Social media booms as recession looms: TikTok leads in business-to-business marketing

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Meltwater launched a new report on Tuesday 17 January comparing local trends to global trends and revealing that the importance of social media is increasing among organisations due to global economic uncertainty. With brand awareness a priority, more than half of the survey respondents (52%) stated that economic uncertainty had made social media a more important channel for their organisation. 

While Facebook remains the most used social media platform for organisations, in terms of growth, the use of TikTok is rapidly increasing (30% vs 16% last year). In addition, 47% of respondents stated that they are planning to use TikTok this year. This statistic remained consistent at 46.98% when looking specifically at respondents in Africa. 

“With current uncertainty in the economic climate, many brands are embracing innovation to get more from their marketing budgets. A thoughtful social media strategy allows marketers to gain and retain customer attention in a way that is highly efficient, cost-effective and measurable. We’re not surprised to see that respondents are looking to increase their brand awareness using these tools,” says Enterprise account executive Lays Bammesberger. 

Five channels dominated the social landscape in Africa. Facebook (88%), Instagram (76%) and LinkedIn (74%) were top, with Twitter (67%) and Whatsapp (58%) close behind. In terms of growth, the use of TikTok is rapidly increasing (28%). Most notably, Whatsapp usage in this region is 35% higher than the global average. Out of the 170-plus countries surveyed, the report found that African countries rely more on social media as a marketing tool (74%) compared to the overall results of other regions (52%). 

While brand perception and brand awareness has always been important, this trend seems to be increasing. Marketing professionals will continue to face familiar challenges, such as lack of time and resources, however, social media is an exceptional tool for combating these, which shows in the report. Investing in social media channels, particularly TikTok, is an effective method of creating a strong brand. 

While social media marketing has different purposes, the survey results showed that increasing brand awareness (81%) and brand engagement (60%) are top of the agenda across all sectors (B2B, B2C and NGOs). However, while the top two social media goals appear to be brand-related, only 23% of organisations use brand reputation as a key metric.

In short, social media has proved to be an inevitable ingredient in the communication mix for organisations, irrespective of the field they operate in, and is only growing in importance during times of turbulence and uncertainty.

Meltwater’s full Global State of Social Media 2023 Report can be downloaded for free. 

Katherine McInnes is Meltwater’s head of marketing for Africa 

The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.