Marketing in any format is all about knowing and appealing to your target market, something you cannot do on social sites, if you don’t know where your markets are. As has become customary, in this article we review the statistics for social media users in the UK for 2018.
Statistics For Social Media Users In The UK For 2018
Social media continues to go from strength to strength and our usage doesn’t seem to be diminishing, as the stats will show. So, let’s dive in and review the 2018 stats relating to each platform beginning with the most popular, Facebook.
Facebook UK Users
Despite the problems with data that Facebook has experienced over the last couple of years, it remains the most popular social media platform both here in the UK and around the world.
- The platform is used by over half the UK population (32.6 million) with around 45% using it every day.
- Facebook themselves point to the increased use of mobile for viewing the platform and adding posts.
- The hot UK summer in 2018 led to nearly 14 times more engagement on the social media site. Incidentally, it also led to an increased spend online of 18.5%.
- An IPISIS Mori poll found that usage was high across all age groups. The highest was the 23 to 27 age demographic, where 80% engaged with the platform.
- Younger users may be moving to other platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram. The research shows that 12-24 year olds as new users were down 10% in 2018.
- The most popular subjects discussed by UK users still seem to be family and friends, food and the outdoors.
Twitter UK Users
Twitter can be slow to release any detailed information regarding their user habits and stats. There has been a suggestion in recent times, that they have overestimated the number of active users in the UK.
- According to Statista, there are currently 13.7 million Twitter users in the UK.
- While often thought of as a platform for ‘older’ users, 45% of 16-22 year olds have an account.
- The majority of Twitter users in the UK are under the age of 34.
- In the UK, nearly 60% of Twitter users are men.
- 77% of users feel a lot more positive about a brand if that company replies to their tweets personally.
- If a brand uses Twitter to provide help and support, 60% of consumers expect some response within an hour and thirty minutes.
YouTube UK Users
Across the world we’re starting to watch a tremendous amount of video, particularly on our mobile devices. YouTube is still slightly more popular with men (51%) than women (49%) and use of the platform tends to decrease with age.
- The most popular searches on YouTube are for comedy, music, pop culture and how-to videos.
- The average video viewing time was just 3.7 minutes.
- Research by Google found that 60% of us prefer online video platforms to live TV.
- 81% of businesses have used video as a marketing tool.
Pinterest UK Users
Pinterest often gets short shrift when it comes to marketing, but it can be a powerful tool if your business aligns and has a visual essence. With over 200 million users worldwide, it’s a channel that is used by far more women than men, though that may be changing.
- 72% of users have said that Pinterest can inspire them to start shopping even if they were just browsing and not looking for anything in particular.
- 80% of users access the site through their mobile app.
- More men are signing up to Pinterest – according to the platform 50% of new signups are male.
- People use the site more to plan for their lives and collect rather than engage in social interaction.
Instagram UK Users
Instagram has seen a steady increase in users to 700 million in 2017/18. As a primarily visual social media platform, some businesses have found it difficult to find the right approach in their marketing activity.
- The platform is skewed more towards a younger audience with 18-24 year olds taking up half the time online.
- Hashtags on Instagram are important with 70% being branded.
- 80% of users admit to following at least one business on the platform.
- Among UK users signed up to the platform, 22% use it either several times a day or at least once a day.
Google+ UK Users
Following a data breach last year, the future of Google+ is uncertain. It’s still being kept as an enterprise tool, allowing businesses to communicate with each other, but will soon be shut down as a social network. That may change in the future as Google do more work on it.
- Google+ has over 500 million registered users, two thirds of whom are male. Lack of disclosure, however, makes this number debateable. Some say it’s closer to 385 million.
- The demographic is fairly evenly spread, tending towards older users, with only 28% between the ages of 18 and 34.
- Posts with questions receive far more engagement and 188% more comments than other posts on Google+.
- The most profitable time to share on the platform is Friday between 7pm and 10pm.
LinkedIn UK Users
LinkedIn remains the go-to platform for businesses and professionals. The company say they have more than 20 million UK users but, like other platforms, they are often reticent to release real-time data.
- The platform is a good source of blog posts, with 30,000 long form articles being uploaded each month.
- LinkedIn drives 64% of social referrals to corporate websites.
- Half of LinkedIn users are likely to buy from companies they engage with on the platform.
- 65% of companies have acquired a new B2B customer through the platform.
Snapchat UK Users
Snapchat has had its problems over the last few years, not least trying to compete with Facebook and Instagram combined with a largely failed IPO listing. It’s still used by a healthy number of people, however, particularly in the younger demographic.
- It’s estimated that Snapchat has around 16.2 million users in the UK.
- Of these, just over 30% are between the age of 18 and 24.
- Usage drops quickly in the older age brackets and only 2% of over 75s are signed up to the platform.
- 57% of brand content on Snapchat is in the form of video.
- People who view one Snap from a brand story are highly likely to view the rest of the story (91%).
Statistics For Social Media Users In The UK For 2018
Businesses looking to leverage the potential of different platforms are faced with a number of challenges, not least picking the right platforms for their product or service and delivering the appropriate content that encourages engagement. Hopefully the above information will help you when deciding where to place your content and paid for adverts.
Resources:
The data from this article has been pulled from multiple sources. We have reported the data as accurately as possible. The following sites contributed to the collation:
Avocado Social Facebook Brandwatch Statista Hootsuite Wyzowl Pinterest Sprout Social We Are Flint Dustn.TV Digital Impact eMarketer