As they say, the only constant is change. In the social media sector, platforms evolve and trends vary frequently. Although each business is different, when assessing the online presence of a company or personal brand it is very common to ask which are the social networks most used by users.
“Which network is the best option to showcase my products or services?” There are many companies that rely on the popularity of a certain application to decide on that platform. But, while it is interesting to know this type of data, it is necessary to be aware that The use of the most used social networks does not imply assured success for brands (have you also noticed that the definition of success varies depending on the business objectives?)
Having assumed that point, let us continue. Here you will find a review of the most popular apps of the moment. And a very useful bonus because it includes the factors that must be taken into account before starting a strategy in any social network.
Table of Contents
A matter of data
As an agency specialized in Social Media, we could base this content on our own perception of social networks (inspired, of course, by our years of professional career managing very diverse brands). But it is precisely this experience that makes us even more aware of the value of data and the need for a more global perspective.
We have selected real statistics extracted from the latest studies of Hootsuite and Metricool, two of the most used social media management tools at the moment. The information is completed with brushstrokes of the Digital Report 2022 of the creative agency We Are Social (with special emphasis on the information it provides on the most used social networks in Spain).
Social Media Trends 2022
Just by taking a look at the data on social media and digital trends, we can see that the number of users in networks has not stopped growing in the last year. There are already more than 4.62 billion users worldwide! (Almost 41 million people correspond to Spanish users of social networks).
Based on the data, what would be the most used social networks? Although the reports highlight the rapid growth of YouTube’s audience (with more than 2.56 billion active users), the platform par excellence worldwide continues to be Facebook. The third place would correspond to WhatsApp, although there are those who prefer to leave instant messaging systems out of the analysis. We leave this consideration to your discretion…
What is out of all subjectivity is the considerable development of Instagram and TikTok, the next platforms in the ranking, with a constantly increasing audience. In fact, the popularity of the latter is so palpable that Instagram has been forced to adapt its formats and strategies. An evolution of which it is worth highlighting the decrease in the reach in posts and stories (the scope of the profiles that use these formats has fallen between 20% and 25%) in favor of reels and carousels.
The most used social networks in Spain
If we focus on the local terrain, the data is quite aligned with global statistics, with YouTube and Facebook being the most visited websites in our country. Only surpassed, as you may be imagining, by the Google search engine. Zero surprises in this regard, right?
Focusing exclusively on the use of social networks, Facebook is crowned as the winner (with a percentage of use of 73.3%), although very close to Instagram (with 71.7%).
Business Goals in Social Media
What do thousands of people in the sector think about these data? Hootsuite’s sixth annual report includes a global survey of 18,100 marketers and interviews with marketers. This post includes a selection of data; but, if you want to dig deeper, you can download their Social Media Trends 2022 resource for free.
Pay attention, here is a very revealing fact. To the question “What social networks do you consider most effective to achieve your business goals?” It is curious to see how the response of respondents varies considerably with respect to last 2021.
Although consolidated social media for years (Facebook, Instagram) continue to occupy the top positions (although their perceived effectiveness has decreased significantly in this latest study), platforms such as TikTok have experienced a considerable increase in voting. The results, ordered from highest to lowest efficiency according to the opinion of the respondents, would be as follows:
The perceived effectiveness of social media
- YouTube
- TikTok
Results that, as highlighted from Hootsuite, show “optimism in the effectiveness of less traditional networks”. This, as they point out, is due both to its impressive growth rate and to the fact that users of these platforms are more prone to the consumption of promotions, as they are less saturated with brands. Which is why it is understandable that more and more advertising is being invested in TikTok and other expanding applications.
Keys to social media presence
We already have an idea of the most used social networks today, but before we start giving cane to your content on these platforms, we encourage you to take some time to think about your purpose on these platforms (in another post we reflected on the objectives in social networks).
Be clear that the determining factor to be present in a social network should not be its number of active users.
Instead, think better about these questions: On which platform would it be easier for your brand to differentiate itself from the competition? What are the social networks most used by your potential customers? It is important in this last question to distinguish between the platforms that are used the most and those that your target uses the most, because they may not coincide. In that case, the logical thing is to focus on the media that interests your audience even though there are fewer active users than in other applications.
Conclusion
If you have come to this section with the conviction that the key to success for your business is to open a profile in the networks most used by users, you need to internalize a little more the reflections of this post.
Although when applying a strategy it is interesting to take into account the most current data (and the scope that each format can provide), It is not a matter of adapting your brand to the most successful formats but of taking into account which of those formats fits your strategy best.
Assess the time, resources and tools your company has (and don’t forget the target your products or services are targeting!) to determine which network responds to those needs.
