11 January London, 2023: Meltwater today launches a new report revealing that as a result of global economic uncertainty, the importance of social media is increasing among organizations. With brand awareness as a priority, more than half of the survey respondents (52%) stated that economic uncertainty has made social media a more important channel for their organization.
Meltwater is an international leader in SaaS tools for tracking and analyzing traditional and digital media and Influencer Marketing. The organization’s services help more than 27,000 clients in 130+ countries to optimize their digital strategies and understand the marketing results derived from them.
According to Meltwater’s new report, while Facebook remains the most used social media platform for organizations, in terms of growth, the use of TikTok is rapidly increasing (30% vs. 16% last year). In fact, 47% of the survey respondents stated that they are planning to use TikTok in 2023. This statistic jumped to 56% when looking specifically at respondents in the United Kingdom & Ireland (UKI). According to the survey, video production is the part of social media marketing most outsourced by organizations.
“With current uncertainty in the economic climate, many brands are embracing innovation to get more from their marketing budgets. A thoughtful social media strategy allows marketers to gain and retain customer attention in a way this highly efficient, cost-effective, and measurable. We’re not surprised to see that respondents are looking to increase their brand awareness using these tools.”
- Samantha Monk, Director of Global Enterprise Solutions at Meltwater
In the UKI region, five channels continue to dominate social media marketing with 90% of respondents using Facebook, 93% using LinkedIn, and 89% using Twitter. And whilst the global results are comparably similar, the main difference appears with Twitter (66%). 82% of respondents use Instagram, while only 66% use Youtube. Most notably, Twitter usage in this region is 23% higher than the Global average. Out of the 130+ countries surveyed, the report found that the UKI relies more on social media as a marketing tool compared to the overall results of other regions.
“While brand perception and brand awareness has always been integral, this trend seems to be increasing in 2023. We still believe that marketing professionals will face similar challenges such as lack of time or resources; however, social media is an exceptional tool for combating these challenges, which shows in the report. Investing in social media channels, particularly Tik Tok, is an effective method of creating a strong brand.”
- Jess Smith, Marketing Manager of Meltwater UKI
While social media marketing has different purposes, the survey results have shown that increasing brand awareness (81%) and brand engagement (60%) are top of the agenda across all sectors (B2B, B2C & NGOs). In fact, according to the survey results by 2023, 71% of B2C organizations will be using influencer marketing. In comparison with 2022, a 7% increase can be noticed. However, while the top two social media goals appear to be brand-related, only 23% of organizations use brand reputation as a key metric.
In short, social media has shown itself to be an inevitable ingredient in the communication mix for organizations. It is irrespective of the field they operate in, and is only growing in importance during times of turbulence and uncertainties.
Meltwater’s full Global State of Social Media 2023 Report can be found for free download here.
