The latest social media stats you need to know

Bzzz. Ping. Beep Beep. Our phones are going off all day. Mum is on Facebook Messenger sending you photos of her cat, your little brother is snap chatting you what he ate for lunch, your best friend is posting a vacation selfie to Instagram and your Grandma is doing the ‘touch it’ challenge on TikTok (wait what…?). It’s official - almost - everyone is online, with almost 95% of Kiwis now hooked into the internet (up 1.7% from last year) the power of social media continues to grow, and thus so does the advertising reach that companies can achieve by embracing it (hint: that’s where we come in!).

The latest Digital 2022: New Zealand report by DataReportal gives us the hard stats on the social media channels that are shaping NZ this year, which in turn can help your business make major marketing moves. Here are our key takeaways: 

• Kiwi social media users jumped by almost 10% last year, totalling a whopping 4.35 million*
• 74.8% of people over 13 years old are using Facebook - that’s a lot of likes! Facebook is a great one-stop shop for companies to advertise online, providing the means to engage with, inform and better understand your customers. However, it does take work to get people to stop their scroll, creating showstopping content is one piece of the puzzle, the other is understanding how to use paid advertising to your advantage as Facebook continues to move towards a heavily pay-to-play model for businesses. 
• There are a whopping 4.19 million YouTube users in NZ, meaning that YouTube ads reached 90.5% of Kiwis on the internet. Producing video content is a great investment for companies as it can be utilised well across all social media platforms.
• 58.9% of people over 13 years old are on Instagram. This platform is perfect for companies that produce visually appealing content and are willing to put in work to interact with their followers and keep their feed regularly updated (the Instagram algorithm does not take kindly to one-way conversations!).
• A small(er) but equally lethal social media is Snapchat, with 34.3% of the Kiwi social media audience on the platform. Snapchat is ideal for brands with a younger audience that can regularly put out short and engaging video content.
• TikTok is blowing up with ads reaching 38.9% of Kiwi adults over 18 at the start of 2022. No doubt this platform will continue to grow (provided it doesn’t meet the same fate as its predecessor Musical.ly) however, proceed with caution. TikTok is not for every company. You’ve got to be willing to take risks and have a unique viewpoint to avoid a “How you do, fellow kids?” moment. Here are some great examples of brands killing it on TikTok.
• The thriving business-minded older Cousin of the social media world, LinkedIn has 61.2% of New Zealand social media users over 18 on the platform, meaning big business for companies looking to advertise here. Sure, LinkedIn is thriving for B2B and recruitment, but it is also a great place for innovative B2C campaigns. 
• Twitter has never quite broken through with widespread use in the NZ market, with only 13.6% of people over 13 using the platform. Still, the right business - or personality - can see great cut-through. For most, the key lies in being highly active, hopping on trending topics and being unafraid to have an opinion… fast. 
• More than just a place to pin homeware inspo (although it is great for that!), Pinterest boasts 18.6% of Kiwis on its platform. Like Instagram, this platform is great for aesthetically pleasing brands that can inspire users to pin. Think fashion, home and DIY.
• Women are more likely to use the social media platforms covered in this article, apart from LinkedIn where the split is a clean 50/50

Phew! That’s a whole lot of scrolling. Keen to cut through the noise? Unsure of what social media channel is for you? We can help! Reach out and we’ll get those likes, comments and clicks rolling in in no time