Most Important Social Media Trends

to Remember in 2019
Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers
 Introduction
“For marketers looking to drive value for their business
via digital marketing no other platform comes close
to Facebook and its family of applications, in terms
of scale and audience engagement. With 2.27 billion
monthly active users, social media performance data
shows that it’s still the place where most consumer
engagement with brands is happening online.

Brands looking to leverage platforms like Facebook

About Socialbakers
and Instagram need to make sure they are making
data-driven decisions about where to invest their
Socialbakers is a trusted social media marketing partner to thousands
advertising budgets in order to maximize reach,
of enterprise brands, leveraging the largest social media data-set in the
engagement and business impact.”
industry. Socialbakers help brands engage their audiences on social
media through content personalization and grow their customer base using
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers
actionable AI-powered audience insights.
 Table of Contents
Instagram vs. Facebook 4–6
Platform Audience, Activity, Engagement 5
Engagement Distribution by Industries 6
Instagram vs. Facebook Advertising 7–12
Share of Instagram vs. Facebook Ads 8
Facebook Advertising Desktop vs. Mobile 9
Promoted Post Promotion on Facebook 11
Ad Placements On Instagram 12
Facebook Engagement 13–15
Organic vs. Paid Reach on Facebook 14
Number of Interactions on Facebook Posts 15
Instagram Engagement 16–17
Instagram Stories vs. Posts 17
The Rise of Influencer Marketing 18–20
The Influencer Industry and Minimizing Fraud 19
Spotting Fake Influencers by Follower Growth 20
Privacy and Security 21
 Instagram
vs. Facebook

Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 4
 Audience Activity User
Platform Audience, Size Volume Engagement
Activity, Engagement
Instagram has a smaller audience size compared to Facebook.
However, despite this disparity, Instagram users are far more
engaged than on Facebook. This demonstrates that Instagram
is the go-to for capturing quality engagement within smaller
communities, and will likely be the trend in 2019.

“Instagram is becoming the #1 social media platform when it comes

to engagement for brands. When we look at engagement on an absolute
level, Instagram has a lot more engagement for brands than Facebook,
despite having a significantly smaller audience size. As a result, we see
businesses leveraging Instagram for advertising more than ever before.”

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers

Chart Time Range: Q3 2018; Sample: Top 5,000 Largest Brand Pages and Profiles across FB and IG; Data: Socialbakers Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 5
 Engagement Distribution When it comes to the most engaged users by industry across
Instagram and Facebook, there is a clear distinction between what

by Industries content users value more on each platform. For Instagram,

Fashion and Beauty dominate, whereas E-commerce sparks the most
interactions on Facebook.

Total User Engagement by Industry

Electron

Auto
Ser

Be
vic
Sp goo

ic

au
or ds

es

s FM

ty
tin

n C
hio G s
g

r
s Fo t he
Re Fa od O
tail

Servic
es

Auto
s
tr onic
Elec

r s
he

Ec
on
Ot
Be

hi

om
erce

s
au

Fa

m
ty

Retail

er
m

ce
Ecom

Chart Time Range: Jan 1, 2018 - October 28, 2018; Sample: 79,326 Brand Pages on FB, and 44,105 Brand Pages on Instagram; Data: Socialbakers Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 6
Instagram
vs. Facebook
Advertising
Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 7
 Ad Spend by Platform and Distribution
Means of Relative Account Distribution

Share of Instagram
vs. Facebook Ads Facebook
Feed

When comparing ad spend distribution by platform

Instagram
from 2017 to 2018, we found that Instagram ads Feed
increased in 2018, whereas ad spend on Facebook
decreased. There was another important shift in
advertising formats, from the News Feed to Stories. Instagram
Stories

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

% of Spend
2017 2018

Chart Time Range: Sept 29, 2017 - October 28, 2017 vs. Sept 29, 2018 - October 28, 2018; Sample: 1,500 advertising accounts; Data: Socialbakers Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 8
 Facebook Advertising Desktop vs. Mobile

Facebook usage on mobile is overwhelmingly dominant, Cost-Per-Click was more expensive on desktop compared to mobile,
as mobile users consume more ads over desktop. though, advertising on mobile received more impressions over desktop.

Share of Average Advertising Impressions by Device Cost Per Click by Device

Means of Relative Account Distribution Median Ad Account CPC Values

0.30

0.25

CPC (in USD)

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00
Desktop: 5% Desktop Mobile
Mobile: 95% CPC (in USD)

Time Range for Both Charts: Sept 29, 2018 - October 28, 2018; Sample: 2,244 Facebook Ad Accounts; Data: Socialbakers Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 9
Why is mobile such an important trend?

“According to Kleiner Perkins, an average user spends over three hours

per day consuming digital media on mobile - a growth of nearly
4x over just the past five years. Mobile ads present a huge opportunity
for marketers, they just need to start thinking about using mobile-friendly
content formats. The key with mobile content is to focus on understanding
the nature of mobile, then use those learnings to test and refine your
content until you find what works best for your brand and audience.”

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers

Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 10
 Promoted Post Trend Photos are the most heavily promoted compared to any other
content format. However, video promotion soared in 2018 and converged
on Facebook with photos in September.

Distribution of Promoted Posts on Facebook

Top 1,000 Largest Brands on Facebook

60%

50%
% of Published Content

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Jan 2017 Mar 2017 May 2017 Jul 2017 Sep 2017 Nov 2017 Jan 2018 Mar 2018 May 2018 Jul 2018 Sep 2018

Photos Videos Links Statuses

Chart Time Range: January 2017 - October 2018; Sample: Top 1,000 Largest Brands on Facebook; Data: Socialbakers Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 11
 Ad Placements In 2018, we’ve seen Instagram ad campaigns rise and reach their highest adoption rates thus far,
On Instagram in June. Though it’s tapered off, as Instagram audiences grow, so will marketers’ ad campaigns.

Median Share of Instagram Campaign Placements

50%
Share of Campaigns

40%
(% of Total)

30%

20%

10%

0%
Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun
2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2018 2018 2018

Share of Campaigns Targeting Instagram

Chart Time Range: January 1, 2017 - July 31, 2018; Sample: 9,433 Facebook Ad Accounts (a campaign can have multiple placements); Data: Socialbakers Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 12
Facebook
Engagement

Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 13
 Median Weekly Organic Page Post Reach
Facebook Brand Pages
Organic vs. Paid Reach 80k

on Facebook

Weekly Medians
60k

40k

Data highlights the importance of having a well-balanced organic 20k

and paid promotion post strategy.
0
Jan, 2018 Apr, 2018 Jul, 2018 Oct, 2018

“Today, it’s crucial that marketers are making data-driven decisions with their
advertising budgets. Not knowing how your content will perform and investing Median Weekly Paid Page Post Reach
in posts indiscriminately, could mean you might be wasting half of your Facebook Brand Pages
advertising budget - but which half? Content grading can help ensure that the
2.0M
quality content you do promote is achieving optimal engagement, improving

Weekly Medians
cost efficiency, and maximizing your budget.” 1.5M

1.0M
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers
0.5M

0
Jan, 2018 Apr, 2018 Jul, 2018 Oct, 2018

Chart 1 Time Range: January 01– October 21, 2018; Sample: 2,397 Facebook Brand Pages Data: Socialbakers
Chart 2 Time Range: January 01– October 21, 2018;; Sample: 2,397 Facebook Brand Pages; Data: Socialbakers
Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 14
 The median of interactions on the top 500 global brand and media Facebook

Number of Direct Interactions Page posts has started to decline over 2018. That is a decrease in 50% of
engagement from what pages experienced in January. However, this is in line
on a Facebook Page Post with Facebook’s expectations when they changed their algorithm to prioritize
content from friends and family over media and brands.

Interactions on the Top 500 Global Brand & Media Facebook Page Posts
Weekly Median of Interactions
1,000
Median Post Interactions

800

600

400

200

0
Jan 2018 Feb 2018 Mar 2018 Apr 2018 May 2018 Jun 2018 Jul 2018 Aug 2018 Sep 2018 Oct 2018

Brands Media

Chart Time Range: January 1 - October 21, 2018; Sample: Top 500 Facebook Pages by Audience Size within each Category; Data: Socialbakers Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 15
Instagram
Engagement
Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 16
 Stories vs. Posts on Instagram
Average Reach and Impressions per Fans

Instagram
50%

40%

30%
Stories vs. Posts
20%

In 2018, Instagram Posts are still reaching and garnering more

10%
impressions per Fans over Instagram Stories - roughly 15% and
0% 25% more, respectively. That uplift in reach and impressions are
Impressions/Fans Reach/Fans
free visibility. However, as Stories adoption increases amongst
Stories Posts
users, these metrics will continue to rise.
Stories vs. Posts on Instagram
Average Reach and Impressions by Format

The volume of brands posting Instagram Stories has increased 4x over the
course of 2018. In the battle for organic reach and engagement, adopting
new content formats like Stories has worked well for brands as they are
% Stories: 18% consumed actively, while feed content is consumed passively.”
% Posts: 82%

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers

Chart 1 Time Range: March 1 - October 24, 2018; Sample: Top 10% Instagram Business Profiles of Brands (by volume of stories) that published both formats (331 profiles); Data: Socialbakers
Chart 2 Time Range: March 1 - October 24, 2018; Sample: 3,310 Instagram Business Profiles of Brands that published both formats; Data: Socialbakers
Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 17
The Rise of
Influencer Marketing
Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 18
 The Influencer Industry
and Minimizing Fraud
According to Statista, influencer marketing is projected to be a $2.38 billion market by 2019. With so
much money on the table, is unsurprising that fraud exists in the influencer marketing space. The first
challenge the industry faces is pinning down real vs fake accounts; right now, a bulletproof strategy
doesn’t exist. However, we’ve been able to spot 3 types of fraudulent activity when it comes to influencer
marketing - fake followers, engagement and interests.

Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 19
 Spotting Fake Follower Growth vs. Interactions
Unusual Growth and Decline

Influencers
These mock charts were designed to demonstrate unusual and normal
activity to help you spot the difference between a real and fake influencer.
Here we can see that the top chart has a suspicious increase in follower
growth, and normal interactions. If posting rates are the same, then this
is unusual activity. Compare with the chart below which shows a positive Follower Growth Number of Interactions
correlation between the number of interactions and follower growth.
Follower Growth vs. Interactions
Usual Growth and Decline

“Our research has shown that brands can minimize the risk of working with influencers
with fake followers by looking at two key data points - the influencer’s performance over
a longer time period, like 6 months, and their engagement level per 1K fans.
The former metric allows marketers to easily spot spikes of followers and performance
that can highlight fake activity and the latter metric gives a clear insight into whether the
influencer’s followers are actually engaging with the topics that resonate with the brand’s
audience. In addition, benchmarking the performance of a few influencers over time can
Follower Growth Number of Interactions
also greatly help to identify anomalies that are a result of fraud.”

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers

Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 20
Privacy and Security
“2018 was a wake up call for the social media platforms, for users and for marketers alike when it comes
to privacy and security. Not only did brands acting in Europe have to conform to GDPR, but we also have
seen Facebook, Twitter, and Google ramping up their efforts to increase transparency and clean up their
platforms. From the roll-out of Instagram verification badges to the launch of a new View Ads tool, which
provides a public list of all ads currently running on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, right through
to Twitter deleting a huge volume of fake accounts, the platforms have been doubling down their efforts.

These steps have all been very important when it comes to ensuring that users are having an authentic
experience on the platforms. Users want to know that the content they see comes from credible,
trustworthy sources and marketers want to know that they are investing their ad budgets in platforms that
are free of digital pollution. 2018 for the social media platforms has been like 2002 was for Microsoft when
they launched the now infamous Trustworthy Computing initiative, after it came under fire given repeated
security issues with Windows. Security and privacy will undoubtedly be ongoing themes for the social
media platforms moving forward.”

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers

Most Important Social Media Trends to Remember in 2019 | Social Media Statistics by Socialbakers 21
 Socialbakers is the trusted social media management partner to thousands of enterprise brands and SMBs.
Leveraging the largest social media data-set in the industry, Socialbakers’ social media marketing platform helps
brands large and small ensure their investment in social media is delivering measurable business outcomes.
With over 2,500 clients across 100 countries, Socialbakers is the leading social media management platform.
Socialbakers has been a Facebook Marketing Partner since 2011, a Pinterest Marketing Partner since 2017 and
a LinkedIn Marketing Partner since 2017. Socialbakers was named in the 2018 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing
private companies in Europe.

www.socialbakers.com