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Social Media Marketing In The United States

Social media plays a big role in marketing for many businesses in the US, and while it can be a very effective part of an overall strategy, it can also feel intimidating and confusing for people who have little or no experience with it. We’ll walk you through some social media facts and figures for the United States, and you’ll also find a number of useful resources at the end of this page for how to make the most of your own social media marketing efforts. Many business use it quite successfully and you can, too.

If you live in the United States, you won’t be surprised to hear that social media plays a big part in business and in the personal lives of Americans. More than half of the population has an active social media account, and people spend spend 144 minutes daily on these social media platforms. And with 72.5% of the population having active social media accounts, the US is in the top 4 most social-media-savvy nations.

Top social media platforms in the US

Facebook remains the reigning champion, capturing a significant 70% of social media page views in the US. However, its dominance faces increasing challenges from video-centric platforms like YouTube and TikTok

Despite facing stiff competition from TikTok, Instagram maintains a strong position with 10% of social media page views in the US. The platform's focus on visual storytelling and influencer marketing continues to attract a large user base.

While not yet reaching the stratospheric heights of Facebook, TikTok's rapid rise has made it a force to be reckoned with. The short-form video platform now enjoys 8.4% of social media usage in the US, particularly among younger demographics.

While its growth has slowed compared to earlier years, Snapchat remains a relevant platform with 7.6% of social media usage in the US. Its unique features like disappearing messages and augmented reality filters continue to attract a loyal user base.

Top 10 Social Media Platforms Ranked according to share of Visits

Mobile plays a big role in social media in the US, 78% of social media users access platforms exclusively on their mobile phone: This emphasizes the convenience and accessibility of mobile-first social networking. Include mobile in your social media strategy, as it is definitely used by people to access their accounts.

Social Media in your marketing mix

So, how does social media play into your marketing mix in the United States?

To get a better understanding of what resonates culturally in the US, pay close attention to well-known Facebook pages, how your competition has developed relationship with their customer base, Twitter feeds from influencers you can find in Globig Connect, Twitter influencers in your industry, popular YouTube videos from Americans and highly regarded companies, and other social media content and campaigns that are popular and successful.  It’s important to spend time learning about your target audience and their relationship with other brands. Look at each section of their sites, conversations, posts, and learn what inspires and engages consumers, what they think is entertaining, and what gets traction going viral. As you do this review, look for companies that have commonality with yours in terms of their product and/or target audience to be as relevant as possible with your findings.

Here’s a campaign that was considered a big success in 2015. Honest Tea did something of a social experiment that captured people’s imagination, leading to a lot of engagement, sharing, and buzz. They also used influencers to help them share their stories and reach the right audience.  

Keep these things in mind as you begin to build out your social media strategy for the United States:

• Know your customers and prospects well enough to understand where they spend their social media time and what they expect from brands they like. Is it Facebook? Twitter? LinkedIn? YouTube?

• How can you build a relationship and dialogue? What matters to your prospects emotionally? What motivates them? What are they most likely to share and how can you use that understanding?

• How is your competition successfully using social media?

• What campaigns go viral in your space and what can you learn from them?

• What influencers are sharing content similar to your own? And how can you create a relationship with them?

• Create campaigns that are fun, interesting, informative, and worthy of someone’s time to share

• Provide the kind of content that Americans like to engage with

• Use images and infographics to capture attention and break up text

• Add in buttons to make it easy to share and ask people to use them

• Recognize and cite other authors and contributors to your work and even co-author with the right people

• Reciprocate and recognize other people’s work. They’ll be more inclined to share yours also

• Get help from experts when you need it

Insights on using  social media for business from Social Media Examiner

Twitter best practices:

Moz’s Beginner’s Guide To Social Media: Twitter

31 Twitter Tips: How To Use Twitter Tools And Twitter Best Practices For Business from Forbes contributor Ken Krogue  (Note that Topsy.com, referenced in the article, is no longer in service)

LinkedIn best practices:

Moz’s Beginner’s Guide To Social Media: LinkedIn

LinkedIn’s Best Practices For Your Company Page

Facebook best practices:

Moz’s Beginner’s Guide To Social Media: Facebook


Marketing your business on YouTube:

Moz’s Beginner’s Guide To Social Media: YouTube

The Definitive Guide To Marketing Your Business On Youtube from Forbes contributor Jayson DeMers

YouTube Marketing: The Ultimate YouTube for Business Guide
 

Pew Research Center has a number of interesting studies on social media usage in the US:

Men Catch Up With Women On Overall Social Media Use

Social Networking Fact Sheet