Understanding Facebook statistics in Australia, and Facebook user patterns is vital. With it becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd on the popular social media platform, an in-depth understanding of Facebook statistics might give you a completive edge. Understanding Facebook statistics is a bit like using a megaphone; it will amplify your voice, and help you stand out from the crowd.
Facebook Statistics Worldwide
To kick off our crowd-pleasing, social-media-audience-engaging expose on Facebook statistics in Australia, we thought we’d first take a look at Facebook Statistics worldwide, including what lessons can be gleaned from each.
Facebook Statistic #1: Each month, there are more than 1.23 billion active Facebook users (Source: Facebook). That is equivalent to approximately one-sixth of the world’s entire population. Combined, those 1.23 billion users have over 201 billion friend connections and have clicked ‘like’ 3.4 trillion times (Source: ABC).
Lesson #1: Just in case you still weren’t entirely convinced that you should have a Facebook page for your company, these statistics should be unequivocal evidence. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Facebook is simply too big, too far-reaching and too popular to ignore. If you don’t already have a Facebook presence, jump on it. Now!
Facebook Statistic #2: According to Facebook, as of January 2014, 757 million people log on to Facebook every single day. That is a 22% increase compared to the same time last year.
Lesson #2: Facebook users are regularly active. So, you need to be regularly active as well. You need to be updating your status regularly. You need to be commenting on (or at the very least liking) questions and posts regularly.
Facebook Statistic #3: According to Facebook, as of March 2014, there are over 1 billion (that’s right, 1 billion) active mobile users every month.
Lesson #3: While Facebook itself already does the majority of the work for you, it’s still important to consider mobile responsiveness (including the mobile responsiveness of any media that you include or any websites that you link to) in everything you do on your Facebook page. Consider how every image will look on a mobile phone screen, how status updates will display, how your main banner image will appear.
Facebook Statistic #4: The peak for Facebook traffic is mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), between 1pm and 3pm. Facebook traffic starts to build from about 9am, and after 4pm, traffic slows right down. Interestingly, on Thursdays and Fridays, audience engagement is 18% higher than any other days of the week (Source: Bitly Blog).
Lesson #4: The time of day that you post your status updates can affect your engagement enormously. Given the statistics above, it is best to wait until at least 11am before posting anything, and capitalise on the mid-week, 1pm to 4pm window. During these times, you will capture the greatest amount of available traffic.
Facebook Statistic #5: There were more than 7.5 million promoted posts between June 2012 and May 2013. (Source: Facebook)
Lesson #5: There is nothing wrong with partaking in a little advertising via Facebook. The Facebook statistics show that plenty of others, including your competitors, are paying for promotional opportunities. Sometimes, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to pay for the privilege.
Facebook Statistic #6: According to iStrategy Labs, the 25 to 34 year old bracket is the most common demographic for Facebook users. It is interesting to note that 3.3 million American users aged between 13 and 17 years old have left Facebook since 2011, as well as another 3.4 million 18 to 24 year olds (Source: iStrategy Labs).
Lesson #6: If the 25 to 34 age bracket is your prime demographic, and you haven’t already got a Facebook presence, get a move on!
Facebook Statistics in Australia
Unfortunately, Facebook does not release too many detailed user statistics, particularly for segmented market shares (like Australia). What Facebook has disclosed is that approximately 81% of all Facebook users are located outside America and Canada.
So, to provide more specific, targeted statistics for the Australian market, we have done a wee bit of investigative journalism, and come up with the following Facebook statistics for Australia. Do with them what you will.
Facebook Statistic #1: Over nine million Australians use Facebook every single day (Source: ABC). When extrapolated to a monthly basis, this figure increases to 12 million users.
Lesson #1: Australia only has a population of 22.8 million people. That means that 52.6% of Australians are actively using Facebook every month. As a business owner, or marketing professional, can you really afford to ignore a communication platform that regularly reaches more than half of Australia’s population?
Facebook Statistic #2: Of the nine million Australians who use Facebook every single day, 7.3 million log in via mobile (Source: ABC).
Lesson #2: The very large majority – 81% in fact – of your audience is accessing your Facebook page via their mobile phone. As mentioned in lesson #3 above, the user experience implications of this cannot be ignored. In Australia, it is even more important that you optimise all your Facebook content for mobile viewing.
Sally is the Chief Wordsmith at Wordly: a full-service copywriting, content marketing and public relations agency in Melbourne, Australia. Having worked in marketing, communications and public relations roles for over ten years, Sally is well-versed in just about every aspect of message delivery. Her professional experience includes: copywriting for web, social media and print publications; marketing and public relations campaigns that deliver growth and improve brand awareness; and internal stakeholder communication programs that improve employee engagement. For more information about Wordly’s range of services, visit: www.wordly.com.au.
Sally has worked in marketing, communications, and PR for over 15 years. She is the Chief Wordsmith at Wordly: a copywriting and content marketing agency that works predominantly with WordPress powered websites.
