Some social media stats lie, while some tell you a story everyone else is missing. Here’s a snapshot of some recent social media stats that might raise some questions, justify decisions, and inform your digital marketing plans as you look ahead to 2014.

2 Times more engagement received by tweets with at least one hashtag

17 percent more engagement received by tweets with more than two hashtags

80 percent of Pinterest users are women

35  percent of Pinterest’s unique visitors  visit via mobile only

1,707  That’s the number of Banner ads the typical Internet user sees each month

.1  percent of banner ads that are clicked on

56  percent of Facebook users who say they have clicked on an advertisement

51  percent of Internet users reached by Facebook

90  percent of Internet users reached by Google

31 percent more bloggers on the web today than there were three years ago.

94 percent more views that go to blog posts with images than without

What do these numbers say to you? If you’ve been ignoring Pinterest, but your audience is heavy on women, maybe you need a new direction.

When it comes to banner ads, it’s clear that people don’t like them and don’t click on them. It would be easy to conclude that they don’t work, and perhaps they don’t, but they’re still creating impressions for you. (sorry, we know that doesn’t make anything any easier for you!)

And while Facebook might be grabbing your attention, search is obviously still incredibly important. If you’re putting all your eggs in the social media basket, you may be doing so at the expense of the still-mighty Google. 

Sources: Hubspot; Dashburst; Digiday; DoubleClick