Boosting sales still the key catalyst behind using social media for both small, medium and large businesses. In Australia, social media presence in the business sector has reached the highest level recorded. 51% of the small and 58% of medium businesses have a social media presence, the proportion reached 85% for the large businesses. Among businesses not using social media, 12% of small, 5% of medium and 27% of large businesses intend to get a social media presence in the next year.

Take a chill pill and read the below insights sheds the light on the use of social media by Australian businesses in 2018.

The Use of Social Media by Australian Businesses

• Facebook is the most used social media platform by Australian businesses (90% for small, 88% for medium and 92% for large businesses).
• LinkedIn is the second most used social media platform with a rate of 48% for medium and 73% for large businesses.
• Advertising /promoting the business and interaction are the top 2 purposes for using social media in Australia.
• Around 3 out of 10 of the businesses in Australia offer incentives to consumers via social media. Discounts are the most used incentives that offered by them.

A Table Shows the Proportion of Australian Businesses that Use Social Media (2011-2018)

Advertising on Social Media by Australian Businesses in 2018

• 34% of small businesses in Australia, 49% of medium businesses and 52% of large businesses have paid to advertise on social media channels.
• Facebook outstrips all social media channels that Australian businesses use to pay for advertising on, followed far by Instagram and then LinkedIn.
• In terms of social media management, more than 90% of SMBs and large businesses manage their social media internally.
• Marketing department in medium and large businesses is the responsible for using social media with rates of 74% and 73% respectively, while the owner or manager is the responsible in the small businesses in Australia.
• Medium and large businesses update their social media their social media every day (once a day or more) (41% and 68% respectively, while small businesses update it a few times a week (28%) or once a week (24%).

Business Investment in Social Media in Australia

• Around one in five SMBs with a social media presence has no budget for this activity, while 38% of large businesses spend $10,001 to $50,000 annually on social media.
• 21% of small businesses, 32% of medium businesses and 35% of large businesses measure their return on investment (ROI) on social media.
• The number of likes, followers and subscribers are the most used way used by SMBs and large businesses in Australia to measure the success of their social media activity (53%, 45% & 47% respectively).

A Table Shows the Annual Budget Spent on Social Media by SMBs and Large Businesses in Australia in 2018

Methodology:

Data in the business survey based on 1,100 telephone interviews with 1,002 SMB and 100 large business proprietors/managers across Australia. The study was conducted from March 1 to April 11, 2018.