If the whole social media landscape seems somewhat overwhelming, don’t despair.
Pew Research Center breaks down social media demographics in detail each year. Based on the August 2015 report, we offer a roundup regarding who’s using what, and what you should know about the most popular social sites. Read this, and presto – you can talk virtual hangouts with just about anyone.
Facebook hosts the biggest number of users, with 72% of internet users reporting they have an account. That’s 62% of the entire adult population. While the popular assumption that most users are female is correct, if you’ve heard Facebook is losing younger users, think again. A whopping 82% of online adults ages 18-29 use Facebook.
Twitter users account for 23% of all internet users, or 20% of the entire adult population. Twitter attracts more men than women, and more city dwellers than suburbanites or rural residents. It is also more popular among younger adults than Facebook.
LinkedIn, while most popular with working-age, college-educated adults, is hardly a “niche” platform, with 25% of all adult internet users (22% of the entire adult population) engaging with the platform. An important distinction for LinkedIn: it is the only social media platform that can boast higher usage among the 30-49 year old demographic than the 18-29 year old market segment.
Pinterest users are most likely to be females, under age 50. The photo-pinning site can claim 31% of adult internet users log in regularly, or 26% of the entire adult population.
Instagram, while just slightly behind Pinterest in overall number of users (28% of adults online, 24% of the entire adult populations) has two important distinctions: it is extremely popular with younger users, and more popular among non-whites than Pinterest.
Snapchat, a messaging platform that’s especially popular with tweens and teens, cannot be dismissed as “just for kids.” Among its adult users, 45% are in the 18-25 year old demographic, with only 7% of Snapchat’s adult users over age 55. While it’s a smaller audience than some of the more established social media platforms, if you want to reach a young demographic, Snapchat is clearly the place to start.
How Often Do They Engage?
The majority of Facebook users (70%) interact with the site daily. A smaller number, but still a majority with 59% of users, interact daily with Instagram. Of the other major social media sites, every day 38% of Twitter users, 27% of Pinterest users, and 22% of LinkedIn users engage with those sites.
Obviously, social media user profiles are helpful to marketers, but more important than demographics of the various social media platform users is the behavior of your particular target market.
At Sticky we strongly believe that social media is an important part of a successful digital marketing strategy. If you’d like to explore the best way to reach your target audience and grow your business, please contact us.