Mobile Activity Boosts Social Media Growth in Germany

Social networks are already popular, but mobile usage will increase marketing opportunities


In February 2012, eMarketer estimated that Germany had 25.7 million social network users by the end of 2011 and that that figure would reach 29.2 million by the end of 2012, a 13.7% jump. At that point, social networks will reach more than half of Germany’s internet users and penetration will hover near a third of the total population.

According to an October 2011 survey by artegic, a Bonn, Germany-based provider of software and services for email and RSS marketing, more than three-quarters (77.3%) of internet users in Germany said they accessed mobile social media occasionally, and of those, almost half (48.2%) reported accessing social media at least regularly. Predictably, regular and heavy usage was more prominent among younger groups, teens and young adults.

Regular or Heavy Mobile Social Media Users in Germany, by Age, Oct 2011 (% of respondents in each group)

As reported previously, consumers in Western Europe are more responsive to mobile ads than in the US. In its report “Mobile Email Marketing 2012,” artegic found that users surveyed were employing their mobile devices to access email and social media during leisure time and to help pass the time while waiting to do other things, such as while in a checkout line. In light of that finding, products in checkout lanes that are designed for impulse purchase would seem ideal for social mobile marketing efforts.