In March’s Marketing and Branding Month, we’ll go deep on agent branding and best practices for spending with Zillow, Realtor.com and more. Top CMOs of leading firms drop by to share their newest tactics, too. And to top off this theme month, Inman is debuting a brand new set of awards for branding and marketing leaders in the industry called Marketing All-Stars.
This article was last updated Mar. 6, 2023.
Social media had quite a year in 2022. From big layoffs to all the Twitter takeover drama, no one could blame you if you haven’t been able to keep up.
There’s plenty of speculation that social media is dying; even if that’s true, it’s still a tremendous tool for real estate professionals. Counting social media out this year would be a mistake.
Here are 23 social media stats to remember throughout the year:
- While inventory and affordability have come front stage this past year, keeping up with technology is a challenge to 41 percent of firms. (NAR)
- 95 percent of Realtors use email daily, and 57 percent use social media apps daily. (NAR)
- 97 percent of all homebuyers used the internet in their home search. (NAR)
- More than 93 percent of regular internet users log into social media. (Hootsuite)
- Social media has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 12 percent since 2012. (Hootsuite)
- Out of all the social networking channels, people spend the most time hanging out on YouTube. (Hootsuite)
- 99 percent of YouTube users are regularly checking another platform. (Hootsuite)
- There are 4.65 billion active users on some form of social media. (Statista)
- The average person spends up to three hours a day on social media. (GlobalWebIndex)
- 42 percent of social media browsers use a social media platform to research a product. (GlobalWebIndex)
- 63 percent of marketers strongly agree that social media is important to their business. (Statista)
- 94 percent of B2C marketers use Facebook, and 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn. (Statista)
- Social media marketers’ most common posting frequency is three to four times a week. (Hubspot)
- Marketers are increasing their social media investments in the top three areas: live streaming, short-form video content, and VR + AR. (Hubspot)
- 82 percent of marketers repurpose content across their social channels. (Hubspot).
- 71 percent of consumers who’ve had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend that brand to friends and family. (LYFE Marketing)
- The best time to post for high engagement on Instagram and Facebook is during the middle of the weekdays (Monday-Friday), between 10 am and 4 pm. (Sprout Social)
- 62 percent of users report higher interest in a brand after seeing it on Facebook stories. (Social Media Today)
- 80 percent of Instagram users say how-to videos are their favorite. (Social Media Today)
- 90 percent of Instagram users follow a business on the platform. (Social Media Today)
- Facebook continues to be the most-used social media platform in the world. (Hootesuite)
- 89 percent of Realtors use Facebook in their real estate business, 59 percent use Instagram, 53 percent use LinkedIn, and 26 percent use YouTube. (NAR)
- 63 percent of Realtors said the main reason for social media use in their real estate business was to promote listings. (NAR)
What do these stats even mean though?
In short, these stats show there are opportunities to reach your target audience on social media.
The overwhelming majority of homebuyers are using the internet to buy homes, and the overwhelming majority of internet users are on social media.
At the same time, only 57 percent of Realtors use social media apps daily. That’s a big opportunity for real estate agents to seize. There are likely large sectors of the homebuying audience who are left unreached on a medium they engage with regularly.
While time spent on social media platforms has decreased, it is still significant. What this means is quality content is essential to capture the user’s attention. The coming year is a great time to think of quality over quantity regarding social media marketing.
Video will continue to grow and become the content of choice for most users. If there was ever a time to get over stage fright and face the camera, it is now.
How to use these stats now
If you haven’t used social media in your marketing plan, it’s not too late to start. And if you are actively using social media, 2023 would be a great year to consider producing video content and start using YouTube.
Keep these numbers in mind while planning your content-marketing strategy. You don’t need to overwhelm yourself or your audience with an abundance of content. Posting regularly several times a week is a good cadence to raise your brand’s awareness and get noticed.
Much like the overall housing market, social media behaves differently locally; it just so happens that local doesn’t always mean a geographical area online, but rather a niche. Often niche markets and industries see very different prospects for social media marketing than the business world overall.
Don’t be discouraged by any gloom and doom reports about social media marketing. The data shows us homebuyers are still using social media, and as long as that’s true, it’s a tool real estate professionals can leverage.
Jessi Healey is a freelance writer and social media manager specializing in real estate. Find her on Instagram or LinkedIn.
