SocialDay Report: What Are the Habits of Social Media Marketers?

SocialDay’s “What Type of Social Media Marketer Are You?” quiz was a huge hit with our growing community. In total, we received more than 500 responses, providing us with fascinating data and insights into the habits of social media marketers. We’ve put together this report in order to take a deeper look into the patterns and preferences of social media marketers today and how our data compares to broader reports and trends.

How do we prefer to inform versus connect with audiences?

Interestingly, our respondents used different social media platforms depending on whether they wanted to inform or connect with their audiences. In our quiz responses, the most popular go-to platform for social media marketers to connect with audiences was Instagram at 38%. However, when asked their preferred platform for informing their audience of brand news and updates, just 27% of respondents chose Instagram posts. 

The popularity of both Twitter and Facebook was consistently high, with 52% of respondents preferring either Twitter or Facebook to connect with their audience and 53% selecting tweet or Facebook post as their preferred method of informing their audience of news and updates. 

Are social media channels now preferred over traditional marketing/comms?

Our report shows an overwhelming preference of social media marketers to use social media to inform their audience rather than traditional methods of marketing and communication like emails. Just 9% of respondents said that emails were their preferred form of informing their audience of brand updates and news, while 4 in 5 respondents said that they would prefer to inform their audience via social media, specifically a tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram post.

Additionally, the most popular amount of time spent on social media every day was 4-6 hours, exceeding the global daily average time spent on social media by every age group. More than 86% of respondents told us they spend 2 hours or more on social media every day, exceeding the global average time spent on social media for 35 to 64 year olds, according to the most recent Hootsuite Digital Statshot Report. 

How do social media marketers prefer to improve their industry knowledge?

Wondering how you can help your employees or your community boost their social media marketing knowledge? Well, the most popular way for our respondents to brush up on their industry knowledge was to head online to find a how-to article. Surprisingly, watching a YouTube video landed in fourth position, with this being the preferred method to improve industry knowledge by just 12% of respondents. And the least popular response? Reading a book on the subject: not exactly a surprising result from a group of social media lovers!

What makes a successful social media post?

More than two thirds (68%) of respondents believe that all data matters when it comes to judging the success of their social media posts. Yet, it’s interesting to note that just 13% of respondents felt that their best skill was analysing data and number-crunching. This seems to suggest that, while the social media marketers that took our quiz understand the significance and importance of data analysis, they may feel it is a skill that they are lacking in (see section 6). Just 2% of our respondents said their social media post matching the aesthetic of their feed was how they gaged the success of the post, while 13% the positivity of feedback was the most important measure of success for them. This suggests there has been a real shift away from trying to achieve perfect aesthetics on social media, with a greater focus on substance and data analysis taking precedence.

Is home-working having a moment?

Lockdown has forced many of us to start working from home most or all of the time. But it now seems that we prefer working from home, at least some of the time, as opposed to our old nine to five office routines. Our quiz results showed that more than one third of respondents preferred dividing up their working week by working three days at home and two days at the office. Just 11.8% of respondents said they would prefer to be at the office five days a week. Conclusion: home-working is definitely having a moment right now!

Which digital skills could social media marketers be lacking?

Just 13% of respondents felt their best skill was analysing data and number-crunching, compared to 27% who felt writing professional content was their top skill. Whilst this may seem insignificant, it does gesture towards a broader issue in the industry: the digital skills gap. Data analysis and data visualisation were identified by the UK government as two of the most demanded digital skills by employers, making up 25% of the job market’s digital demand.

So, which skill did our respondents feel they were best at? Brainstorming out-the-box ideas and writing professional content made up more than half of all responses - our social media marketers are clearly not lacking in creativity!

More from SocialDay...

View the full report from our “Which Type of Social Media Marketer Are You?” quiz for more insights into the preferences and habits of social media marketers.

Were you one of the 509 social media marketers who took our quiz? If not, make sure to find out what type of social media marketer you are now!