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Social MediaMarketingReport2016
Marketing Report 2016
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
WEBPERIAL

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Introduction
Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and others have
transformed the way we interact with customers, offer products and services, and communicate
with employees. It has become commonplace in the modern marketing landscape as a tool to
increase revenues and brand recognition. In fact, research conducted by LinkedIn found that
roughly 8 out of 10 small and medium-sized businesses are turning to social media for growth,
and of those that use social, 94% do so for marketing purposes.1
Figure 1. 8 out of 10 small businesses are using social media in their marketing efforts.
The platforms themselves are free to use, and they also have paid advertising options
specifically for brands that want to expand their reach. Every business needs to evaluate which
networks they should be using. Each social network specializes in a certain niche within its
users, so becoming acquainted with each one is vital in order to optimize a business’ social
media effectiveness.
1
Wagner, K. (2014, February). LinkedIn: 81% of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Use Social Media. Retrieved December
30, 2016, from http://mashable.com/2014/02/13/linkedin-social-media-study/#UIa7Vg7XWgqY

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Social Media Platforms
The biggest and most content-rich social media network is Facebook. It has 1.71 billion
monthly active users, with 823 million of those being active through mobile-only. The network
giant boasts about a billion daily active users - that is - users that actively login every day and
perform an activity on the platform. 50 million small business pages are actively registered, yet
only about 2.5 million of those businesses pay to be “active advertisers”. 78% of Facebook
advertising revenue comes from mobile ads, while mobile advertising represents 80% of
Facebook’s advertising revenue. With Facebook’s massive user base, businesses can leverage it
to their benefit regardless of what niche they are focusing on.2
Figure 2. Majority of respondents carry out social media marketing on Facebook.
Acquired by Facebook, Instagram is a social media network known for its large selection
of picture filters and easy sharing options. With 400 million active users and over 60% of them
logging in daily, it is now the second most engaged network after Facebook. The platform’s
popularity has surged in the last two years, causing usage of Instagram to double. Approximately
49% of brands are on Instagram, and that number is predicted to rise to 71% by the year 2017.
Instagram is the best social and mobile platform for brands to reach audiences they are willing to
2
Pick, T. (2016, January). 47 Superb Social Media Marketing Stats and Facts. Retrieved on December 30, 2016 from
http://www.business2community.com/social-media/47-superb-social-media-marketing-stats-facts-
01431126#cq3m1E70X6OfSVc8.97

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engage. Its high engagement is driven by its content simply being more sharable, easier to
understand, and far more universal than other platforms’ content. Visual storytelling is an art
form of Instagram that has the power to capture the attention of a wide audience with engaging
content. It is no surprise that of the top 100 brands in the world, 90% of them have an Instagram
account for these reasons.3
Twitter is a social network known for its real-time updates and trending hashtags. It has
310 million monthly active users, with 80% of them accessing the site via mobile.
Approximately 66% of US companies with 100+ employees using its platform for marketing.
The average Twitter user follows five businesses, and a little over half of users reported that they
had taken action after seeing a brand mentioned in a tweet. Actions include visiting a company
website, searching for the brand through a search engine, or retweeting content (Smith). Twitter
is the perfect place to listen and learn about their business and their competition. Businesses can
gather insight through following industry hashtags, leaders and experts in their industry, and
competitor’s accounts for real-time updates. Customer service is another reason that makes
Twitter stand out from other social media platforms. Fans and followers expect to be answered in
a timely manner and maintaining an active presence on the platform strengthens consumer
relations.
Pinterest is a visual social media network focused on digital storytelling through
“Pinning” a message encapsulated into a picture. It has 100 million monthly active users, most
notably 81% being of the female gender. Pinterest is also one of the fastest-growing social
platforms among millennials. 66% of content that users pin comes from brand websites, and
while most people interact with brands for discounts and customer service, on Pinterest people
interact with brands 83% of active users prefer to follow a brand than a notable celebrity, and the
user sentiment spreads across any category in the platform (Smith). Pinterest also drives
significant referral traffic, only second to Facebook’s which influences purchases. Pinners are
engaged, and according to research released by Millward Brown, 87% of Pinners have purchased
a product because of the platform.
LinkedIn is a professional networking social media platform with 450 million members.
Of those, 100 million access the site on a monthly basis. Over 3 million companies have created
LinkedIn accounts, yet only 17% of US small businesses use LinkedIn. Of all social media
platforms, LinkedIn is the most B2B-centric. Half of all users are likely to buy from a company
they engage with on the platform and 8 out of 10 B2B marketers use LinkedIn as a medium to
release a new product or service (Smith). The networks allows companies to establish thought
leadership and build online communities with professionals. Securing an active online presence
is important for businesses to enhance their reputation and improve their visibility and search
both with search engines and LinkedIn itself.
3
Smith, K. (2016, March). Marketing: 96 Amazing Social Media Statistics and Facts for 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2016,
from https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/96-amazing-social-media-statistics-and-facts-for-2016/

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Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing has seen positive growth trends in both large and small
companies over the years. Social media itself was considered an uncertain strategy by industry
reports dated back to 2009, to a permanent fixture the next year in 2010, and finally becoming
established as a primary tool for businesses to drive growth in 2011. Currently, 90% of marketers
state that social media is important to their businesses, according to a national survey conducted
by experts from Social Media Examiner. The share of marketing budgets spent on social media is
expected to more than double from 11% today to 24% by 2020 (The CMO Survey). More
specifically, a survey conducted by Dazeinfo predicted the share of overall digital marketing
budgets devoted to social media marketing will increase from 9.9% today to 22.5% within five
years.
Figure 3. Small business owners and marketers put increased exposure via social as the top
benefit.
While organic and PPC advertising both have their applications to businesses, their
effectiveness depends on the industry and budget of the business. Paid is becoming the new
norm, and there are some best practices for any business to apply if they are serious about PPC.
Google Adwords re-enabled mobile-based bidding, meaning that businesses and marketers are
now able to tailor their keywords to the devices relevant to their business. Mobile and tablet
usage is finally outpacing desktop usage, and this realization is pushing a lot of marketers and
businesses to change the way they conceptualize and create ads for their target audiences.

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Businesses are now also including responsive ads for display in their marketing efforts, along
with the benefit of more characters for text search ads across all devices.
Figure 4. Marketers use Facebook ads twice as much as Google Ads.

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Social Media Trends & Tactics
Companies are embracing social media now more than ever. With 2.3 billion active
social media users and 91% of retail brands using 2 or more social media channels, companies
are always aware of latest trends and looking out for future ones. The most common social media
platforms companies use are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
For each platform, companies need to plan out their content – and their social media updates – on
an editorial content calendar.4 There are several key trends and tactics that companies need to be
aware of in order to maximize their social media marketing strategy.
1. Companies are capitalizing across networks in making their content promotion efforts
more visual. Tweets with images get more engagement, photos on Facebook get more
engagement, and even images on LinkedIn get more engagement. It is also
recommended to create a branded “featured image” to share with your post while also
creating separate images for each of the main points in your content to maximize the
amount it can be shared with your audience. GrubHub executes this tactic well by
posting salivating images of their products across social media platforms to
incentivize customers to order a meal online.5
Figure 5. Marketers report the increasing importance of visual content to increase
engagement.
4
Stelzner, M. (2016, May). 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. Retrieved December 30, 2016, from
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2016.pdf
5
Guest, Social Times. (2015, July). 10 Brands Doing an Amazing Job on Social Media. Retrieved on December 30, 2016 from
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/michael-patterson-10-brands-amazing-social-media/624169

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2. Businesses are focusing on refining their headlines for increased engagement through
constant A/B testing. Posting your content across social media platforms with
different titles in each, and even conducting A/B tests on across platforms as well to
see which headlines are more effective to promote your content on which social
networks. There are several tools available online that assist in researching effective
titles based on the frequency of the words used and the past performance for the
combination of words used.
3. Video content is also seeing a huge spike in popularity over the past few years due to
it being able to deliver information in a digestible way, live streaming has become a
must in today’s marketing efforts. Facebook’s live feature was a success upon release
and only serves to prove that point further. GoPro leverages the power of user-
generated content to share the experiences of its user base across its social media
platforms. Their “Photo of the day” posts reach hundreds of thousands of people.6
4. Buy buttons and other CTA’s such as downloads and subscriptions are becoming
more common in advertising on social media. They are now starting to appear in
user’s newsfeeds across platforms and profiles with fewer distinctions from organic
content. This form of an integrated cart in the daily social activities of users are
making it easier than ever to convert them into real customers.
5. As social media platforms mature, there are new forms of communication being
created within them. Some platforms are offering means of customer service,
increasing the interactivity of exchanges between brands and consumers. Facebook is
launching a new communication channel, Messenger for Business, while also
revamping their current messenger app to include more features and new user
interface design. Social platforms are coming closer and closer to bridging the gap
between brands and consumers. There is also currently a push for more
personalization. Users are tired of seeing the same types of content populate their
newsfeeds, resulting in platforms investing more into research to develop more
customization for each personal user. Facebook employs an algorithm that displays
content on a user’s newsfeed based off of past reactions with certain types of
content.7
6. Inspirational and imaginative posts are the most successful across social media
platforms. It also forces a separation from any kind of company positioning, offering
their users something valuable. It is not always about advertising the company, but
being considerate of its followers. Dove has been committed to helping women
6 Guest, Social Times. (2015, July). 10 Brands Doing an Amazing Job on Social Media. Retrieved on December 30, 2016 from
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/michael-patterson-10-brands-amazing-social-media/624169
7
Schaffer, N. (2016, March). 11 Effective Ways to UseSocial Media to Promote Your Content. Retrieved on December 30,
2016 from http://www.curata.com/blog/11-effective-ways-to-use-social-media-to-promote-your-content/

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realize their beauty potential through their empowering campaigns and content aimed
at making women truly feel good about themselves. Their “Real Beauty” campaign
was extremely successful in increasing brand exposure by creating buzz for the
company while challenging previous conceptions about female beauty.8
7. With consumers making the shift from desktop to mobile, it is vital that a company
has their website, store, ads, and other content optimized for mobile. Mobile traffic
continues to increase and Google is pushing for further mobile optimization with
features like accelerated mobile pages, which is the idea that publishers can create
mobile optimized content once and have it load instantly everywhere.
8. Sharing content at the right time is key to ensuring maximum engagement. Smart
companies incorporate this concept into their posting schedule. Some platforms have
features designed to aid you in this process, such as Facebook Insights and Twitter
Analytics. Social media management has been revolutionized by automation software
such as Buffer and Hootsuite. These social media tools aid businesses in streamlining
their content publishing across several social media platforms with deep reporting
features and several integrations with other tools, plugins, and applications. They
offer value in saving businesses time and ease with which they are able to manage
multiple social networks, collaborate with team members, and get the best results for
their social strategy.
9. Companies have seen an increase in the frequency that they post as well. The most
effective way to post content is to promote it multiple times on social media with
multiple images and headlines. With organic reach on a decline across all social
media platforms, doing this increases the probability of ensuring the audience has a
chance to see the appropriate content. Asking for questions and feedback increases
engagement with users by encouraging communication. In this form, companies
improve both their public relations with their users and their content marketing.9
10. Businesses are leveraging their employees and communities to help them promote
their content. By utilizing the strength in numbers, joining and becoming an engaging
member of relevant communities allows companies to promote their content to a very
targeted audience of social media users. There are millions of communities within
each social media platform, and businesses are beginning to become more involved
with them to reach their target audience and increase their reach with those that
matter most.10
8 Guest, Social Times. (2015, July). 10 Brands Doing an Amazing Job on Social Media. Retrieved on December 30, 2016 from
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/michael-patterson-10-brands-amazing-social-media/624169
9, 10 Schaffer, N. (2016, March). 11 Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Content. Retrieved on December 30,
2016 from http://www.curata.com/blog/11-effective-ways-to-use-social-media-to-promote-your-content/

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Future of Social Media
Social media is rapidly changing with its platforms, functionality, and best practices
along with technology bringing forth new developments throughout the years such as virtual
reality, live video, advanced analytics, and wearable technology. These disruptions have
revolutionized the way social media interacts with its users. Looking forward with the refinement
of these technologies, it is critical to continue to deliver the experiences that users derive from
being on these platforms. This could range from great customer service to great product design.
As technology continues to bridge the gap between companies and consumers, you can expect
new tactics to increase engagement and brand loyalty within followers.
With the release of live video and Facebook 360 this year, social networks are slowly
evolving to become the center of user’s consumption and entertainment. Many smart companies
are already taking advantage of live video and have experimented with great success. Buzzfeed
boasted over 800,000 views, reaching the biggest Live hit to date when they posted a video about
watermelon wrapped around with rubber bands until it exploded. With more brands becoming
acquainted with this new technology, there will be increased competition for the same reach, and
thus organic reach will decrease due to the increase in number of videos.11
Facebook is not the only platform to cut down on organic reach either, most major
platforms are cutting back on the organic visibility and instead greatly prioritizing the content
that comes from individual users. While this serves to enhance the user experience by tailoring
their newsfeed to content of their liking, one of the peripheral effects for brands is an increase in
spending to promote their content.12
With the major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
maturing, new social platforms could emerge and focus on niche segmentation. Snapchat for
example, has been adding a handful of customizations to its photos and videos for users to send
privately and temporarily that appeals to a very specific social need that the major platforms
have not capitalized on. These small, yet meaningful differences are the novel experiences that
these new platforms can focus on. A greater diversity of platforms with smaller, more focused
user bases for each one is a trend that will continue.13
11, 12, 13
DeMers, J. (2016, August). 5 Possibilities For the Futureof Social Media Marketing. Retrieved December 30, 2016,
from http://marketingland.com/6-possibilities-future-social-media-marketing-188391

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Figure 6. Social Media users continue to use a relatively diverse array of platforms.
A realm of new opportunities and platforms will stem from new technologies such as
virtual and augmented reality. They present the opportunity to revolutionize the way we
communicate and provide innovative ways for users to experience the world around them. The
deep immersion that these experiences offer tend to emphasize any message, which leads to a
greater payoff in the result of greater engagement. With greater real-time interactions, more data
will be available to continuously improve the service and gather insights from users to discover
new avenues of application to the technology.

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Appendix
Figure 1. 8 out of 10 small businesses are using social media in their marketing efforts.
Source: LinkedIn Survey
Figure 2. Majority of respondents carry out social media marketing on Facebook.
Source: Social Media Examiner

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Figure 3. Small business owners and marketers put increased exposure via social as the top
benefit.
Source: Social Media Examiner
Figure 4. Marketers use Facebook ads twice as much as Google Ads.
Source: Social Media Examiner

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Figure 5. Marketers report the increasing importance of visual content to increase engagement.
Source: Social Media Examiner
Figure 6. Social Media users continue to use a relatively diverse array of platforms.
Source: Pew Research Center

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References
Wagner, K. (2014, February). LinkedIn: 81% of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Use Social
Media. Retrieved December 30, 2016, from
http://mashable.com/2014/02/13/linkedin-social-media-study/#UIa7Vg7XWgqY
Smith, K. (2016, March). Marketing: 96 Amazing Social Media Statistics and Facts for 2016.
Retrieved December 30, 2016, from
https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/96-amazing-social-media-statistics-and-facts-for-
2016/
DeMers, J. (2016, August). 5 Possibilities For the Future of Social Media Marketing. Retrieved
December 30, 2016, from
http://marketingland.com/6-possibilities-future-social-media-marketing-188391
Stelzner, M. (2016, May). 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. Retrieved December
30, 2016, from
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2016.pdf
Demers, J. (2016, November). 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2017.
Retrieved December 30, 2016 from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2016/11/10/7-social-media-marketing-trends-
that-will-dominate-2017/#54354c3373a2*
Guest, Social Times. (2015, July). 10 Brands Doing an Amazing Job on Social Media. Retrieved
on December 30, 2016 from
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/michael-patterson-10-brands-amazing-social-
media/624169
Pick, T. (2016, January). 47 Superb Social Media Marketing Stats and Facts. Retrieved on
December 30, 2016 from
http://www.business2community.com/social-media/47-superb-social-media-marketing-
stats-facts-01431126#cq3m1E70X6OfSVc8.97
Schaffer, N. (2016, March). 11 Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Content.
Retrieved on December 30, 2016 from

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http://www.curata.com/blog/11-effective-ways-to-use-social-media-to-promote-your-
content/
Greenwood, S. (2016, November). Social Media Update 2016. Retrieved on December 30, 2016
from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/