The 21 Best Social Media Research Reports Every Marketer Should Read
Every content marketer needs data from time to time. Your articles need to be authoritative and convincing, and good data makes this possible.
And sometimes, finding this information can be a real pain in the neck. Which is the last thing you need when you're on a deadline.
So we've tracked down a whole host of quotable statistical research reports. The kind that give your writing a little extra potency.
You'll have all the ammunition you need for your next killer social marketing post.
And best of all - none of these studies were published before 2017. So you know you're getting the most up-to-date information available.
Time to dive in!
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Mention: The Instagram Engagement Report 2018
Looking for Instagram data based on real user behavior? Mention took more than 115 million Instagram posts, crunched the data, and came away with some pretty extraordinary findings. This is different from many of the other reports in this list, because it's based on actual user behavior These are real posts, with real engagement numbers.
Highlights:
- Instagram hashtags do not increase engagement on average.
- #ad is the most engaging hashtag on Instagram, which proves the power of influencer marketing.
- Tagging other Instagram users in posts does increase engagement rates
- Video posts have the highest average engagement rate of any post format
Get the latest stats from this #social media report from @Mention via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetLater: The State of Instagram Marketing 2018
This is a great example of a "state of" report. Later polled more than 3,500 businesses, brands, and influencers, wanting to know what the trends would be for 2018. This is powerful stuff for marketing writers, because it lets you speak with authority about what brands care about when it comes to to Instagram. The data is especially useful for discussing how businesses plan to allocate their resources. You'll find questions on Instagram advertising spend, promotion versus community building, and influencer marketing.
Highlights:
- 86% of businesses that currently partner with influencers plan to do more of this in 2018.
- 16% of influencers still don't disclose their affiliations when posting on behalf of a brand.
- 22% of brands have used Instagram Live, but 55% of brands plan to do so in 2018.
Get the latest Instagram statistics from @latermedia via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetInstagram: 2017 Year in Review
At the end of the year, Instagram likes to post a roundup of the previous 12 months. It includes information relevant to marketers like the most popular hashtags, most-liked posts, and top videos of that year. It also includes more fun facts like the most popular filters used, and even the top pet accounts on the platform. Dogs are clearly a big hit on Insta!
Highlights:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bep1AdrgwYU
- Disneyland (Anaheim) was the most instagrammed location in the world.
- Cristiano Ronaldo added the most followers in 2017 - 30 million.
- The most followed pet on Instagram is a dog named Jiffpom. The pooch has more than 7 million followers!
Get the latest Instagram statistics from Instagram Press via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetExpanded Ramblings: 250 Amazing Instagram Statistics and Facts
If you're looking for quotable facts and stats, this is the page for you. It doesn't contain original findings; instead, it pulls out key numbers from all over the web. Couldn't you just use Google? Well, sure. But this site saves you from bouncing around. Plus, they keep it updated, so you can safely assume that your data is up to date.Recommended Reading: Everything You Need to Know About Instagram Analytics to Smash Your Goals
Statista: Twitter User Statistics
Click that link above and you'll land on a specific Statista report: the number of active monthly Twitter users worldwide. Which is nice. But you really need to explore all of Statista's numbers. Scroll down a little and you'll find links to user demographics, mobile usage, and Twitter use by brands. Basically, you've got a lot of clicking around to do, but it's worth it! Statista also has a ton of great information about the other social networks, industry marketing trends, and plenty more. Check it out!
Highlights:
- Katy Perry is still the most followed Twitter user (108 million), but Justin Bieber is close behind (105m).
- In 2016, $1.1 billion was spent on mobile Twitter advertising in the US.
- Bleacher Report has the most Twitter engagement following of any brand, more than twice the second highest.
Get the latest Twitter stats and research from @StatistaCharts via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetOmnicore Agency: Twitter by the Numbers
This one's perfect if you need a quick source of Twitter information. It may not be as surprising as the next two on the list, but it's helpful to color in your next post. This page has all the basics: number of monthly Twitter users, percentage of those on mobile, Twitter users in the UK and US, and plenty more. These are all statistics you can find elsewhere, but Omnicore has put them all together for you!
Highlights:
- Twitter's revenue per employee is $488,913.
- Twitter can handle 18 quintillion user accounts.
Get the latest Twitter stats and research from @OmnicoreAgency via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetTwitter: Transparency Report
This one is very different, but the data may prove interesting to brands and marketers. Twice a year, Twitter releases data about a whole host of issues facing the network. This includes requests for information (from governments or otherwise), the number and location of blocked users, copyright requests, and more. For writers interested in the bigger Twitter picture, this can be valuable and interesting insight.
Highlights:
- The USA had the most information requests from governments in the first half of 2017 - 2,111. Japan was next with 1,384, and the United Kingdom was third with 606.
- 64,021 tweets were taken down between January - June 2017 for copyright reasons.
- Twitter received 715 court orders from Turkey to remove content. The next highest number was 14 (Brazil).
Have you read the Twitter Transparency Report from @Twitter? Find it here via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetTwiplomacy: Twiplomacy Study 2017
Another study for writers with a particular angle or niche. This one looks specifically at Twitter use among governments and world leaders. And it goes into remarkable detail, looking at things such as mutual connections between world leaders, whether they favor text or more visual communications, and hashtag use amongst these powerful people.
Highlights:
- The Israeli government is a big fan of social media. In 2016 it asked Twitter users to use the hashtag #IsraelRetweetedMe, and the best responses were retweeted by all 153 government accounts.
- Peru's foreign ministry follows 461 other world leaders, the most in the study. Clearly an effort to forge ties!
- The New York Times is the news organization most followed by world leaders.
Curious how Twitter impacts global diplomacy? Read the 2017 @Twiplomacy Study here via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To Tweet
Facebook IQ: The Annual Topics and Trends Report
Facebook releases two monthly reports: "Topics to Watch" and "Hot Topics." These cover a range of topics (duh!) and tell you what's trending on the social network. At the end of the year, Facebook IQ takes these reports, fills in a few blanks, and releases an overarching study to sum of the year. Thanks to the breadth of topics covered, it's a potential goldmine for most marketers:
Highlights:
- Conversations about cryolipolysis have trended up sharply for more than a year, and grew 19x in 2017.
- Blockchain conversations were up 146.9x in 2017, compared with 2016.
- Mixed reality saw 122x growth in conversations.
Read the annual Facebook IQ Topics and Trends Report from @facebook via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetBuzzsumo: Facebook Engagement for Brands and Publishers 2017
Buzzsumo does a lot of social media analysis. In this study, they looked at more than 880 million Facebook posts from July 2016 - June 2017. And they found something startling. Engagement for posts of all types plummeted in January 2017. The study attributes this to a greater emphasis being placed on Facebook advertising, and organic reach becoming harder to achieve. The study has plenty of great nuggets, which will help any marketers who needs to know about Facebook engagement rates.
Highlights:
- Even as companies focused on video posts during this period, video only made up around 10% of all posts.
- Image posts saw the biggest drop in engagement rates.
- The 2016 presidential election may have played a role in this drop in engagements.
Read the Buzzsumo: Facebook Engagement for Brands and Publishers 2017 report from @BuzzSumo via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetCPC Strategy: Facebook Consumer Survey 2017
As you can probably guess, CPC Strategy is focused on social media advertising. So this study is all about consumer behavior as it relates to advertisers. If you want to know why Facebook users click here and not there, this study is a great place to start. The company partnered with Survata for a 1,500-person survey. While this isn't a huge number, we get a great idea of how Facebook users respond to ads. And of course, there are some excellent numbers for those looking for quotable tidbits!
Highlights:
- 18-24 year-olds are the least likely group to click on Facebook ads.
- 26% of users who clicked on an ad went on to complete a purchase.
- 47.4% of users discovered a new product through Facebook.
Read the CPC Strategy: Facebook Consumer Survey 2017 report from @CPCstrategy via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetWordstream: 75 Super-Useful Facebook Statistics for 2018
Let's end on a super-quotable piece. Similar to the Omnicore page above, Wordstream has scoured the web for a whole heap of digestible Facebook stats. If you need a few numbers for your blog intro, or to strengthen an argument, this is an excellent resource.
Highlights:
- 42% of customer service responses on Facebook happen within the first 60 minutes.
- Brands post on Facebook 8 times per day, on average.
- Facebook users only consider 28% of their Facebook friends to be genuine friends.
Read the 75 Super-Useful Facebook Statistics for 2018 report from @Wordstream via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetSnapchat
Business of Apps: Snapchat Revenue and Usage Statistics 2017
Here's another nice piece tying together lots of different data. Snapchat was a media and marketing darling in very recent memory, and has since faded from view somewhat. But that doesn't mean that marketers don't care about the platform - they just need away to make it work. This post has 4 main sections: user statistics (demographics), usage statistics (number and types of snaps sent), Snap Inc. revenue, and Snapchat versus Instagram. So if any of these float your boat, give it a look!
Highlights:
- As of 2017, Snapchat users send 3 billion snaps per day.
- Twice as many users prefer Snapchat Stories (45%) over Instagram Stories (21%).
- 45% of college students say they would open a snap from a brand they don't know.
Read the Business of Apps: Snapchat Revenue and Usage Statistics 2017 report from @BusinessofApps via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetSocial Report: Instagram Stories vs Snapchat Stories - 2017 Statistics
One of the key social media trends of late is Instagram Stories. Instagram marketing is hotter than ever, and brands are looking for ways to better leverage the image platform. Naturally, they're turning their attention to Stories, a feature that takes up a lot of valuable real estate in the Instagram layout. But as we know, Instagram Stories are basically Snapchat Stories, and perhaps marketers shouldn't be too quick to ignore the original. This piece uses data to comlet's the two, which is perfect for marketers unsure of the main differences.
Highlights:
- "Snapchat usage and engagement have gone down 15 to 40 percent since the release of Instagram stories."
- 11 out of 12 top social media influencers posted more Instagram Stories than the Snapchat equivalent.
- Instagram influencers report engagement rates 3-5x higher than on Snapchat.
Read Social Report: Instagram Stories vs Snapchat Stories - 2017 Statistics from @TheSocialReport via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetThe Daily Beast: The Data Snapchat Doesn't Want You to See
This one is a double-whammy. The Daily Beast got its hands on 5 months of daily user data from Snapchat, which gives you some nice statistics to work with. That's the link above. But this is accompanied by a scintillating article detailing the company culture and work life at Snapchat, and explains why this data was never supposed to be released. Both are worth checking out (and quoting), but there's plenty of interesting activity data for those not interested in the juicy details.
Highlights:
- Snapchat employees are not allowed to use Snapchat at company parties! They even have to tape over their phone cameras.
- Snap Maps' usage has been consistently declining since its launch.
- Saturday is easily the most popular day of the week to post to Snapchat Stories, followed by Friday.
Read The Daily Beast: The Data Snapchat Doesn't Want You to See via the @CoScheduleBlog here:
Click To TweetYoutube
Social Bakers: YouTube Statistics
This is a very nice resource! It's interactive, which is nice, and let's isolate the statistics you really care about. Choose data for large countries like the US, UK, or India, pick your industry, or select from a range of categories like celebrities, sport, or brands.
Highlights:
- T-Series - an Indian music and film studio - has the most YouTube views of any channel. It also has more than 20 million subscribers.
- Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift have the largest celebrity audiences on YouTube (in that order). Fourth is KondZilla, a Brazilian music video producer.
Read the Social Bakers: YouTube Statistics report from @socialbakers via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetFilmora: Mind Numbing YouTube Facts, Figures and Statistics 2017
Sometimes, you just want a nice visual breakdown of social stats. Filmora has done exactly this. This study provides both standard data points (number of daily users, number of videos uploaded daily), and some less obvious ones (video removals for copyright reasons, average length of video by genre, and more). As always, the goal is to find easy-to-use data about social media, and this post has you covered for YouTube.
Highlights:
- 62% of YouTube users are male.
- 32% of videos are taken down within 24 hours for copyright reasons. 18% of the time, the user account is also terminated.
- "Despacito" is the most viewed YouTube video of all time.
Get the latest @YouTube facts and stats from @Filmora_Editor via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetStatista: YouTube - Statistics & Facts
We've included a Statista report above, and, really, could've probably found one for every section of this post. Seriously, it's a great site and worth clicking around. Some of the data needs to be paid for, but there's plenty available gratis. The YouTube section of the site includes data on channels and creators, YouTube usage, marketing and advertising spend, so all of the must-know data points for marketers.
Highlights:
- The highest-earning YouTuber is Michelle Phan, with a reported net worth of US$50 million. Controversial star PewDiePie is next at $18 million.
- The most subscribed-to channel in 2017 belongs to PewDiePie, with nearly twice as many new followers in 2017 than the runner-up (Hola Soy German).
- The fastest video to go viral is still PSY's "Gangnam Style," which hit 100 million views in four days.
Get the latest @YouTube stats from @StatistaCharts via the @CoScheduleBlog
Click To TweetSocial Media Trends
Not every social media marketing post is platform-specific. It can be just as interesting to look at the global social picture, and consider how these technologies should impact marketing. Here are the social media studies to use next time you write about the state of social media.CoSchedule: 101 Social Media Statistics You Need to Know to Build Your 2018 Strategy
Here's another great stats round-up. Easy to read, not too long, and full of great data to pull out. Plus, you can download the whole thing as an infographic, which is always neat. There's not much more to say about, really. If you can't find something interesting in this, you need a better imagination.
Highlights:
- 67% of Americans say they get news from social media.
- 70% of social media time is spent on mobile.
- 81% of millenials check Twitter daily.
AdWeek: 50% of Gen Z ‘Can’t Live Without YouTube’ and Other Stats That Will Make You Feel Old
It's no surprise that Generation Z (young people born between 1996 and 2010) are highly attached to social media. But as this generation enters the workforce over the next decade (and the consumer-force), it's important for marketers to understand what makes them tick. AdWeek put together this infographic after interviewing around 1,500 teens ages 13-20. There are plenty of tasty stats (including the one in the title) which help us learn more about these young people we'll soon all be sharing a cubicle with. And of course, it's all social media-related.
Highlights:
- 95% of respondents use YouTube, while only 52% use Twitter.
- Only 9% of Gen Zers say they can't live without Facebook.
- 61% of responders said it was OK for celebrities to publicize a brand in a video without disclosing any ties.
BONUS: 70 Social Media Stats to Share With Your Team
Still need more stats to power your research? Snag this free infographic packed with 70 social media facts and figures to help guide your strategic decision-making.Ready to Execute Your Social Media Strategy? Read These Next.
- Planning: How to Create a Social Media Strategy in 3 Steps With a Template
- Content Strategy: How to Develop a Winning Social Media Content Strategy (Free Template)
- Campaign Planning: How to Crush Social Media Campaign Planning
- Social Media Writing: How to Write for Social Media to Create the Best Posts
- Image Sizes: The Best Guide to Social Media Image Sizes Every Marketer Needs
- Design: How to Make the Best Social Media Images the Easy Way (+128 Free Images)
- Reporting: The Best Social Media Report Template to Show Your Results
Time to Get Writing
So that's one huge list of social media reports, including some of the biggest highlights from each. Now you'll have no excuse not to spice up your next post with a little extra data. So what did we miss? Are there any spectacular social media studies you rely on for your data-driven work?Ready to Execute Your Social Media Strategy? Get Certified Next.
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