35+ stats on how social media influences buying behaviour

Social media is proving to be an important touchpoint in every part of the customer purchase journey. From research to sales aftercare, customers turn to social media for recommendations, customer service and to directly make a purchase.

We’ve pulled together social media statistics in 2019 that show how social media affects your business and your customers’ shopping decisions.

Let’s dive in and take a look at our hand-picked social media statistics below.

General social media statistics in 2019

 

  • There are over 3 billion social media users worldwide. (Source: We are Social)

 

  • The average user spends over 100 minutes on social media every day. (Source: Awario)

 

  • 11 new people start using social media every second. (Source: Hootsuite)

Facebook statistics

 

  • There are over 2 billion active users on Facebook worldwide. (Source: Facebook 30/01/19)

 

  • People spend an average of 35 minutes per day on Facebook. (Source: Neilson)

 

  • Every minute on Facebook there are over 300,000 status updates, 400 new users, 147,000 photos uploaded and 54,000 shared links. (Source: GTWeb)

 

  • The majority age ranges for Facebook users are 18 to 24 and 25 to 34, each representing 29% of total users. (Source: Sprout Social)

 

  • 78% of consumers have discovered a product on Facebook. (Source: Kleiner Perkins)

Twitter statistics

 

  • Twitter has 3.2 million active users. (Source: Fast Company)

 

  • There are over 500 million tweets sent per day - that is around 6,000 per second. (Source: InternetLive)

 

  • 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their Tweet has been replied to. (Source: Twitter)

 

  • 85% of small and medium business users use Twitter to provide customer service. (Source: Twitter)

 

  • Katy Perry has the most Twitter followers with over 106m, followed by Justin Bieber and then Barack Obama. (Source: Brandwatch)

Instagram statistics

 

  • Instagram has over 1 billion active users. (Source: Instagram)

 

  • There are 4.2 billion Instagram likes per day. (Source: Wired)

 

  • To date more than 50 billion photos have been shared on Instagram. (Source: Instagram)

 

  • 60% of Instagram users claim they’ve discovered at least one new product on the platform. (Source: Instagram)

 

  • Instagram is the second-most important platform for teenagers (behind Snapchat). (Source: Hootsuite)

10 statistics on how social media affects shopping decisions

 

  • Consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals. (Hubspot)

 

  • 4 in 10 Social Media users have purchased an item online or in-store after sharing it or marking it as a Favorite on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. (Source: Invesp)

 

  • 81% of consumers say recommendations from friends and family on social media directly affect their buying decisions. (Source: SocialMediaToday)

 

  • 41% of shoppers shop impulsively for an item after seeing it on social media. (Source: Invesp)

 

  • Consumers discuss specific brands casually around 90 times a week on social media. (Source: Hubspot)

 

  • 80% of consumers use social to engage with brands. (Source: Forrester)

 

  • Customers that receive a response from a business on Twitter are willing to spend up to 20% more. (Source: Twitter)

 

  • 54% of millennials use social channels to research products before they buy. (Source: Salesforce)

 

  • 74% of shoppers make buying decisions based on social media. (Sprout Social)

 

  • 45% of global respondents said that reading reviews, comments, and feedback influences their shopping behaviour. (PwC Total Retail)

10 statistics on how social media affects your business

 

  • 90% of marketers notice that social marketing efforts increased exposure. (Source: Social Media Examiner)

 

  • Online stores that have a social presence have 32% more sales on average than stores that don’t. (Source: Big Commerce)

 

  • 75% of marketers say that social media has increased traffic to their website.

 

  • 53% of consumers recommend companies or products in tweets, with 48% following through to purchase those products or services. (Source: SproutSocial)

 

  • 78% of consumers say companies’ social media posts impact their purchases. (Source: Forbes)

 

  • Nearly ⅓ (31%) of consumers say they use social media channels to look for new items to purchase (Source: Marketing week)

 

  • 90% of brands use social media to increase brand awareness. (Source: Hootsuite)

 

  • 44% of local businesses said they depend on social media to generate brand awareness. (Source: Emarketer)

 

  • 40% of consumers have purchased an item online after seeing it used on Instagram, Twitter, Vine or YouTube (Source: Simply Measured)

 

  • Over half of the people on social media interact with brands more than once a month. (Source: Get Ambassador)