Only One-Third of Americans Follow a Brand on Social Media?

As a PR student, I am exposed to social media all the time and was shocked to see the findings of a recent study on PR Daily indicating that social media use is not as popular among the masses as one may think. The findings also showed that the American population may not be in tune with newer social media platforms. 

Some of the most shocking figures from the study included: 

• Only 3 percent of Americans have ever “checked in” to a place
• Just 33 percent of Americans have ever followed a brand on social media
• 47 percent of Americans believe Facebook has the greatest influence of all social networks on buying decisions 

Seeing these statistics reinforces that social media is still just one outlet we should be using to get our messages out.  Social media seems to not have reached its maturity yet. The statistic showing that 47 percent of Americans think Facebook has the greatest influence over buying decisions also indicates that Americans may not be very in tune with newer social media platforms.  For now, while doing PR for any organization, we should identify members of our target audiences who may not use social media and use more traditional ways to get our messages out to them- maybe in years to come we will be able to reach all the stakeholders in our organizations solely through social media, but for now social media alone is definitely not enough.


This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kyra Mazurek