Top 100 Digital Marketing Stats of 2023

We at Creative Marketing (NW) Ltd understand that digital marketing is key in being an established business, we are a bespoke digital marketing agency that help our clients get the very best out of their online presence, whilst refining it for as much engagement as possible. 

We thought it would be a great help to those looking to learn about digital marketing, as well as those looking to expand their digital marketing knowledge, we decided to provide 100 digital marketing stats to provide insight for anybody looking to make the most of their marketing plans. 

Our compilation of statistics has been broken down into 4 areas.

• Social Media
• SEO
• Content
• Engagement

Though many important factors inhabit the subject of Digital Marketing, we feel these four are vital in understanding the current age of digital marketing. Each subject will contain 25 stats, with links to the referenced stat for those who want the deepest understanding.

Without further delay, here are 25 stats on Social Media.

Social Media

Social media can be harnessed as a tool to drive engagement and traffic to a website, business, service etc. Any user of social media will be familiar with the advent of advertisements appearing on their social media platforms. 

For any fledgling or established business, this can grant access to a new audience either locally or globally, depending on how it is handled. So with this in mind, let’s share some stats about social media that can influence or kick-start your journey into digital marketing.

1. As of 2022, over half (58.4%) of the global population of the world are active social media users. This equates to 4.62 billion people. 
2. Ad spending in the Social Media Advertising segment is projected to reach US$268.70bn in 2023.
3. In terms of popularity in the UK, Whatsapp is the most popular platform, followed by Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram & Twitter.
4. On average, adults in the UK spend 4 hours online each day.
5. Globally, Facebook is the most used social media platform, with 67.67% of all social media users having a Facebook account.
6. As of Q2 in 2022, Facebook’s average revenue per user became $9.82
7. Technically, Youtube is the largest search engine used after Google. Youtube not only provides a platform for creators, but for some it allows them to find an answer to a question they ask, with ‘how to’ videos being a great example. When optimised for a business, Youtube is a massive advantage to any business harnessing digital marketing.
8. 95% of internet users aged between 18-34 will follow at least one brand on social media (the aim is for your brand to be one of them!)
9. Social consciousness is important for 70% of consumers, however, paradoxically 55% of consumers believe their values are important enough to boycott brands that would contradict those values. (Media.Sproutsocial page 11)
10.  66% of consumers believe that brands can make a real change in the world by taking a stand on social issues on social media. (Media.Sproutsocial page 11)
11. 43% of consumers want brands to take a stance on social issues when it directly affects the business. (Media.Sproutsocial page 12)
12. When it comes to how a brand should take a stand, 40% of consumers believe it should be done by collaborating with a relevant nonprofit (Media. Sproutsocial page 18)
13. 2022 was expected to generate $75.3 Billion in social-ad spending.
14. B2B marketers see a higher engagement and better ROI on TikTok than marketers for B2C brands. (State of Inbound Marketing trends page 48)
15. It has been found that posts with photos/illustrations get 650 times more engagement than posts that only contain text.
16. Social media was found to be the top marketing channel of 2022, with SEO coming in 6th place. (State of Inbound Marketing trends page 9)
17. “Edutainment” content is predicted to be critical for engagement and is a good way to create a following for your brand via social media. This can come in the form of creating a video addressing what your brand does and how it can help the viewer. If your business already has a social media following, creating videos that address FAQs from customers also furthers brand engagement. 
18. Tik-Tok is the fastest-growing social media channel with 100% growth between 2020-2022.
19. The number of social media users increased by 137 million users from January 2022 to January 2023.
20. It is projected that by 2027 the USA will have a whopping $130.5 billion of total social media ad spending will be generated through mobile.
21. Instagram offers the highest ROI for selling products, followed by Facebook & YouTube.
22. Reels take up 30% of the total time Instagram users spend on the app. This means a business that takes advantage of using reels could have the edge over those that do not.
23. LinkedIn is generally known as a network for professionals which has over 900 million users in over 200 countries. As a user, you can connect with other professionals across almost any industry. Which can prove vital for a business looking to expand its recruitment process.
24. TikTok has over 1 billion active users globally, presenting an opportunity for any business to get a new audience.
25. With an average of almost 24 hours a month spent on TikTok by users, this further reinforces its popularity and how a business can use this to its advantage.

With these 25 stats in hand, we hope you are armed with the knowledge to expand your brand in the ever-expanding social media landscape.  We will now deliver 25 stats on the next subject, SEO.

SEO

SEO, also known as search engine optimisation, is the process of improving the amount of traffic that can be obtained by a website from search engines. SEO aims to attract unpaid traffic or an “organic reach”. 

If used correctly, SEO can expand your business to new audiences far & wide among those whose first step is using a search engine.

1.  93% of online experiences begin with using a search engine 
2.  Google contains the highest percentage of users processing searches, with 85.55% of all searches coming through Google.
3. In 2022, 17% of marketers implemented some form of automation, (including but not limited to AI) as part of their strategies. (State of Inbound Marketing trends page 49)
4. 95% of marketers who have used short-form video content to increase engagement found the result to be successful. (State of Inbound Marketing trends page 50)
5. The global SEO services market is projected to reach $103.24 Billion by 2025.  
6. When ranking on their algorithms, Google makes use of 200 factors that can result in the site ranking higher or lower. 
7. Pages with an average of 1447 words were ranked on the 1st page of an organic google search result.
8. URLs that are shorter tend to have an advantage over long URLs
9. Pages with more backlinks ranked higher than those without backlinks.
10. Surprisingly, more than 66% of pages have ZERO backlinks. 
11. On average, #1 search results on google contained 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-10
12. Having a higher domain rating directly correlates with the positioning on the search page. The higher the domain rating, the closer to the top (if not the top) the page will be on a search result page.
13. There is zero correlation between the time it takes for a site to load with its ranking on the results page.
14. Using multiple backlinks from more than one domain will rank a page higher as opposed to using multiple backlinks from one domain.
15. Most title tags on Google’s first page contain keywords that are an exact or partial match of that search.
16. 90.63% of pages get no organic search traffic from Google.
17. Only 0.78 of Google searches actually went to the second page of the results and clicked something.
18. The number one result on Google gets 27.6% of all clicks. 
19. The top 3 Google search results get 54.4% of all clicks.
20. Moving up one position on the Google results page will increase your absolute CTR by 2.8%. However, moving from #2 to #1 increases the percentage to 74.5%.
21. Question-based title tags perform in a similar fashion to non-question-based title tags.
22. Title tags that contain between 40-60 characters have the highest organic CTR, at 33.33%.  0-20 characters came second with 27.9%. 
23. Similarly, title tags between 6-9 words again had the highest organic CTR at 33.5%.
24. Longer keywords tend to have a higher overall CTR. With 4 words at 31.8%, sharply followed by 5-9 words at 31% & 10-15 words at 29.2%.
25. Titles that contain a positive emotive sentiment generally have a higher organic click-through rate. 

SEO can seem daunting at first, but it is essentially the art of understanding how to expand the visibility of your business through search engines to real people who are in need of your expertise, or products. A main factor in determining your effectiveness for this is content, for which we will be providing 25 stats for you below.

Content

Content is now seen as a vital component to expand the reach of your business, before the internet, advertisement within radio, tv or newspapers, along with word of mouth was the best way to do this. 

As time has progressed and individuals can speak to the world through online platforms, content has become key along with advertisement in securing new potential customers. 

1. The COVID-19 Pandemic indirectly served to increase the usage of content by 207% this was out of a need to create appeal for brands or businesses who didn’t normally have to rely on an online presence but were made to with the subsequent lockdowns. 
2. Interactive content is seen to have more engagement (in terms of time spent), by over 50% compared to non-interactive content.
3. 70% of B2C marketers either have or aim to have a content marketing strategy, showing the ever-expanding importance of content and its value to a business’s reach. (B2C Content Marketing – Page 6)
4. Over 60% of B2C Marketers’ content teams have been asked to do more with the same resources. This can present a problem in providing quality content, as resources should be ever-expanding in conjunction with ever-expanding technology, methodology etc.  (B2C Content Marketing – Page 7)
5.  Twitter video ads save 50% on the cost per engagement. 
6. 53% of B2C organisations have a small team or one person that facilitate the entire marketing strategy for the organisation. (B2C Content Marketing – Page 10)
7. The top two types of content being created by B2C organisations are short articles (no more than 3000 words) and videos. (B2C Content Marketing – Page 16)
8. Among marketers that used paid content distribution channels, 80% used social media advertising/promoted posts (B2C Content Marketing – Page 22)
9. Ad spending is projected to reach $210.20 Billion in 2023,
10. The top 4 formats for content marketing are videos, blogs, images & infographics
11. Using content in marketing strategies can positively impact lead generation by up to 3 times.
12.  20% of an internet user’s time is spent viewing/engaging with content.
13. 60% of people seek out a product after reading content specifically about it.
14. 90% of consumers find custom content useful. Content being useful may translate into the customer investing in a product.
15. 72% of marketers worldwide believe that relevant content creation was the most effective SEO tactic
16. Video content under 2 minutes in length gets the most engagement.
17. Articles containing video content got over 80% of traffic over those that did not.
18. Instagram Reels contribute to overall Instagram marketing successes, however, YouTube shorts are predicted to be less effective, even though the format is the same, the only difference being the platform.
19. When videos are posted by a business on social media 93% of the businesses gain a new client.
20. Almost 65% of brands opt for releasing marketing video content 1-4 times a month. The frequency is in order to be favourable to algorithms depending on where the video is posted.
21. 68% of consumers prefer to watch videos when it comes to learning about a product or a service as opposed to reading about it.
22.  Marketers that incorporate videos have been shown to grow their revenue by 49% as opposed to those who don’t use video marketing.
23. 90% of people have reported having discovered new brands through YouTube.
24. On Facebook, video promotion is now as popular as photo promotion.
25. B2C marketers were asked which factors contributed to the success with their content marketing. The results & the percentage of votes are as follows: (B2C Content Marketing – Page 8)

• The value our content provides – 61%
• Website changes – 57%
• Adapting changes brought forth by the pandemic – 53%
• Changing buyer/consumer behaviours – 44%
• Search rankings – 44%
• Strategy changes – 38%
• Changing our products/services –  20%

These 25 statistics serve to show the power of content and how it can help your business exponentially if it is applied correctly and consistently. As we move into the final 25 statistics, we will be discussing quite possibly the most important thing when it comes to marketing, engagement.

Engagement

In marketing, engagement refers to the process an individual makes, this process can be watching your ad, going on to your website or purchasing your product or service. Obtaining people’s engagement in the marketing space comes in the form of ads, blogs, videos, SEO and viral marketing campaigns. 

So let us share the final 25 stats that will help you understand the value of engagement, and hopefully give you ideas to gain engagement.

1. Social listening is the most used tactic by marketers. Social listening is the process of paying attention to the reputation and opinions of your company online. You can use this to gauge how to engage with your audience next most effectively. 
2. Short form videos garner the most attention when it comes to lead-generation and engagement.
3. Over 50% of consumers used Google to research purchases they plan to make, presenting possible engagement opportunities for savvy marketers. 
4. Over 58% of online traffic is conducted through the use of mobile phones. So making sure you have mobile friendly blogs, websites & content to engage with mobile-users is paramount.
5. If you have a website, you should make sure it loads immediately. As statistics show that 53% of visitors will leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
6. In 2022, 66% of all internet traffic volume is directly from videos. Highlighting the opportunity available to marketers looking for engagement, videos will help garner engagement.
7. That being said, over 40% of consumers said that a business not replying to a review would not affect their decision to engage with the business.
8. As much as AI can help SEO engagement, search engines can recognise content that is completely AI generated. Content contains word use patterns unique to both human and AI-generated content. This may impact engagement if misused.
9. It is up to 155% more likely for a person engaging with your marketing content to look up your brand specific terms after they’ve seen display ads.
10. Social media accounted for 33% of digital ad spending in 2022, showing that social media should be a serious consideration for those looking to create engagement.
11. Northern Europe has a whopping 98% of internet users as a percentage of total population. Followed by Western Europe with 94% and North America with 92%. If you’re looking to target engagement, keeping these areas in mind may help you generate a greater chance of engagement purely due to the amount of users in these areas. ( Digital 2022 global overview report – Page 22)
12. For those looking for engagement from young to middle aged people, Instagram was the most popular social media app used by 16-34 year old women, and 16-24 year old men. Facebook was the most popular social media used by men aged 25-34 years old. Harnessing engagement from these demographics could be key in the growth of your business as both are now under the ‘Meta’ umbrella, meaning ads have the potential to be cross-platform. (Digital 2022 global overview report – Page 104)
13. Over 40% of brand research is conducted on social media platforms, meaning having a good social media presence can help engagement. (Digital 2022 global overview report – Page 106)
14. Almost 40% of users will not engage with your website if its content or layout isn’t deemed to be appealing, or poorly laid out.
15. Your details are important! 44% of visitors engaging with your website will leave if you don’t leave any contact information.
16. Businesses with 40+ optimised landing pages get 12 times more leads than pages that only contain a maximum of 5 landing pages.
17. Engagement can be affected by reviews, so always handle things professionally, because 49% of shoppers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
18. 87% of consumers opt to use Google in order research local businesses. Which is why the information you create for engagement must be updated, working, aesthetic and relevant. 
19. In 2022, 98% of people used the internet in some way to find information on local businesses.
20. Google is the most trusted platform for users to read reviews on businesses. Your future engagement can be dependent on reviews, as bad reviews leave your site or business less likely to be visited.
21. Paradoxically, 50% of consumers have seen fake reviews on Google, with Amazon leading at 54%. 
22. Customer care can influence future engagement positively. As 44% of people were highly likely to leave a review when a business went above and beyond for them. Reviews act as an online word of mouth, which again can help convert future engagement into leads.
23. Engagement on your side can also positively influence the perception of your business which could help curate future engagement. 88% of consumers are more likely to use a business if it responds to all reviews, whether they are positive or negative. 
24. AI can help SEO engagement potentially garnering new traffic for marketers. Some of the tasks that AI can operate for SEO include: Content Planning, Content Analysis, Data Analysis, Creation Of Local Knowledge Graphs & Much More
25. Over 50% of consumers believe it is very important for businesses within the following    industries to have some form of online review in order to use them. They are: Service Businesses And Tradespersons, Healthcare, Automotive Services & Care Services

If your business falls within these categories, you should definitely consider asking your customers to leave a review and see if it does indeed positively affect your engagement. You can gauge this through questionnaires via email or on your website.

Closing Thoughts

There we have it, 100 Digital marketing stats for 2023. Within every statistic we highlighted, there is a link to it’s source so you can conduct further research if you so choose. We hope these statistics have provided food for thought for those looking to expand their business’s digital presence.

Looking for more than just facts? Get in touch with us to help level up your digital marketing today.

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