Social media has become an essential part of the modern customer journey, underlining the importance of social media marketing for businesses of all sizes.

Even as economic constraints bear down on marketing budgets, executives are still prioritizing social media investments—and with good reason. As consumers spend more time on social media, the channel offers unparalleled access for brands to influence purchase decisions at every stage, from discovery to advocacy.

Today, your social media marketing strategy can make or break your brand. The following statistics from The 2023 State of Social Media Report and The 2023 Sprout Social Index™ showcase the increasing value both business leaders and consumers are placing on social media in 2024 and beyond.

Why social media is important for businesses across industries

Savvy brands across industries use social media to wow their audiences, grow their market share and boost sales. The following statistics demonstrate social media’s impact on businesses of all shapes and sizes.

1. Social media marketing builds brand reputation and loyalty

Reputation is everything, especially in a challenging economic environment. According to The 2023 State of Social Media Report, building brand reputation and loyalty is a top priority for business leaders across industries, especially as they weather fluctuating market conditions.

It’s widely accepted that social media plays an increasingly important role in reputation management. In fact, 94% of leaders acknowledge that it has a positive impact on brand loyalty. Social media allows brands to connect with their audience on a more personal level, creating authentic and lasting connections that can withstand both good times and bad.

2. Social media data informs stronger competitive positioning

Getting an edge on the competition today can inform stronger business decisions tomorrow. However, if you’re not using social media to keep tabs on what your competitors (and their customers) are prioritizing, you’re missing out.

The real-time nature of social media offers an unrivaled opportunity to observe and analyze competitor strategies. If you’re not familiar, here’s what social media marketing’s role in competitive intelligence can look like:

• Aggregate data on customer care interactions reveals strengths and weaknesses of competitor products or services.
• Content themes provide insights on the unique value props that competitors are highlighting, as well as opportunities to further differentiate your brand.
• Share of voice data measures the market your brand owns online compared to your competitors.

Of course, doing this work manually is time-consuming even for the most well-resourced teams. Luckily, Sprout’s AI-driven social listening tool allows teams to uncover critical insights quickly through automated, presentation-ready competitive analysis reports.

3. Social media data creates a more customer-centric business strategy

Social listening data allows brands to keep up with the trends and conversations that impact their audience in real-time. These insights, in turn, inform stronger, more customer-centric business strategies.

If you want to see what this looks like in action, check out Goally—a technology company on a mission to ease the lives of families with neurodiverse individuals. They use Sprout’s listening tools to keep up with their audience’s evolving needs.

With Sprout, the Goally team surfaced a common need of parents raising neurodiverse kids: They want to see their children become independent. This finding has helped validate and enhance their company vision, informing everything from content to customer care.