Q1 2021: Social media market share in the Netherlands and Europe

April 2021. We just finished a few months of strict lockdown, with curfews and all. In many cases that meant even less turnover for entrepreneurs and more people forced to sit at home. But did it affect social media market share in the Netherlands and Europe in Q1 of 2021?

We'll check it out!

Oh, and just a little tip of the hat: there are major differences and a newcomer in the form of LinkedIn! At least, newcomer ... the business platform's market share has grown in recent times so it may now also be relevant to include in this analysis.

Good. We dive right in!

Netherlands

What stood out in Q4 of 2020 in the Netherlands was the shift between Facebook and Pinterest. Facebook was losing significantly to Pinterest, but that has since reversed completely.

Not surprising, when you consider that we did not have to find inspiration for the garden or for our hairstyles because the hardware stores, garden centers and hairdressers were largely closed anyway...Furthermore, the rise of Twitter also continues. This may be explained by the increasing demand for fast information - or by the fact that we have had elections here. Indeed, the increase is mainly in the last month.

Furthermore, Youtube and Instagram are losing some, but we want to talk about LinkedIn in particular. Looking at the data, the channel is taking off nicely. Where a year ago it had a 0.37% market share, it has now increased sevenfold!

Possibly it is related to the loss of business from many entrepreneurs and/or the record number of new Chamber of Commerce registrations. Time will tell, but many advertisers seem to have found their way to the platform for now.

Germany

In Germany, the social media market share follows more or less the same trend: Facebook records the largest increase, Pinterest loses considerably and Twitter also makes gains. Admittedly a relatively smaller gain than in the Netherlands, but still...

Incidentally, Instagram's share has also increased, but still less than half of what it was around this time last year.

In Germany, LinkedIn plays a significantly smaller role than in the Netherlands, although it should be noted that compared to a year earlier, it also shows as much as 300% growth. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to keep an eye on. Especially if your target group is also in Germany!

Belgium

Moving on to another neighboring country: Belgium. Here, too, Pinterest is the big loser in terms of social media market share, and almost all other channels are taking advantage of that. Of the 7% that Pinterest loses, most goes to Facebook and Instagram.

Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn all posted around 0.5% absolute gains.

So unlike in the Netherlands, LinkedIn's market share also lags a bit behind. Although it has also shown a nice growth here compared to last year. In March 2020, the market share still stood at 0.14%.

Maybe the use of LinkedIn is a local, Dutch trend after all. We'll see.

Europe

Europe is not quite following the same trend.

Yes, Facebook and Instagram (to a lesser extent) are also snatching quite a bit of market share from Pinterest here, but Twitter is apparently losing some. Remarkable, since it actually gained in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

Furthermore, Youtube also appears to be losing and LinkedIn gaining less when looking at the whole.

If we add to the latter the data from a year ago (0.1%), LinkedIn's market share does, by the way, follow the trend as seen in Belgium and Germany. Indeed, the market share more than tripled compared to a year earlier.

UK

Also new to this list: the United Kingdom!

The data is no longer included in the calculation of the social media market share of all of Europe because the UK is no longer an EU member, but that does not take away from the fact that it is still an important trading partner for us and so it may be interesting to see what the proportions are on the other side of the water.

Good. We see right away that Facebook's overall share is lower than in European countries and that the British are also mostly avid Twitter users.

Looking at the shifts, Pinterest yields at the expense of Facebook and Instagram, but it is also Twitter that suffers a nice loss. So although it is no longer an EU member state, social media market share does largely follow the European trend.

And then a word about LinkedIn. Here too there is an increase, although not a very large one. Compared to March 2020, by the way, you can talk about a fourfold increase.

Conclusion

The conclusion we can draw is that Pinterest is ceding a significant portion of its social media market share to Facebook. And while there is more tweeting in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, the rest of Europe and the UK actually appear to be advertising less on the platform.

Furthermore, changes in the market share of Instagram and Youtube are not really noteworthy, and the rise of LinkedIn also seems to be mainly local. Although it is experiencing a nice growth everywhere relatively speaking, we still seem to be mainly betting on the platform in the Netherlands.

We are going to see if the same is true in Q2 of 2021.

See you then!

Source: gs.statcounter.com