All social media platforms were NOT created equal. In fact, each platform hosts a different demographic of users who are searching for an online experience that is tailored to their individual needs. For this reason, it is important to carefully consider these differences when deciding which platform(s) you want to use as a marketing channel. Knowing your target audience and where to find them is the first step in succeeding in a paid social campaign, yet it can be difficult to know where to start.
Learn the average user for each social media platform
In recent years, the significance of social media in daily life has become indisputable. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram receive up to 1.4 billion, 100 million, and 500 million daily active users (DAUs) respectively. Therefore, it appears evident that incorporating social media into a digital marketing strategy is vital to ensure that a brand can reach a broader section of the market.
Since approximately 70% of online adults use Facebook, this platform should constitute a large portion of your social media strategy.
As the leader of social networking sites, Facebook is an important place to give your brand a presence. More specifically, the highest frequency of Facebook users is aged between 24 and 50 and the balance between males and females is relatively equal. Therefore, posts that are aimed towards adults would be an effective Facebook strategy.
Useful Info:
- Facebook gets over 8 billion average daily video views, however, 85% of Facebook users watch videos with the sound muted.
- 19% of time spent on mobile devices occurs on Facebook.
- 42% of Facebook fans ‘like’ a page with the intent of getting a discount voucher.
- New parents use Facebook mobile 1.3 times more often than users without children.
18% of internet users have a twitter account so it is a platform that should definitely not be overlooked.
In Great Britain, the majority of twitter users are under 34 years old. Rapid communication is key on this social network and users do not tend to spend a long time absorbing information from individual posts. Therefore, before using this platform, consider whether targeting young adults with brief and concise posts would be useful and relevant to your business.
Use LinkedIn to target college graduates business professionals.
LinkedIn is especially popular among both those with high income and college graduates, therefore, this social network is for targeting not only business professionals and company key decision makers, but also university students. Tailoring posts with a corporate/business tone would be an effective way to garner the attention of these users.
Useful Info:
- 1 million professionals have published a post on LinkedIn.
- An average user spends 17 minutes monthly on LinkedIn.
- Statistical Analysis and Data Mining are Top skills on LinkedIn.
- There are 5 million accountants on LinkedIn.
There are 500 million daily active users on Instagram who could interact with your brand.
Did you know that 32% of all internet users are on Instagram? This comes to around 500 million daily active users that could potentially be interacting with your brand. Therefore, it is good to know the average audience that is present on Instagram so as not to be too broad with your targeting.
Useful Info:
- 200 million Instagrammers actively visit the profile of a business every day
- Posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement.
Want to target women with your strategy? Pinterest has remained substantially more popular among women for years. With a 4:1 female to male ratio, Pinterest should definitely be utilised to target women with relatable blog posts. Moreover, Pinterest appears to be used mostly by an older audience, with 1 in 2 millennials (ages 22 to 37 in 2018) using Pinterest per month. Moreover, 60% of Pinterest households have children age 5 or under. This indicates that the average Pinterest user is a mother between the ages of 22 and 37.
As a relatively new platform, advertising with Snapchat is relatively unexplored. Snapchat is a highly visual platform that focuses on creative and interactive ads and posts. Presenting your brand on Snapchat may be a good idea if you want to reach a younger audience. 83% of 12 to 17-year olds and 78.6% of 18 to 24-year olds use Snapchat and to work out whether Snapchat is right for your business, it is important to consider these statistics.
Although Tumblr doesn’t have as many active daily users than other social networks, it does have a unique userbase. This social network has approximately 50% users between the ages of 16 and 24 which is a demographic that is often difficult to reach.
While fewer people currently use Tumblr compared to the other social network giants, the value of Tumblr lies within the fact that users spend more total time online than they do on other platforms. This makes detailed blog posts targeted at young users a valuable way to promote your brand on this site. Again, whether or not you choose to pursue this quirky microblogging social platform as part of your marketing strategy is down to whether you believe that the userbase and posting style is relevant to your brand.
As the Tumblr userbase is fairly young, it might be wise to spread information and awareness of your brand in though-provoking blogs and high-quality images. Focusing on blatant call-to-action would not resonate with the Tumblr audience.
To conclude
The key is not to be too broad when targeting on social media. If you target everybody, you will end up targeting nobody!