Here’s a rundown of essential social media marketing advertising statistics that every marketer should keep in their back pocket to help inform their 2022 ads strategy.

By now, everyone doing social understands that you can’t get by on organic posts alone. Brands need to tie in paid advertising to work alongside social media holistically. Each strategy positively impacts the other, so make sure you’re putting aside some dollars to invest in paid social alongside organic in 2022.

With so many channels, running ads on social media can feel overwhelming at times. But don’t worry. We’ll guide you through vital ad stats to help you understand where you should be allocating your ad budget and resources for successful campaigns.

General social advertising statistics

Ad spending on social media is projected to reach over $173 million in 2022

As social media platforms become highly monetized and brands move toward including social commerce as part of their conversion strategy, it’s unsurprising that companies are looking to spend big on social media ads. After all, why wouldn’t you advertise where over 3.6 billion people regularly hang out?

Social media usage continues to dominate the digital landscape

From 2020 to 2025, the number of people worldwide who use social media is expected to grow from 3.6 billion to 4.4 billion. That’s over half of the entire planet’s population scrolling through social feeds.

In 2022, social media video ad spending will grow by 20.1% to $24.35 billion

You heard it here first (well, in our Social Trends 2022 report) that short-form video is back en vogue. Thanks in part to the continued rise of Instagram Stories, Reels, and TikTok, snappy video content also translates to how marketers are reaching audiences with ads.

Source: eMarketer

Running ads continues to be a failsafe way to increase your brand awareness

Surprisingly, half of adult internet users say that when brands use their data in advertising, it helps them discover (50%) and find (49%) products and services that interest them.

Given that advertising has been in a bit of flux since Apple introduced additional privacy measures that allow iPhone users to opt-out of sharing trackable data, these statistics signal that all is not lost for marketers reliant on ads to grow their business.

Trust is still everything when it comes to social media and ad interaction

52% of social media users say that when a platform protects their privacy and data, it’s incredibly impactful on their decision to interact with the ads or sponsored content they see on the channel.

Social media advertising is the second biggest market in digital ads

Ads on social media had worldwide revenue of $153 billion in 2021, and this number is expected to grow to over $252 billion in 2026. The first biggest advertising market? Search advertising.

Brands will be spending more on social ads in 2022

But if brands want to make a splash, they’ll have to work harder to create ads that mirror and enrich the distinct experience each social network offers. Social media managers will need to get creative as the ad space becomes more competitive and produce high-quality content that mirrors each network’s distinct experience.

Social media will account for 33% of all digital advertising spending in 2022

And annual advertising spends on social media will top $134 billion in 2022, an increase of over 17% YOY (that’s an additional $23 billion!)

In Q4, 2021, the average CPM equated to $9.13, a jump from $7.50 CPM in Q4 2020

Does this signal that brands should expect a continual increase in CPM throughout 2022?

Brands will shift their ad spend away from the more commonly used channels

This doesn’t mean the end of running social ad campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But, marketers will need to look towards modern-day favorites: TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat, to reallocate some of their ad budgets as these channels grow in popularity (especially TikTok).

And because these channels are less saturated, there’s more chance of ads gaining traction and impressions.

Instagram ad statistics

The total potential reach of Instagram ads in 2022? 1.8 billion people

Woah! That means that ad campaigns on Instagram can reach over half of Instagram’s 2 billion users in 2022.

For marketers, this is valuable information signaling the platform is where everybody seems to hang out and, more importantly, can be reached with an ad.

Instagram Stories ads will bring in $15.95 billion worldwide in 2022

This figure is over a quarter of the platform’s global net ad revenues. Ad spending is also growing faster for Stories than for the Instagram Feed. Markets would be foolish not to distribute their ad budget across Stories, Reels, and Feed to maximize impressions and clicks.

Source: eMarketer

Instagram’s advertising reach has outpaced Facebook this past year

If paid is part of your social media strategy, it’s worth noting that Instagram’s ad reach is skyrocketing past Facebook’s right now. Could this signal a trend that audiences are engaging more frequently on other channels?

Instagram’s ad reach jumped by an impressive 21% in 2021

Insta’s popularity continues to grow, and so does its ad reach. If you’re looking to spend your ad budget on Instagram, it might be worth also knowing that their ad reach has grown by over 60% over the past two years.

Source: Hootsuite

Ad reach between women (49.3%) and men (50.7%) was a pretty even split

For marketers, this signals that Instagram is the perfect place to run ads that target both these demographics.

Source: Hootsuite

US Instagram ad impressions are split chiefly between two formats: Feed and Stories

Will advertising on Reels take off in 2022? Or will marketers rely on Stories and Feed ads to generate impressions and clicks?

Source: eMarketer

Our advice for marketers is to test and try new ad formats and figure out what works best for you. For example, some brands may find more success on Reels for running ads in 2022, whereas others might see higher impressions and clicks through Feed, Stories, and Explore.

Facebook ad statistics

Ad impressions continue to grow across Meta’s “Family of Apps”

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Whatsapp (collectively known as Meta’s Family of Apps), saw ad impressions grow by 10% in 2021. This is one to watch as this number could steadily increase if Meta introduces the capability to run ads on Whatsapp, its only unmonetized app in the family.

The cost of running ads on Meta increased by 24% YOY

According to Meta, “on the impressions side, we expect continued headwinds from both increased competition for people’s time and a shift of engagement within our apps towards video surfaces like Reels, which monetize at lower rates than Feed and Stories.”

For social media marketers, this could mean thinking carefully about how to distribute their ad budget for maximum impact.

Facebook’s monthly active users (MAU) approaches 3 billion

Given that there are 7.7 billion people globally, the volume of people who regularly use Facebook is a staggering statistic that marketers should pay attention to.

For targeting ads, the predominant group is men aged 18-34, with women in the same age group trailing slightly behind.

Ads reach over 72% of Facebook’s MAU

Put simply, if you want to get your business eyeballed by a target audience, Facebook is still proving itself to be one of the go-to channels to run an ad campaign.

Advertisers are projected to spend over $50 billion on Facebook ads in 2022

If this spending pattern continues to trend upwards, Facebook could look to net over $65 billion in ad revenue by 2023.

Source: eMarketer

Facebook continues to be the most-used social media platform in the world

Yup, we love to see it! Facebook is still dominating the market as the world’s most-used platform, beating out YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram to first place.

For marketers, this means that having a presence on Facebook is essential to help increase brand awareness, run targeted ad campaigns, and build a community.

Don’t forget about ads on Facebook Marketplace

Running ads within Marketplace might be at the top of your paid ads strategy, but ignoring the channel (especially if you’re in the B2C market) could mean that you’re missing out on building potential customers.

Meta reports that over 562 million people have the potential to be targeted on Marketplace. That’s 26% of Facebook’s total advertising reach.

Twitter ad statistics

Twitter’s 2021 annual revenue jumped 37% to over $5 billion

The company will also be focusing on performance advertising to help push this number skyward in 2022.

Ad revenue on Twitter exceed $1.41 billion, an increase of 22% YOY

With more people turning to run ads on Twitter in 2021, this number is expected to continually increase in 2022. Consider whether it’s worth getting in on the Twitter advertising action now, before the space becomes overly saturated.

Monetizable daily active users (mDAU) grew by 13% to 217 million in Q4 2021

Is this a signal that Twitter’s mDAU will continue to trend upwards in 2022?

38 million of the mDAUs came from the US

Which isn’t surprising because American’s seriously love Twitter. The USA is the country where Twitter is the most popular with over 77 million users, closely followed by Japan and India with 58 and 24 million people logging into the microblogging site.

So, if your target audience for ad campaigns is the US market, Twitter is the perfect social network to run campaigns.

Twitter is more popular with millennials than Gen-Z

For marketers, this signals that Twitter is the space to craft ad campaigns that target a slightly older generation.

Twitter ads reach 5.8% of the world population over age 13

While this figure isn’t wildly high, it’s important to remember that Twitter is a relatively niche platform and that 5.8% of people could well be your engaged target audience.

People will spend 6-minutes per day on Twitter in 2022

This number has held steady since 2020, so advertisers shouldn’t need to worry about their campaign not getting eyeballed. However, this does mean that with such a short amount of potential impression time, Twitter ads need to stand out and be creative and engaging.

Twitter’s CPM is the lowest out of all the major platforms

Running ads on Twitter is relatively low cost. The average CPM is $6.46. That’s 78% lower than Pinterest’s, which is $30.00 CPM.

Snapchat ad statistics

Snapchat’s daily active users (DAU) continues to grow

Compared to Q4 2020, Snapchat’s DAU count increased by 20% to 319 million. This trend represents a fifth consecutive quarter that the social media platform has seen increasing daily active users.

In Q4, 2021, Snapchat Discover helped brands reach over 50 million users

It looks like getting your brand featured on the Snapchat Discover segment isn’t a bad call.

Snapchat ads are 7x more efficient than TV ads at reaching Gen Z

Also, note that 72% of Snapchat ad viewers weren’t even reachable by TV ads, according to the same Neilsen study.

Snapchat is the fourth most used network in 2022

TikTok has officially become the video platform of choice as we see more users logging in at least once per month compared to Snapchat. But, all is not lost for advertisers!

Because Snapchat will continue to grow and acquire more Gen-Z users

By 2025, Snapchat will reach just under 50 million Gen-Z users, making the platform an ideal space to run ads that target that demographic.

And Gen-Z have a higher ad recall than older demographics

Gen-Z recall ads are more than double the rate of Gen-X. The kids of today have an impressive 55% recall rate, compared to boomers, who have a 26% recall rate.

Source: Snapchat

64% of Snap Ads are viewed with sound on

For brands advertising on Snapchat, it’s essential to incorporate audio into your ads for an effective campaign.

Want more Snapchat ad goodness? Check out this complete guide on how to get the most out of your Snapchat ad strategy.

LinkedIn ad statistics

LinkedIn ads reach 12% of the world’s population and 62% of the American population

According to the most recent LinkedIn statistics, the platform is growing with 675 million users worldwide.

In America, according to Pew, the more money a person makes and the more education they have, the more likely they are to use the platform.

LinkedIn ads offer more than 200 targeting characteristics

Whether you’re looking to target groups based on experience, industry, or business size, LinkedIn provides you with over 200 targeting characteristics to help ensure your campaigns get seen by the right people.

LinkedIn is primarily where the guys hang out

Almost 57% of the platform’s users are male, compared to 43% of female users.

LinkedIn has 180 million users in the US alone

India came in a close second with 81 million users on the professional social networking platform.

89% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for lead generation

Because LinkedIn’s advertising can target users by industry and job title, it’s particularly useful in generating leads for both marketing and sales folks.

And cost per lead on LinkedIn is 28% lower than on Google AdWords, making the platform more attractive for a business’s bottom line.

62% of B2B marketers say that Linkedin doubles their lead generation

LinkedIn helps marketers connect with a dedicated, professional audience and TKTK.

LinkedIn’s average CPC is $5.26 U.S. dollars

This is the highest CPC of the major channels.

Ready to skyrocket your LinkedIn ads strategy? Our complete guide to all things LinkedIn ads will help you get ready to increase your lead generation in a heartbeat.

YouTube ad statistics

YouTube has the second-highest CPM of all the major channels

For your ad to be seen by 1,000 people on YouTube, this will set you back $9.68. This is the second-highest CPM, with Pinterest hitting the top spot with a CPM of $30.00.

YouTube’s average CPC is $3.21

This is a considerable difference from Twitter’s CPC, which is a lowly $0.38.

YouTube ads targeted by intent have 100% higher lift in purchase intent than those targeted by demographics

They also have a 32% higher lift in ad recall. Combining demographics and intent only slightly increases ad performance above targeting by intent alone. People watching YouTube ads targeted by intent also skip ads less and watch ads for longer than people watching ads targeted by demographics.

YouTube’s advertising revenue increased by 25% YOY

In the fourth quarter of 2021, YouTube’s ad revenue totaled $8.6 billion, a huge increase from their Q4 2020 figure of $6.8 billion.

TikTok ad statistics

50. TikTok ads have the potential to reach almost 885 million people

Remember that if you decide to run an ad campaign on TikTok, you’ll need to ensure that your creative matches the channel’s ethos. Put simply, keep things light and on-trend.

51. 18-24 year-olds are TikTok’s largest advertising audience

This isn’t unsurprising given the platform’s favorability with Gen-Z.

52. TikTok is on a mission to triple its ad revenue in 2022

The rising social media video platform is hoping to bring home an impressive $12 billion in advertising revenue, a substantial jump from the $4 billion is made in 2021.

53. TikTok will aim to expand its MAUs to over 1.5 billion in 2022

This is around half of Facebook’s MAUs. Not bad for a social networking site that’s been operating since 2016.

54. Major brands are slow to hop on the TikTok train, signaling more room for those already involved in the space

Household names including IKEA, Nestle, and Toyota are yet to unlock the power of short-form video on TikTok, making more room and less competition for brands already using the platform.

55. TikTok has seen user growth across all corners of the world

Is nowhere safe from the power of TikTok?

56. 6% of users spend more than 10 hours per week on TikTok

11% of users spend between five and ten hours a week on the app, and 30% of worldwide users spend less than one hour a week scrolling videos.

Feeling pumped to start creating thumb-stopping ad content on TikTok? Our guide to running ads on TikTok has everything you need to get started.

Use Hootsuite Social Advertising to easily keep track of all of your social media activity — including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn ad campaigns — and get a complete view of your social ROI. Try it free today.

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