The Most Popular Social Media Platforms in 2017 (Australian Edition) (06/11/2017 Social Media Trends in 2018)

Understanding who is on which platform is crucial to shaping any marketer or brand owner’s social strategy. And if you’re about to click out from our statistic heavy article, hold up.

What this data tells us is where best to place your hard earned cashola. Active users = active eyes who are ready to be seduced by your brand’s delectable offerings.

And, if you are a brand owner, it also tells you on which platforms your social media monkeys (like me) should be connecting with your audience.

If your ad budget says you have 9 apples, and you’re putting 3 on Facebook, 3 on Twitter and 3 on LinkedIn, this article might make you rethink your plan.

Because like in most areas of business, social media power comes from considered investments.

Current figures surrounding social media use in Australia vary. Marketing agency Vivid Social Media estimate there are roughly 17 million Aussies who are on Facebook, while digital agency We Are Social, in their ‘Digital in 2017’ report, put the figure around 16 million.

The lack of centralised annual report, not that the 2017 Census is setting any benchmarks for national bureaucracy, makes figures difficult but not impossible to estimate.

Besides, if the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates our total population as being around 24.6 million, then even the average finding (of 16.5 m) places approximately 65 – 70% of Australia’s population on Facebook. Now there’s a figure we can all like.

Social Media News, drawing data from Vivid Social, compiled a master list of which platforms Aussies are using. I’ve tabled the results of the top 9 leaders below.

It comes as no surprise that Facebook is leading the way, with Vivid Social estimating there are 17 million monthly active users.

But to say that Twitter has 3 million active users each month… well, either Twitter is fudging their figures or Vivid Social is counting 500,000 active Aussies and 2.5 million active bots.

Let me be very clear about this: Twitter is not a good platform for Australian brands.

And yet, according to the data collected from Sensis’ 2017 report, 70% of Australians between 18 – 29 use Twitter. This would make me, a 25 year old woman who works in social media, their target audience.

Except my Twitter account, is as bare as the head of a Tibetan monk.

The below table, using data from the report, succinctly breaks down which platforms each demographic is using.

Were these results what you were expecting? If not, you might want to rethink your social strategy – or at least, your ad strategy.

Meme-ing, snapping, posting and roasting. Knowing what consumers are doing online allows you to understand how best to sell your product.

If for example, you’re a hair and beauty brand, and your key audience (young to middle aged women) communicate through tagging each other in hilarious memes, then by Gosh almighty are you going to start making memes using your products.

It’ll boost your engagement, attract new customers to your page and ultimately bring them one step closer to that all important conversion.

Marketing company Sensis’ 2017 annual report into social media, surveyed 800 consumers, 1000 small – medium sized businesses and 100 large businesses on how they use social network platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

They found the majority of users were on social media to catch up with family and friends (89%), closely followed by those who used it to share photos or videos (57%) and finally by those who simply watched videos (43%).

I mean, if that’s not reason enough to have your brand start producing video content, then I don’t know what is.

Overall, it was was found that 79% of Australians use social media, and that this marked a ten percent lift from the previous year.

It was also found that 45% of users have taken a selfie, with men more likely to take a personal snap than women; and that snap happy users were mostly between the ages of 18-29 (88%).

Sensis found 40% of users had posted a photo of their food to share; and that 71% of users logged on in the evening.

Sensis found that visual platforms were enjoying the biggest growth spurts, with Instagram going from (31% to 46% of users), Snapchat going from 22% to 40% and even Twitter moved from 19% to 32%.

The leader was Facebook, with a lion’s share of 94% of social media users on the platform.

Sensis’ data revealed that trust was up (52% to 64%) for brands that shared positive interactions with their customers.

It was also found that people were deterred from following a company if they were bombarded with irrelevant content, too much content or too many ads.

So, according to the data provided by all three sources, we can assume our key takeaways are this:

Spend your ad money on a solid or growing platform.

Ads on social media are a surefire way to growing your audience, growing your brand and selling your products.

Curate your content to your product

If you sell hair products, don’t talk about an upcoming election. Unless you strongly feel that Turnbull would do better with a bleach and tone. Blondes have more fun, after all.

Engage positively with your audience

A gun social media manager knows when to crack a joke and when to apologise.

I like to think of a good social media presence as keeping to the French diet, rich foods in small portions.

Bon appetit!

Statistics compiled by SocialMediaNews.com.au for July 2017. Source: Vivid Social – Social Media Agency. Figures correct as of 31/08/17.

Sensis statistics were provided by Sensis’ annual Social Media report, which can be found here.