What’s Happening in Australian Social Media?

To keep pace with an ever-changing digital world, analysts track and observe the habits of consumers across the globe. The most recent report from Sensis showcased some interesting insights which could prove extremely relevant for businesses and organisations with an online presence.

Need proof of the Internet’s influence? Only 1% of Australians claim that they never use it.

An Entire Day Online – Social Media Habits

How much time are Australians spending online? And what are they doing during that time? The Sensis report shows that 79% of Australians use the Internet every day, accessing it from a variety of devices. In fact, the average Australian owns three devices with Internet capability. Of these users, approximately half say that they access social media daily, and half of users also go online more than five times per day. It seems more and more time is spent online and much of it is invested in social media connection.

Facebook continues to outshine other platforms as the most popular and frequently used. 93% of Internet users maintain a Facebook profile: a massive jump from the 2nd most popular social site, LinkedIn (boasting 28% of users). Users of Facebook spent a startling 8.5 hours weekly on the site, which roughly equates to an entire workday. Such constant access is a sign that businesses may want to focus their advertising efforts on such a dominating social media platform.

Consumer Attitudes and Social Media

Approximately one third of users follow businesses and brands on social media. Many users reported using social media to research products or services, with nearly 50% of those searches leading to a purchase (and 63% of those purchases completed online). Aside from research, consumers enjoy interacting with businesses via social media when there are contests, giveaways, or discounts to be had. Users also give reviews or feedback to businesses via social media. When it comes to seeing advertisements on social media, 32% like the sponsored posts that come from business they follow. A further 38% are happy to see relevant ads and 42% of them often click on these ads to find out more. click on occasionally to find out more (42%). From these statistics, it can be inferred that paid advertising on social media networks such as Facebook garners active results.

What We Can Learn

Studying consumer habits can be imperative for reaching customers in a better way. For instance, the Sensis report shares the time of day in which most users engage online with social media. The percentage of access remains fairly consistent throughout workday hours, but spikes in access occur first thing in the morning, during an evening commute/after work, or directly before bed. Knowledge of such habits can assist businesses in knowing when to schedule their posts on social media, providing for the most possible visibility.

Businesses can also understand the relevance of how users access the Internet. With so many owning mobile devices, it’s become apparent that mobile users access the Internet primarily from those devices and also access it more frequently. This emphasises the importance of mobile-friendly websites and apps for your business, if you want to reach customers in the ways they are engaging online.

The conclusion? Social media is alive and well and it is a smart move for businesses to capitalise on its influence.