Not everyone uses all the social media sites all the time, so how do you know where your target audience is spending most of their time? With over 2.8 billion active social media users worldwide – that’s a 37% global penetration – you cannot afford not to know exactly where your audience is hanging out online.
This is a crucial component in developing and implementing any digital marketing campaign. Use the information in this post and on the 2017 State of Social Infographic as a tool to help you get your message in front of the right people! Before we dive into the graphic, I’m going to break down a few stats and share a few thoughts that rang out for me.
Stand-Out Demographics About Each Social Media Site
Facebook – Coming in at #1
Everyone uses Facebook, right? It may be the most popular site right now, but not everyone on Facebook uses it regularly. It’s known as the best place to reach female Millennials and Generation X as well. If your target is a woman between the ages of 18–49, then you need to be on this site.
YouTube – They Say It’s Better than TV
Who hangs out on YouTube the most? The audience is predominately guys, supposedly, but I’m not buying that. Along with countless other women I certainly like to get my how-to video fix! However, research says that YouTube is the place to reach males between the ages 18–49. In fact, this group is on the site more than on cable TV!
Instagram – Continues to Grow by Leaps and Bounds
Reading the stats, I’m not sure if they consider Instagram a dating site or a social site. It seems that Instagram is where you can find women under the age of 35. (Is this the future Match.com? J/K.) While women do like spending time there, the percentages are still lower than Facebook and YouTube for all of the women that are online.
Twitter – Are the Reports of Oversaturation True?
While everyone writes about Twitter dying on the vine, it is still attracting 317 million unique monthly users. It seems men between the ages of 18 and 29 make up the majority of Twitter users. Keep in mind, it’s also been reported that most users are only on the site’s mobile app for less than 3 minutes each day. You better have some powerful tweets – and lots of them – to capture users when they do finally hit that app.
Pinterest – Where Evergreen is Queen
It seems the half-life of a pin on Pinterest is 151,200 minutes vs. 24 minutes for a tweet. Women ages 18–64 like to search on Pinterest, so having the most recent pin isn’t as necessary. 10% of people referred to an ecommerce site through Pinterest are more likely to buy than they are referred from any other network. Make sure you are pinning those tangible products and updating the links to the buy page.
LinkedIn – Not Just for Job Search Anymore
Coming in at an average of 106 million unique active monthly users, LinkedIn is the place business professionals like to frequent. With the majority of them making $75K per year or more, you can expect the posts to be more business focused. It seems the majority of LinkedIn users don’t stray from the site, so to reach them you better head on over there!
Reddit – Not a Tool for the Faint-Hearted
With over 85 million unique monthly users, Reddit shouldn’t be discounted as a social tool. However, you cannot treat Reddit like every other platform where you pop in, drop a link, and go about your merry way. These users are a tight-knit community and they band together against perceived spammers of this type. To see results you have to put in time, effort and energy. Build up a positive reputation in the communities you frequent and then maybe, just maybe, you can get away with dropping a link or two without getting banned.
While this infographic gives you enough information to narrow down your social media efforts to the right site to reach the right audience, don’t skip doing your own research. Digest the graphic below and you will have a head-start on everyone else!
Infographic Courtesy of Tracx.com
So which platform is right for your audience? Did you discover you’ll need to hang out on several social networks? I’m sure that didn’t surprise you!
Connecting Your Message with the Right Social Media Target Audience Is Imperative
Keep this in mind: No matter what social media site you use, if no one sees your message it doesn’t matter how good that message is. More importantly, if your target audience – people most likely to buy your product or use your service – doesn’t see it, then you are not going to make any sales.
Any demographics above that surprised you? Are you going to change your social strategy in any way? Comment below and let’s discuss!
