Social Media A Special Report brought to you by THE MEDIACENTER   © 2016 THE MEDIACENTER. All rights reserved.

We Are the World Social media has provided billions of individuals with a forum to share their lives, their thoughts and their goals as well as generating personal and commercial opportunities not previously possible.   The following numbers, as of January 2016, clearly demonstrate social media’s prominence on the world stage. World population – 7.395 billion Internet users – 3.419 billion Active social media users – 2.307 billion Unique mobile users – 3.790 billion Active mobile social users – 1.968 billion

In Every Corner of the Globe Maybe, an even better gauge of the globalization of social media is a look at the penetration rate in countries that we in the western world don’t often equate with social media use. Albania, 45%; Fiji, 42%; Mauritius, 44%; Mongolia, 44%; Surinam, 44%. By comparison, the active-social-media-user penetration rate for the US is 59%; France, 50%; Germany, 36%; Canada, 58%; Russian Federation, 48%; China, 47%; and Japan, 41%.

Another American Revolution Just 7% of US adults and 10% of Internet users were using at least one social networking site during 2005. By 2010, these percentages had increased to 46% and 60%, respectively, and then 65% and 76% during 2015. Although 90% of adults, 18–29, were social media users during 2015, older groups – even the oldest – represented significant shares of the audience: adults, 30–49, 77%; adults, 50–64, 51%; and adults, 65+, 35%. Of greater importance to the business world is social media penetration by income. Those with an income of $75,000+ lead the way, at 78%; followed by $50,000–$74,999, 72%; $30,000–$49,999, 67%; and less than $30,000, 56%.

The Smartphone Effect Smartphone technology has become an affordable option for many Americans to be regular social media users. The Pew Research Center has found that 19% of US adults say they “do not have any other form of high-speed Internet access at home” or have a “limited number of ways to go online other than their cell phone.” During 2015, there were 149.5 million US social media users on smartphones, or an 83.1% penetration rate, and those numbers are forecast to increase to 187.1 million and a 91.9% penetration rate by 2020.

Profiles of the Giants More women than men are Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest users, and both are essentially equal for Twitter and Tumblr. Instagram and Tumblr skew significantly younger than the other three, with users younger than and older than 35 relatively the same for Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Among ethnic groups, the percent of Latino Americans are forecast to increase the most on Facebook and Twitter from 2015 to 2020, with European Americans and African Americans remaining approximately the same.

Social on the Go According to eMarketer, the number of Americans using a mobile phone to access social networks will increase from 151.2 million during 2015 to 187.1 million by 2020. The share of mobile-only social media users of all social media users will increase from 27.9% during 2015 to 37.5% by 2020. The numbers are similarly enormous for accessing social networks on a tablet, with 108.2 million during 2015 and a forecasted 129.2 million during 2020, which equates to just more than two-thirds of all tablet users.

Mobile Socializers During 2015, 50.3% of all US mobile phone users visited Facebook via a mobile browser or app, or a total of 129.9 million, which will increase to 163.3 million by 2020. Twitter’s numbers are much smaller by comparison: 46.3 million mobile phone users during 2015 and a projected 66.7 million by 2020, or a 24.1% penetration rate. Instagram claims 47% of all users via a mobile phone and 53% via tablet while Pinterest’s 80% of traffic on mobile matches with its lopsided female usage numbers.

Facebook – and Then All the Others Facebook’s Q1 2016 financial report not only beat Wall Street expectations, but also Apple, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Microsoft, which all missed Q1 forecasts. For 2016, Facebook’s global ad revenues will total $22.37 billion, with 54% from non-US markets and 46% from the US market. By 2018, total revenues will increase to $33.84 billion. An April 2016 survey of 551 global social media marketers found that 95.8% of them said Facebook delivers the best ROI, with Twitter a distant second at 63.5%, and Instagram third at 40.1%.

Video Is Now and the Future Video is growing so fast that by 2018 Cisco has forecast it will be 79% of all global Internet traffic. Add the ubiquity and popularity of mobile, and video views on mobile devices are increasing 6 times faster than video views on all devices. According to a 2016 Invodo report, “64% of shoppers say they are more likely to buy from retailers who incorporate visual content into the in-store experience and 75% of shoppers will interact with visual content on product pages.” “Mobile video budgets will increase 11 times from 2015 to 2020. Social video generates 1,200% more shares than text and images combined.”

The Snapchat Factor No other major social media network skews as young as Snapchat, with 63.0% teens and young adults, 13–24, and 21.0% of adults, 25–34. The incredible growth in video views on Snapchat is clear proof that it is likely to be the primary content form for these teens and young adults as they grow older and become high-spending consumers. According to Q1 2016 reports, Snapchat added 1 billion daily video views, increasing from 7 billion to 8 billion during that 90-day period. Not only is this 500% more video views than Q1 2015, but also equals Facebook’s total.

Social Media and Business, Part 1 For many brands and businesses, including local retailers and small advertisers, the social media phenomenon has dropped on them like a ton of bricks. The first step for brands and businesses before joining and/or adding to the social media conversation is to listen to what is being written and shared about them, their competitors and their industry. What people want is to converse with someone that will be helpful, uses common language instead of sales-speak and projects the personality of an individual, not a corporate robot.

Social Media and Business, Part 2 Social media is an opportunity to engage with consumers and customers to strengthen a company’s brand, forge long-term bonds and simply be social with them.   Social media content must be created solely from the perspective of the audience. Content should first be useful, inspiring, entertaining and/or educational. Consumers then must be allowed to make the connection between the content they see and how a brand or business’ products and services can help them.

Social Media and TV Are a Cozy Couple For those in the television industry as well as most all other industries, the rapid growth and rabid popularity of social media has been a shock. It’s important to recognize that TV has always been a social medium in that what people see generates conversations and interpersonal engagements about a sitcom plot, last night’s primetime sports event or the impact of world news. Although the same can be said about newspaper and radio, TV has done it at a scale all other media have never approached.

Evidence of TV and Social Media’s Compatibility “One of every 5 social engagements for brands is directly driven by television advertising. “When TV and social ads are compared, television ads drive 35% of social brand engagement and social ads drive 65%. “Premium TV content has nearly twice the impact of non-premium content on driving social brand engagement with Sports and Live driving the highest engagement-per-impression performance.”   (courtesy of Turner and 4C research)

Social Media Insights as a Sales Advantage Many retailers and advertisers are either struggling with their use of social media or haven’t yet made a comprehensive effort to benefit from its value. You can use the insights in this MEDIACENTER special report to show them how cross-promoting social media with television is the smartest decision and most effective use of their marketing/advertising budgets. Social media can’t be ignored or avoided. Helping advertisers gain confidence in its use as a marketing medium by pairing it with a medium they already know – television – puts you in a competitively superior position.