Facebook’s Decline for Organic Reach

Among other social media platforms, Facebook has always been the most preferred one. It is a popular choice of marketers, as well as consumers. However, the popularity of Facebook is now declining among youth. As a result, its appeal has also started diminishing among marketers, according to results of Social Media Examiner’s latest annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

A survey has been conducted by interviewing almost 3000 marketers around the world. According to the results, marketers who used to believe that Facebook is the most important social media platform have now reduced their shares on Facebook. A higher percentage of marketers are now claiming that they will start ceasing Facebook-related operations for organic marketing.

Before we move forward, it is important to know that the majority of the marketers or respondents belong to small businesses. Thus, the result cannot be applied to larger-enterprise businesses as it might not reflect their activities. From Facebook’s proven record in the past, it is obvious that Facebook is still among the most famous social media platforms in 2022. With that in mind, 90% of the respondents said that they use Facebook to generate traffic and contribution to sales.

When it comes to the top platforms for lead generation, Facebook stays side by side with LinkedIn. It has also developed a loyal fanbase which is considered equivalent to that of Instagram. However, when it comes to exposure, it’s lagging behind Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

The Rise of Instagram and TikTok

In terms of respondents’ usage, 41% of them planning to increase their activity on Facebook in the next 12 months, while 13% are planning to decrease their activity in the next 12 months. For Instagram, 61% are planning to increase their activity on it, and 5% are planning the opposite.

TikTok is going to be used less because of certain restrictions. However, Tiktok’s adoption rate has doubled this year, resulting to 18% vs 9% in 2021.

B2B vs B2C Marketing 

The use of social media platforms also differs among B2B and B2C marketers. For instance, LinkedIn is the more preferred platform for B2B marketers as 81% of those marketers use LinkedIn, while only 53% of B2C marketers use the app. Moreover, Facebook is popular among B2C marketers. 94% of the BC2 marketers use Facebook. It is more than B2B marketers as 85% of them use Facebook. Moreover, 85% of B2C marketers and 74% of B2B use Instagram. The gap isn’t as large for Facebook and Instagram as it is for LinkedIn.

Another important revelation is that Facebook is the most important platform among all others for 55% of B2C marketers this year, which was 63% the previous year. Instagram is now in the second spot which has a 27% share. For B2B marketers, Linkedin has won over Facebook as a favorite as 40% of them prefer to use LinkedIn, while only 32% use the former.

Facebook is important for less than half of the respondents, that is, 47% this year. It has been at the top for more than half of the respondents (54% last year and 67% in 2018). With that being said, Facebook has the largest share because it’s being used widely. So, the percentage of marketers who are planning to decrease the usage of this platform for organic marketing is also greater than other platforms, which is at 13%. 

Marketers don’t see any incentive in increasing their level of activity on Facebook. Only 41% of marketers are interested to do so, which is a lower percentage than that of the last year at 47%.

What’s in Store for Other Social Media Platforms?

Here’s a rundown for other social media platforms where marketers plan to increase their activity level: 

• Instagram at 61% increase
• YouTube at 57% increase
• LinkedIn at 54% increase 
• TikTok at 37% increase (21% more than last year!)

The same trends can be observed in the advertising attitudes of marketers on social media. 70% of the respondents said that they are using Facebook ads 31% of the time, and 39% is spent promoting their products. It makes Facebook a widespread platform for advertising. However, the number of marketers who were using Facebook last year was greater than this. It has reduced by three quarters this year.

Even if half the number of marketers said that Facebook is the most important social media platform for their business, there is still a noticeably steady decline as last year, 61% of the marketers considered Facebook equally important to promote their products and businesses.

To Sum Up

According to the statistics, Instagram and Twitter will become the most popular social media platforms, while Facebook, which is is facing a decline, will continue to have the larger share. If restrictions are eliminated, Tiktok is also anticipated to rise because of its short video content. 

Social media is a competitive space. It is not guaranteed that the trends and dynamics are going to stay the same as before. What used to work before might not help generate the same desirable results now. However, you must keep yourself updated about the latest developments to use them as the initiatives.