Australia, the top ten social media platforms rank as follows:
- Facebook Messenger
- iMessage
- Snapchat
- TikTok
- Facebook users spend an average of 17.6 hours using Facebook monthly – and it remains the most popular, most used platform in this country. Australia is, in fact, among Facebook’s most important global markets. Almost 77% of social media users have an active presence on Facebook, and Facebook Messenger comes in at second place with 66.4% of users. As such, every business should view Facebook as an essential first step in their social media presence and marketing strategy.
- Video represents the most popular type of content marketing and generates a high ROI. YouTube remains the favoured video content platform for marketers and was second only to Google as the most visited site in Australia in the last year.
- Instagram is the nation’s third-most-popular social platform, with 57.7% of social media users adopting the platform. Owned by Facebook, it has a high population of youth users and is a great revenue stream for companies and content creators.
- TikTok has primarily driven the dramatic increase in our use of social media in the past year. It is a more recent platform that is widely used by people aged between 16 and 64. TikTok users spend an average of 23.4 hours using the platform monthly – an increase of 40% in a single year. It provides content that draws in its audiences and is predicted to continue growing exponentially for the foreseeable future.
- Twitter, one of the older social platforms and a micro-blogging site, still enjoys a 29.5% share of all social audiences, particularly Gen X and Baby Boomers. It is also extremely valuable for businesses to tap into as part of their digital strategies. Tweets that include an image or external link perform exponentially better than those that don’t.
- Pinterest is an image-sharing social platform with an audience penetration of 28.7% and is more popular amongst Gen X, older Millennials, and even some Baby Boomer audiences.
- LinkedIn is the preferred social platform for professionals seeking to network and it has an audience penetration of 26.2% in Australia in 2022.
Which platform/s should you use?
There are numerous social platforms from which to choose when designing your social media marketing strategy. But you shouldn’t strive to have a business presence on every platform; instead, consider which platform/s best suit your brand, your customers, and your target audience to generate the most leads and engagements and deliver a positive ROI.
For example, if your brand targets a Millennial or Gen Z audience, you will likely wish to include Instagram, TikTok, and perhaps Snapchat. If you are a professional or B2B entity, LinkedIn and Facebook are essential. A design, fashion, or similar business with a focus on a middle-aged, female audience may see you incorporate Pinterest into your strategy.
It takes research, understanding your audience and your customer, and a targeted strategic approach to getting it right. Interestingly, social media users prefer to not be targeted for advertising campaigns based on their age or gender – so you need to find and implement different targeting strategies.
Dot-to-Dot Digital can help!
Need help with social media marketing?
Our expert team of digital strategists has the experience and talent to help your business succeed online – and social media marketing is just one aspect of this. For Facebook Ads and much, much more, we will work with you to understand your business and your customers, help you identify the right social platforms to focus on, and design and implement a social media marketing strategy that gets you real results.
Book a digital strategy session with us now – or give us a call to have a chat about what you need and how Dot-to-Dot Digital can deliver for you.
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