Consumers regard social media platforms as valuable sources of information for making educated buying decisions. A study by GlobalWebIndex revealed that 71% of consumers’ decisions on buying a product or not are influenced by what they read on social media. Likewise, 54% of consumers use social media to conduct research on products and services.
The data doesn’t suggest that investing time and resources in a social media marketing strategy is a guaranteed home run. Choosing the social media network for your business isn’t a game of darts whereby regardless of how and where you throw, you’ll hit the bullseye.
Consumer Demographics – What Are They And Why They Are important
The keyword in social media is “Social”. These networks cater to communities composed of people with similar interests, tastes, preferences, and behavioral attributes. They gravitate towards a particular social network based on how the platform is built up and promoted.
Therefore, these communities don’t function in the same way. The behaviors and practices are influenced by the consumer demographics that are predominant in the community.
Consumer demographics are the characteristics and qualities of the people that comprise the followers or audience. Demographics can be categorized and organized into the following:
- Gender
- Age
- Income Level
- Education Level
- Employment Status
- Career
- Location
- Marital Status
- Number of Children
- Hobbies and Interests
Why is it important to learn what your consumer demographics are?
There are 4 reasons why you need to invest time and resources into uncovering the characteristics of your consumers.
- Create an Accurate Buyer’s Profile
- Efficient and Precise Customer Segmentation
- Initiate Personalized Customer Interactions or Engagements
- Keep Track of Changing Behaviors and Consumption Patterns
When you have an accurate Buyer’s Profile, you’ll have a better understanding of who your customers are. Segmenting your customers into categories will enable you to come up with a more efficient email marketing strategy.
Of course, knowing who your customers are will help you develop a deeper, more personalized relationship with them and validate perceived changes in behaviors and consumption patterns.
Collectively, by identifying consumer demographics, you’ll be able to efficiently manage your marketing budget and allocate more resources to strategies that deliver the desired results.
You’ll know which social media platforms to use, the types of content to post, and how to interact with your audience in order to achieve your marketing goals.
The Top Social Media Platforms And Their Consumer Demographics
Did you ever wonder why the “Gym Fails” video that generated hundreds of likes and shares on Facebook came and went on LinkedIn with hardly a whimper? You might have even gotten negative comments from community members from the fitness industry.
The result will be the same if you post business content with heavy industry jargon and statistics on Facebook. You might not get negative comments but the majority of people in your community will scroll past them.
The reason is that Facebook and LinkedIn cater to different consumer demographics and agendas.
People who log into Facebook are leaning towards the social aspect of the platform. They want to see what their friends and family are up to; what the latest developments are in their lives, how they’re feeling, and what they have planned for the rest of the day.
In contrast, people who log into LinkedIn are looking for opportunities to further their careers or businesses. They might network for new contacts, engage with specific people in their community to offer business proposals or post content that’s crafted to enhance their value proposition to potential employers.
Can you use Facebook for business and LinkedIn for socializing? Yes, but the approaches will be different. And this is why it’s important to uncover and understand the demographics of the consumers in the top social media platforms.
Let’s begin with the biggest and most popular social media platform on the Internet.
Facebook Key Demographics:
- Number of Monthly Active Users – 2.74 Billion
- Percentage of users over the age of 12 – 63%
- Number of users aged 13 to 17 – 109 million
- Largest age demographic – 24 to 35 years old (26.3%)
- Distribution of users by gender – Male (56%), Female (44%)
- Fastest growing age demographic – 55 years and older; 46% of those aged 65 and older prefer Facebook
- Percentage of global audience, Europe – 40%
- Percentage of global audience, Asia – 39%
- Percentage of English-speaking users – 56%
- Percentage of mobile-only users – 79%
- Time of day preferred by users – 12:00 pm
What do Facebook’s consumer demographics mean?
Despite all of the bad press and the deluge of criticisms from multiple fronts, Facebook remains a crucial component of your social media marketing strategy because of its voluminous number of users in the United States and around the world.
Reports of Facebook’s deletion in the smartphones of teenagers were grossly exaggerated. Facebook with 109 million users aged 13 to 17 has maintained its superiority in this demographic over Tiktok (78.7 million), Snapchat (71 million), and Instagram (56 million).
The predominantly young age demographic of Facebook makes it the ideal social media network to market and promote mobile devices, video games, consoles, exercise equipment, snacks, shoes, and fashion apparel.
Facebook is an excellent social media platform for businesses that sell products targeted toward boomers such as vitamins, health supplements, books, skincare products, appliances, household goods, wine, and pricey food items like cheese.
Because of its massive global reach, if your business wants to offer your products and services to other countries, Facebook is the social media platform for you.
The fastest-growing countries for Facebook users are the Philippines, India, and Indonesia.
If your business is looking to outsource services in order to lower costs, you can shift your recruiting activities to these countries to get qualified talent. The Philippines and India are in the Top 5 list of best countries for outsourcing.
Lastly, if you’re thinking about paid advertising, include Facebook as one of your channels.
The social media network’s ad revenues were higher by 22% in 2020 which is proof that marketers greatly valued the site’s large number of users during the time of the pandemic.
Instagram Key Demographics
- Number of monthly active users: 1 Billion
- Largest age group demographic: 25 to 33 years old (33.1%)
- Age groups that log on multiple times per day: 18 to 24 years old (67%), 25 to 34 years old (60%), and 35 to 44 years old (49%).
- Distribution of users by gender: Male (43%), Female (57%)
- Percentage of users who follow brands: 90%
- Potential audience reach of ads: 1.16 Billion
- Number of users who tap on product tags per month: 90 Million
- Percentage of people who use Instagram to follow an interest: 91%
- Top 5 interests followed on Instagram: Travel (45%), Music (44%), and Food and Drink (43%).
What do Instagram’s consumer demographics mean?
Instagram has grown to become the second-largest social media platform after its owner, Facebook. It caters to a younger demographic – 18 to 34 years old – but has fallen behind Tiktok as the preferred social media platform of teens.
However, there are reports that show 11% of Instagram users in the U.S belong to the 9 to 11 years old demographic which goes against the minimum age requirement set by the platform at 13 years old.
More women use Instagram than men in the United States but not in its second-biggest market, India, where only 28% of women are on the network. An interesting study by We Are Social revealed that more than 50% of women in India aren’t aware of Instagram.
Unlike Facebook, Instagram isn’t popular with boomers. Only 8% of users aged 65 and over are on Instagram.
Instagram is a must-be-at social media platform for businesses in the food retail, travel, fashion, technology, fashion, and beauty industries.
A big reason why these businesses can hit a home run on Instagram is that you can showcase your products and services via high-quality videos and images. Target your content toward the younger generation and it would be a good idea to sign up influencers to build your brand.
YouTube
YouTube Key Demographics:
- Number of Monthly Active Users – 2 Billion
- Largest age demographic – 15 to 25 years old (77%)
- Second largest age demographic – 45 to 64 years old (70%)
- Percentage of male Internet users that go to YouTube – 72%
- Percentage of female Internet users that go to YouTube – 72%
- Total number of hours of video content viewed daily – 1 Billion hours
- YouTube rank as the preferred channel for sharing video content – 2nd; Facebook is #1.
- Ad revenues generated by YouTube in 2021 – US$5.6 Billion.
- Top 3 popular types of videos – Vlogs/Commentary, Product Reviews, and Tutorials.
- Most streamed topics – Gaming, exercise, and learning new skills such as cooking and home repair.
What do YouTube’s consumer demographics mean?
YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006. These are 2 of the largest search engines on the Internet. Posting content on YouTube will guarantee you a wide audience reach.
As you can see from the age and gender demographics, everyone loves YouTube. Your baby brother to your Grandpa will surely go to YouTube if they’re on the Internet.
Many entrepreneurs, influencers, and celebrities were discovered on YouTube. The popularity of video-based content has leveled the playing field such that you don’t have to be a big brand to be successful on YouTube.
You just need to create and post high-quality, engaging, and compelling content on a consistent basis.
Here are a few good examples of video content ideas:
- Restaurant/Food Business – Recipes; how to prepare/cook special dishes.
- Travel – Top 10 best destinations for summer vacation.
- Music – Tutorials on how to play popular songs in your genre.
- Business – How to find clients.
- Fitness – Exercise guides or workout tips.
- Fashion and Makeup – Tips on accessorizing
The ad revenues of YouTube continue to grow. This is one of the best social media platforms to run your PPC or Pay-Per-Click campaigns.
What’s important in YouTube is to identify your audience and produce content that targets their interests. Your content must be useful and offer great value for your viewers.
Tiktok
Tiktok Key Demographics
- Number of monthly active users: 100 Million
- Largest age group demographic: 18 to 24 years old
- Distribution of users per gender: Male (41%), Female (59%)
- Average time spent on Tiktok per month: 21.5 hours
- Number of countries that allow Tiktok: 200
- Percentage of Americans that know Tiktok: 89%
- Most popular type of content on Tiktok: Fun and entertaining
- Most viewed type of videos: Music
- Percentage of Generation X’ers on TikTok: 25%
- Percentage of Boomers on Tiktok: 4.1%
What do Tiktok’s consumer demographics mean?
Tiktok continues to defy its critics. The social media platform’s growth to 100 Million monthly active users is proof that it will continue to be a top destination choice on the Internet.
Its market primarily caters to the younger generation or those aged 18 to 34 years old accounting for 52.6% of its users. Likewise, there are significantly more females on Tiktok than males. Not surprisingly, Tiktok isn’t patronized by the older generation.
Because Tiktok isn’t widely received abroad, particularly in Asia where it’s banned in countries such as India, Bangladesh, Armenia, and Indonesia, marketing your products and services to international markets through this platform might not be a feasible option.
Who is Tiktok for?
If your business offers products and services that cater to a younger generation, promote them on Tiktok. Among the most popularly viewed products on Tiktok are cosmetics, home care items, makeup organizers, sleep masks, hairdryers, facial cleansing products, travel mugs, and coffee mugs.
Use short videos that run under 30 seconds. It’s very important to get the message across during the first 6 seconds of the video and to capitalize on emotional triggers. This means creating scripts that viewers can relate to or touch an emotional chord.
LinkedIn Key Demographics
- Number of LinkedIn users worldwide: 738 Million
- Number of monthly active users: 310 Million
- Largest age group demographic: 46 to 55 years old
- Distribution of users by gender: Male (51%), Female (49%)
- Percentage of LinkedIn users outside the US: 74%
- Percentage of users that access LinkedIn monthly: 63%
- Number of companies that use LinkedIn: 30 Million+
- The average annual income of LinkedIn users: US$75,000
- Percentage of LinkedIn users that are part of upper management: 45%
- Percentage of LinkedIn users with a college degree: 50%
In contrast to the previous social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok – LinkedIn caters to the older generation.
As you’ve just read, almost half of the users of LinkedIn hold upper management positions. There are also 61 million users of LinkedIn who are senior-level decision-makers in big companies. These factors contribute to the high average annual income of LinkedIn users.
LinkedIn is a social media platform that functions more as a networking site for people looking for opportunities to find jobs, clients for their business, end-users for their products or services, and strategic partnerships.
This is a great platform for sharing your experience, knowledge, and expertise in the industry. LinkedIn has a built-in blogging platform that you can use to create content and share with your community.
Join interest groups and participate in discussions. Look for LinkedIn members who might be interested in hiring your services or exploring the possibility of a business engagement.
Conclusion
How many social media platforms should you sign up for? It depends on your business goals and the availability of manpower. Tracking the progress of your social media marketing campaign is difficult if you have multiple channels to oversee.
We recommend starting out with a maximum of 2 social media platforms. Get a feel of the network and run off a few campaigns. Assess the performance and evaluate the results from each platform.
Choose the social media platform that best fits your buyer’s profile or audience persona. It’s better to have 1-2 social media platforms that deliver the desired results than have 5-6 channels that are constantly underperforming.
If you need assistance in getting your social media marketing strategy off the ground, give us a call and we’ll get you started right away.
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