Updated Statistics for Social Media

The Pew Research Center is a public interest organization the collects and publishes data on subjects ranging from politics to religion, science and technology. Pew has a reputation for gathering accurate, unbiased information in numerous areas. Just a few weeks ago, Pew published its summary of social media statistics for 2017.

Pew’s “Social Media Factsheet” reports that more than 70% of all Americans now use some form of social media. Keep in mind that the term, “use” includes diverse things ranging from connecting to family and friends to shopping to gathering news. The biggest news story for the social media in general has been the possible misuse of this technology to manipulate political opinion. For an internet marketing agency, the biggest story is still. “How do we fashion branding strategies, SEO techniques and create digital marketing solutions using social media?”

Pew’s report does not directly answer these questions, but it does point to some useful clues. You can read the entire report at pewinternet.org, but here is a brief summary.

Facebook continued to lead the social media race in 2017, BUT Facebook is still the most-widely used social media platform, but only if you do not count YouTube as social media. Pew reports that more adults now use YouTube (73%) than Facebook (68%). Strictly speaking, YouTube is not social media in the sense that Facebook is; you cannot post on a YouTube ‘wall’ or timeline or exchange cute notes. However, as a medium for transmitting a message, YouTube is outstanding. Anyone fashioning branding strategies or designing digital marketing solutions can put up their message free-of-charge after it is produced.
Importantly, you now find YouTube links embedded in Facebook pages. The two media are embracing one another to make a formidable team. This offers opportunities for an internet marketing agency to build in organic SEO and create SEO link building completely within its own control.
Twitter is in decline. Twitter’s growth has been flat and many business analysts doubt that Twitter can become profitable (see Forbes.com’s article, “Why Twitter Is Not The Future Of Marketing”). They ask how often people make buying decisions based on someone’s ‘tweet.’ For most people, even those who go to Twitter frequently, the answer is “Never.” Twitter’s usefulness in digital marketing solutions may be limited to directing readers to a YouTube, Facebook or Instagram site.
In 2017, smaller numbers of Americans used Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn. However, the growth of Snapchat and Instagram has been impressive, especially among young people. Like YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram tell stories and convey messages visually. To a large extent, these stories are of only personal or group interest, but internet marketing agencies are beginning to incorporate these platforms into their branding strategies and digital marketing solutions.

All of this information may be interesting, but how useful is it to a small business owner, a nonprofit organization or a professional practitioner? Probably not very much; you do not have the time or inclination to deal with these matters. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional digital marketing skills needed to guide your web presence to the rankings it should have. Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Our digital marketing and business marketing teams are able to combine traditional marketing techniques like printing and direct mail with creative web services. Please visit our home page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348 to find out how Axiom Administrative Services can fill your digital marketing needs.