Social media continues to boom and many people will be logging on to their social networks over the holiday break, perhaps even establishing new accounts on networks they have not previously been on, and spending an extended period of time on them with more time than usual on their hands.
For the second year running, award-winning creative agency The Creative Collective and it’s sister company The Training Collective has conducted research into the number of users on two of the more popular social networks: Facebook & LinkedIn for the major cities and towns of Australia.
According to the figures which were sourced direct from the social networks themselves, and compared against the 2013 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimation stats, surprisingly Darwin, NT, has the highest number of Facebook users per capita with 91.9% of its residents on the social network.
As a major business hub, and with their Australian operation headquartered there, it may not be surprising that LinkedIn’s most popular city per capita is Sydney, with 27.7% of its total population using the site, which is still an impressive number of 1,194,258 users.
The city with the lowest number of users per capita for Facebook was 63.8% in Perth (but still over half of the entire population) and Townsville at 10.3% for percentage of Linkedin users. [Full stats on number of users for all regions are available as an appendix to this release].
Founder of The Creative Collective & The Training Collective Yvette Adams, says that while many people are on the social networks, many are still not sure about how to use them to their full potential, nor for business purposes.
“We meet many people who say to us ‘I don’t use social media to market my business, because my market isn’t on there.’ We hope that uncovering these statistics each year, we can show the incredible growth of the networks year on year, as well as the very high penetration rate of the networks on a per city or town basis, and build awareness that social media is here to stay and a marketing channel that needs to be taken seriously,” she says.
To help Australians understand the potential of social media and other digital marketing activities, The Training Collective are offering a free series of information webinars starting from 29 January 2015.
Adams says through these webinars and other online and in person digital skills training the company offers to thousands of participants around Australia each year, they love ‘turning the light bulbs’ on for people who have previously been in the dark about different channels available to them to market, and how to go about it for maximum benefit. She says ‘digital literacy is the new financial literacy’, and she hopes more people will prioritise digital skills and the success it can bring them both personally and professionally in 2015.
“The reality is that if you don’t gain a good understanding of social media, technology and trends, you will be at a distinct disadvantage in terms of your employability and will most likely struggle in business, or even worse, go under. These skills are now essential. They ensure your business remains current and that you remain employable too.”
For a list of free upcoming webinars and events see: www.thecreativecollective.com.au/events. You can also email learn@thetrainingcollective.com.au or call 07 545 11315 for more information. For interviews and photos contact Yvette Adams on 0405 022 977 or email info@www.thecreativecollective.com.au.
How Social Media Savvy Is Your Region?
Comparing regions on social media take up…
| Location | Population (source = ABS 2013 Estimated Populations) … … |
Facebook
(in a 25km radius)
Source = Facebook
|
% of population on Facebook… |
Linkedin…
(in a 40km radius)
Source = Linkedin
…
|
% of population on
|
| Gold Coast | … … … … … … … … 605,134 | … … 480,000 | … … … … 79.32% | 139,489… | 23% |
| … Townsville | … … … … … … … … … 176,035 | … … 120,000 | … … … … … 68% | … 18,258… | … 10.3% |
| … Brisbane | … … … … … … 2,143,121 | … … 1,640,000… | … … … … … 76.5% | … 511,031 | … 23.8% |
| … Sunshine Coast | … … … … … … … 292,354 … | … 240,000 | … … … … … 82% | … 58,370 | … 20% |
| … Cairns | … … … … … … … … 145,003 | … 116,000 | … … … … … 80% | … 29,639 | … 20.4% |
| Melbourne | … … … … … … … 4,181,021 | … … 2,800,000 | … … … … … 66% | … 1,020,422 | … 24.4% |
| … Sydney | … … … … … … … 4,373,433 | 3,000,000 | … … … … … 68.5% | … 1,194,258 | … 27.7% |
| … Adelaide | … … … … … … … 1,263,888 | … 820,000 | … … … … … 64.8% | … 237,423 | … 18.7% |
| … Newcastle | … … … … … … … … 425,895 | … 320,000 | … … … … … 75.1% | … 75,902 | … 17.8% |
| … Canberra | … … … … … … … … 418,856 | … 280,000… | … … … … … 66.8% | … 107,427 | … 25.6% |
| … Darwin | … … … … … … … 119,597 | … 110,000 | … … … … … 91.9% | … 25,847 | … 21.6% |
| … Hobart | … … … … … … … 206,560 | … 156,000 | … … … … … 75.5% | … 37,208… | … 18% |
| … Perth | … … … … … … 1,901,582 | … 1,220,000… | … … … … … 63.8% | … 410,029… | … 21.4% |
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