Consumers' most popular social media platforms revealed

By Austyn King | Published: 29-Jun-2022

YouTube, Instagram and Facebook were among consumers' platforms of choice, driven by influencer marketing and social selling

The most popular social media platforms have been revealed in a new report, with YouTube coming out on top as the platform of choice driving consumer engagement and purchases.

73% of consumers use YouTube at least once a week, according to the latest report from influencer marketing platform Traackr.

This was followed by Instagram (66%), Facebook (65%) and TikTok (56%), indicating that video content and influencer team-ups may provide powerful marketing opportunities for brands.

More than 70% of consumers said that they are more likely to buy products from brands if they collaborate with an influencer they know and trust.

Beauty has a long history of partnering with the brightest and rising social media stars, from James Charles and NikkieTutorials to Hyram and Meredith Duxbury – and it seems brands are reaping the rewards, with more than 80% of brands saying that influencer marketing has successfully boosted sales and brand awareness for their business.



“Influencers really became a fundamental gateway for brands to reach their customers during the pandemic,” said Pierre-Loïc Assayag, CEO and co-founder of Traackr.

“Clearly, even brands that were nascent in influencer marketing are seeing the value influencers bring to the table when curating authentic collaborations.

“We expect to see even more spend going toward influencer marketing as measurement on influencer campaigns gets more sophisticated to demonstrate the impact on the bottom line.”

The generation gap

Despite YouTube being the most frequently used, however, Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram came out on top as the platforms consumers were most likely to purchase products from overall.

However, the report also revealed a divergence between generations, as Gen Z consumers were more likely to purchase via Instagram and YouTube, followed by TikTok, with Facebook in the fourth spot.

81% of millennials said they used Facebook weekly, compared to just 48% of Gen Z, making the social media site the preferred social shopping destination, ahead of Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

The report comes as number of beauty brands have ramped up their social selling strategies, aiming to make it easier for consumers to purchase products seamlessly via their favourite social media sites.

Earlier this year, L'Oréal linked up with TikTok in a global first, enabling consumers to buy L’Oréal-owned beauty products via the app.

Rival platform Snapchat, meanwhile, also rolled out a new AR shopping experience, giving beauty shoppers access to brands' product catalogues.

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