Facebook Stays & Snapchat Rises: Social Media Trends Worldwide

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In 2010, 1.8 billion people worldwide were active on social media. This number has now grown to 2.7 billion. Where previously the popularity of social media was mainly driven by the success of Facebook, the social media landscape has become a lot more complex in 2015. Channels such as Instagram, Snapchat and Vine are attracting more and more users. In short: social media is becoming fragmented. But how do you, as a marketer, ensure that your social media strategy really connects with your target group? And that you use the right channels without fragmenting your brand?


Everyone goes 'social'
Worldwide, half of consumers (with internet access) use at least one social media channel daily, according to the TNS study Connected Life . In the Netherlands, this is even 54 percent. The trend among baby boomers (45 – 65 years old) is particularly interesting: 81 percent of them can be found on social media and 49 percent even use it daily.

81 percent of baby boomers are on social media and 49 percent even use it daily

Another important trend is that of paraguay telegram number list instant messaging. 58 percent of the Dutch use this daily. An increase of 9 percent compared to last year. It is therefore no longer just the young people who can be reached via social media. Regardless of the age of your target group, be present as a brand on social media.

social-universe-expanding-fast

Is Facebook dead?
Many social media strategists predict a happy end for Facebook. With new players like Instagram, Vine and Snapchat, this may be a fair assumption. But is this true? If it were up to the consumer, no! Not only did Facebook reach 1 billion users in one day for the first time this year, Connected Life also shows that the platform is still number 1. Almost a third of global internet users (30 percent) use it every day.

30% of global internet users are on Facebook every day

In the Netherlands, we even see the popularity of the platform increasing among Generation X (31-45 years): 58 percent use Facebook daily, while last year this was 52 percent. However, Dutch youngsters do seem to be moving away from the platform. Daily use among them (16-30 years) has dropped from 69 percent to 63 percent compared to last year.

It depends on your target audience
As a marketer, it is therefore important to look at who your target audience is, before you decide whether you should invest further in Facebook. While young people are leaving, Facebook is booming among older generations!

research-social-media-tnsnipo-2015

But the landscape is much more complex than just Facebook
Where consumers used to be active on just one or two social media channels, more and more channels are now being used alongside each other. Worldwide, 4.8 different platforms are used every week. In addition to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram are particularly popular in the Netherlands. As a marketer, your social media strategy must therefore go beyond Facebook alone. But which social media you use depends largely on who your target group is. For example, where we see in Connected Life that Snapchat is hardly popular among older people, the daily use of this platform among Dutch young people (16-30 years) has doubled compared to last year (from 7 percent to 14 percent).

One brand despite the fragmentation of social media
The fragmentation of social media offers opportunities for your brand to reach your target group via different channels and at different times. At the same time, it also puts you as a marketer to the test: how do you ensure that, despite the fragmentation of social media, you maintain one consistent brand image? Community managers and social media managers are often guided too much by as many 'likes' as possible. But does this really achieve your goal? If you want to be present as a brand via different social media channels, regularly ask yourself whether your approach and content match what you really want to radiate with your brand.

About Connected Life
The trend in this article is the second trend in a series of 8 from the global study Connected Life . Every week I publish one of the trends based on insights and cases. The first trend is about the connected consumer .

Connected Life 2015 is an annual study of digital behavior among 60,500 consumers in 50 countries, representing 90 percent of the global online audience. The output is need-to-know material for developing digital and connected strategies for markets, targets and consumer segments.