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Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

Influencer marketing is evolving, and so is the way brands measure success. That’s why Meltwater is proud to announce a new partnership with YouTube, integrating YouTube’s Creator Partnerships API directly into our Influencer Marketing platform.

Introducing Verified YouTube Data in Meltwater Influencer Marketing

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

The great thing about influencer content is that it can be used as organic content or a paid post. In fact, content that your influencer’s post on Instagram can be boosted and turned into an ad. This is an opportunity many marketers forget about. Once your influencers have posted content, you have an opportunity to see which content is organically successful and can translate to paid success.

In this post, we'll explain the following use cases to you:

How to Authorize Influencers To Tag Your Business on Instagram

How Influencers Authorize Brands To Use IG Posts As An Ad

How Influencers Authorize Brands To Use Stories As An Ad

How To Promote Branded Content Using the Facebook Ads Manager

Read on to boost your influencer marketing efforts!

Why Should You Promote Influencer Content?

Influencer content is a wonderful way to authentically promote your brand. With a targeted audience, loyal followers, and a crafted voice, influencers are one of the purest marketing channels. And, while authentic and targeted marketing is a huge advantage of influencers, it is also important to recognize the quality content these creators produce.

Promoting your influencer content as an Ad is a great way to share your collaborations with an even larger audience. Your influencer content will organically generate great engagements, and boosting content with strong engagements shows others all the love your brand gets.

When you’re influencer tag your business on Instagram it not only makes it easier to discover and monitor all your influencer content, but it also exposes your brand to a wider network of users. When an influencer tags your brand and indicates that they are involved in a paid partnership, it establishes transparency between your brand and users. This transparency often converts to trust, which is an important value for many prospective clients.

In order for partners to tag your brand on Instagram, you must allow specific permissions.

Don't have an Instagram Business Account yet? Learn how to use Instagram for business, get inspired by the best B2B Instagram profiles, learn how to be successful with Instagram marketing, and learn how to get verified on Instagram.

Open your Instagram app and go to Settings → Business.

By selecting Required Approval, you have the power to approve all influencers who tag your business.

Approved Accounts is where you will manually approve influencers who have tagged your brand.

Next, search for your influencer’s Instagram handle.

Finally, make sure you select the influencer, which will enable them to tag your business.

There are many ways for influencers to disclose a paid partnership on Instagram and ensure FTC compliance.

However, if you are considering converting influencer Instagram stories into a paid advertisement, then it is important that your influencer tag your brand as a Business Partner. Additionally, during this step, your influencer grants your brand permission to use their content as an ad.

While uploading a photo, the influencer should select Advanced Settings.

Select Tag a Business Partner, in order to add a branded content tag to their post.

Step 3: Search for the Brand's Business Account

The influencer must search for the brand’s business account. Once the account is selected, the tag will appear on their post as a Business Partnership.

The influencer will receive a pop-up informing them that their post can be turned into an ad.

Step 5: Allow Business Partners to Promote

Select Allow Business Partners to Promote, which grants the brand access to promote tagged content.

Publish the post with Business Partner tag.

Similar to when creating an Instagram post, Stories can also be converted into an ad. In order to do so, the influencer must ensure that your brand is tagged as a Business Partner and authorize permission for the story to be used as an ad.

When uploading a story click the link icon.

Search for the correct brand handle to add as a partner.

Select Allow, so the business partner can promote branded content in their Instagram stories.

View your Business Partners to see which partners are authorized to promote branded content.

Share the Story with a Business Partnership tag.

Once you have enabled permissions and your influencers have posted their content and tagged your brand, it is time to boost your branded content on Facebook.

Tip: Learn how to use Facebook lead generation ads and how to boost Facebook reach.

Step 2: Select Where You'd Like To Promote the Content

In Placements select where you would like to promote the content as an ad (Instagram free, Stories, etc).

Under Ad-Level, select Use Existing Post.

In the Creativity section, click Select Post.

Step 5: Select Branded Content To Promote

Under the Branded Content Tab, select the branded content which you wish to promote.

Review your Ad preview, and then publish the Campaign!

Congratulations, you’ve successfully promoted branded content on Facebook. You’re on your way to reaching an even bigger audience with your influencer content.

If you’d like to learn more ways to use influencer marketing to support your brand goals, schedule a call with one of Meltwater's influencer marketing experts:

How To Promote Branded Influencer Content As Ads

Our latest Global Digital Report is packed with milestones, trends, and our biggest ever collection of data.

2024 has only just started, but it’s already shaping up to be a bumper year for digital milestones.

Our huge new Digital 2024 Global Overview Report – published in partnership between Meltwater and We Are Social – reveals a wealth of impressive headlines and trends, including:

A momentous new figure for social media use

A change in the world’s “favourite” social media platform

The intensifying rivalry between Instagram and TikTok

Compelling new milestones for LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Weibo

Some truly staggering figures for TikTok hashtags

…and loads more data, insights, and surprises too.

And it’s not just user numbers that have grown this year, either. 

At more than 550 pages, this is by far the most detailed Global Overview Report that we’ve ever published, and that’s all thanks to the support and generosity of our wonderful data partners:

There are a few things you should be aware of before you start exploring this latest round of data:

We’ve made significant changes to the way we report social media user identities in individual countries since last year’s report. The good news is that we’ve been able to rebase most of our data for previous periods, so we’re still able to report accurate data for change over time. However, comparisons with social media user figures published in previous reports will deliver inaccurate results, so please use the change values we’ve published in this year’s reports, and don’t try to calculate change values using data from previous reports.

Source corrections to a variety of data points – especially for internet users – may result in figures that look quite different to those we published last year. However, these new numbers rely on the most recent data, and are therefore the most representative and reliable figures.

We continue to see incongruous trends in the data published in the ad tools of various social platforms. We’ll explore some of these anomalies in our full analysis below, but please exercise caution when analysing trends in social media audience data, especially for X (Twitter) and TikTok.

We’ve changed how we collect data for TikTok, so our most recent global figures are not comparable with previous reports. However, the good news is that the data we can report now covers many more countries.

There have been some important changes in the category classifications in our ecommerce datasets, which means the data in this year’s reports is not comparable with seemingly similar data points published in previous years.

Need fast insights? This executive summary video delivers the top ten takeaways from this year’s report in just ten minutes:

The complete Digital 2024 Global Overview Report

You’ll find this year’s complete report in the embed below (click here if that’s not working for you), but read on past that to explore my in-depth analysis of what all these numbers actually mean.

Let’s begin with the latest headlines for digital adoption and use around the world:

Data from the United Nations World Population Prospects shows that there are now 8.08 billion people living on Earth. The global population has increased by 74 million people since this time last year, equating to year-on-year growth of 0.9 percent.

The number of unique mobile phone users sits at 5.61 billion at the start of 2024. The latest data from GSMA Intelligence reveals that 69.4 percent of the world’s total population now uses a mobile device, with the global total up by 138 million (+2.5 percent) since early 2023.

More than 66 percent of all the people on Earth now use the internet, with the latest data putting the global user total at 5.35 billion. Internet users have grown by 1.8 percent over the past 12 months, thanks to 97 million new users since the start of 2023.

Kepios analysis shows that active social media user identities have passed the 5 billion mark, with the latest user figure equivalent to 62.3 percent of the world’s population [note: social media user identities may not represent unique individuals]. The global total has increased by 266 million over the past year, resulting in annual growth of 5.6 percent.

That’s a great snapshot for your social media posts (feel free to copy-paste!), but what can we learn from this year’s bumper collection of data?

Well, the simple answer is “a lot”, so make sure you’re sitting comfortably, and we’ll begin our comprehensive analysis of these Digital 2024 numbers.

The top story in this year’s report is that there are now more than 5 billion active social media user identities, with the global total reaching 5.04 billion at the start of 2024.

This huge new social media milestone comes just ahead of Facebook’s twentieth birthday on February 4th, but it’s worth stressing that social media’s history started well before Mark Zuckerberg launched TheFacebook.com from his Harvard dorm room back in 2004.

Indeed, social media’s journey to 5 billion users started more than 50 years ago.

▶ Dig deeper: Explore the complete history of social media – including all the key platforms and milestones – in this special  Explore the complete history of social media – including all the key platforms and milestones – in this special  Explore the complete history of social media – including all the key platforms and milestones – in this special deep dive article.

Our latest social media user identities figure has increased by 5.6 percent over the past year, with 266 million new users starting to use social media for the first time over the course of 2023.

This impressive figure means that the world averaged 8.4 new social media users per second over the past year.

What’s more, that adoption rate actually accelerated further in the last three months of 2023, with Kepios analysis putting the average for the last three months of the year at 9.4 new users every second.

Because the same person may manage more than one “user identity”, our 5.04 billion figure doesn’t represent unique individuals, but our analysis indicates that the number of people using social media shouldn’t be massively different from this user identities total.

But the impressive figures aren’t restricted to user numbers.

The world spends a huge amount of time using social media too, with the latest research from GWI revealing that the “typical” social media user now spends 2 hours and 23 minutes per day using social media.

That average is 8 minutes per day lower than the one we reported this time last year, but our analysis of the data suggests that a change in GWI’s methodology may be the key factor here, rather than an actual change in user behaviour.

Either way though, these latest figures suggest that humanity will spend a combined total of 500 million years using social media in 2024.

▶ Dig deeper: If you’d like to learn more about the time we spend on social media – including how much time we spend on individual platforms – check out  If you’d like to learn more about the time we spend on social media – including how much time we spend on individual platforms – check out  If you’d like to learn more about the time we spend on social media – including how much time we spend on individual platforms – check out our deep-dive article.

However, social media adoption and use still vary meaningfully by country.

Countries along the western edge of the Persian Gulf see the highest ratios of social media users to population, although this may be partly because some of these countries are home to large expat communities that are not fully represented in “official” population data.

This phenomenon may also help to explain why some countries in the region have social media adoption figures that appear to exceed figures for population and internet use, although it’s difficult to know whether this is the only cause of these anomalies.

Either way though, the latest data indicate that social media user identities in the United Arab Emirates equate to 112.3 percent of the country’s population.

This figure may seem implausible, but it’s unclear whether this anomaly is caused by social media user identities being artificially inflated by duplicate and “false” accounts, or whether population figures simply under-report the total number of people currently living or working in the country.

As a result, we’ve chosen to report these ratios “as is”, so that readers can form their own conclusions.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia also see particularly elevated levels of social media adoption, with South Korea the first non-Gulf country in our latest ranking.

At the other end of the spectrum, North Korea still suffers from the lowest levels of social media adoption in the world, with the country’s government continuing to impose a total digital blockade that prevents the country’s citizens from accessing the internet.

The governments of Eritrea and Turkmenistan have also imposed tight restrictions on social media use, which explains the markedly low levels of social media adoption in these countries.

The latest data indicate that internet adoption continued to grow in 2023, albeit at a slightly slower pace than we saw in recent years.

However, because internet users are rapidly approaching “supermajority” status – when two-thirds of the world’s population will be online – this deceleration of growth is to be expected, because there is an ever-smaller number of people who remain offline.

Our analysis of the latest data from the ITU, GSMA Intelligence, Eurostat, and various local government bodies indicate that internet users grew by 1.8 percent over the past 12 months, with 97 million new users taking the global total to 5.35 billion at the start of 2024.

However, as we note each year, the complexity of collecting and reporting internet user numbers mean that many countries are yet to publish their most recent numbers, and as a result, our latest figures likely underestimate the actual total, and growth rates for recent months.

For perspective, our latest internet user growth rate is very close to the one that we reported this time last year, but new data published during the course of 2023 indicates that annual growth between 2022 and 2023 was actually closer to 3 percent.

And as a result, we expect that real internet user growth between 2023 and 2024 is higher than the 1.8 percent that the available data currently suggest.

But despite these impressive figures, more than 2.7 billion people remain offline around the world, with India alone home to more than 680 million of the world’s “unconnected”.

In more encouraging news, the latest data show that internet penetration now exceeds 25 percent in all of the world’s regions, and only central Africa continues to struggle with adoption rates below 50 percent.

As we’ll explore in more detail later in this article, rising internet adoption in India has helped push penetration above 50 percent across Southern Asia this year, but individual country figures tell a more complex story.

As we’ve already seen, North Korea’s total digital blockade means the country continues to languish at the bottom of the internet adoption rankings for yet another year.

African countries account for seven of the bottom ten, with the Central African Republic only just passing 10 percent adoption.

In all, a total of nine countries still contend with internet penetration rates below 20 percent, while 54 countries and territories out of a total of 233 for which we have data suffer from internet penetration rates below 50 percent.

▶ Dig deeper: There’s a lot more nuance to “the unconnected”, especially when it comes to causes and potential remedies.  There’s a lot more nuance to “the unconnected”, especially when it comes to causes and potential remedies.  There’s a lot more nuance to “the unconnected”, especially when it comes to causes and potential remedies. Click here to read our comprehensive analysis of all the latest data and trends.

Digital 2024: 5 billion social media users

When is the best time to post on social media?

Every social media manager wants an answer to this question! Social media posting times can influence who sees your post and the engagement rate on your social posts, so knowing when to post plays a part in the success of any social media management strategy.

So, what is the right publishing time to ensure maximum visibility and impact on your followers?

The answer isn't as simple as 6:00 p.m. on Sunday (despite what people may think!). The best times to post on Facebook, LinkedIn & Co. will depend on when your followers are online and when they use specific social channels. That might not be the answer you were looking for, but there are ways to figure out social media peak times—the time and days when your audience is online and engaging with your content. 

We'll show you how to determine them—plus share a few of the social media posting times that studies suggest as optimal times to post.

This infographic includes some quick tips that can help you organize your content calendar in order for your posts to get more exposure. 

https://meltwater-experience.pages.dev/experience-social-media-infographics/

When Is the Best Time to Post on Social Media?*

What Is the Best Time to Post on Facebook for Maximum Exposure?

What Is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

What Is the Best Time to Post on Twitter / X?

What Is the Best Time to Post on LinkedIn?

What Is the Best Time to Release a YouTube Video?

How to Find the Best Times to Post on Social Media for Your Brand

Best Times to Post on Social Media are Impacted by Time Zones

While peak times vary across the different social media platforms, the afternoon appears to be a popular time to post to social media. Content shared on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays also seems to outperform content shared on other days of the week.

Best time to post on Facebook: Tuesday-Friday from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Best time to post on Instagram: Wednesday & Thursday from 5 a.m., 11 a.m., and 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Best time to post on Twitter: Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. - 10 a.m.

Best time to post on LinkedIn: Wednesday and Thursday from 7 a.m.–8 a.m., 12 p.m., and 5 p.m.-6 p.m.

Best time to post on YouTube: Thursday & Friday from 12 p.m.-3 p.m.

Best time to post on TikTok: Tuesday & Thursday from 9 a.m.-12 a.m.

*These posting times will vary based on your specific audience.

The best time to post on Facebook: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

The best day of the week to post on Facebook: Wednesday

The Meltwater Blog

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