Content Sharing on Social: Everyone’s Doing It

Social networking is a majority activity in the US: eMarketer expects 54.3% of the population, or 68.5% of internet users, to log on to a social site at least once per month in 2014.

Based on June 2014 polling by OneSpot and The 614 Group, marketers are taking advantage of these high usage levels, relying on social platforms to distribute content. Among US marketing professionals surveyed, four in five cited social sharing as a distribution channel used for content marketing. This was the second-highest percentage of respondents, trailing companies’ own websites.

Results from recent research suggest that marketers are making a smart move. A June 2014 study conducted by SurveyMonkey for Social@Ogilvy found that an impressive number of social networkers worldwide shared content via social, with just 9% of respondents saying they never did.

Among social content sharers, two main groups emerged: those who said they posted once in a while (33%) and those who did so usually (29%). Interestingly, the top two frequencies combined saw the same response rate as the bottom two groups combined, indicating an even spread among social users—some people just like to share more than others.

When it came to what content social users shared, respondents showed interest in spreading the news, with informative or educational items the most-shared content type. And UK social users aren’t the only ones who like to laugh: Funny or entertaining content ranked a close second, at 35% of respondents. No other content type came close, with response rates for the rest falling at 10% or below.

Courtesy of eMarketer