Where do your social media consumers hang out?

August 27th, 2012

If you are using social media to target consumers, the age, sex, education and other demographic information on your buyers is essential in choosing which social network to use.

The differences among the sites are greater than most would think, according to Black Box Social Media.

“Depending on the type of product you are offering, you will yield different results from different social media agencies,” says says Black Box Social Media Co Founder Nick Bridges.

”For example, marketing on Twitter will yield you a younger demographic, while marketing on LinkedIn will find you older males.”

He adds, “Facebook is probably most valuable for the 18-44 female demographic as they are not only most prominent in such demographics but they are also much more active in interacting, engagements, and visiting the social media site multiple times.”

Black Box gathered statistics on users of the various social media networks to compare demographics.

The chart on the left shows that more women than men are using Facebook and the average age of users is 38.

A recent Pew Internet study also revealed the following Facebook user statistics:

Education:

Some college / trade school: 34%
Bachelor’s Degree: 20%
Graduate School: 15%

Race:

White- 78%
Black- 9%
Hispanic- 9%
Other- 12%

User Frequency:

Multiple times a day: 31%
About 1 time a day: 21%
3-5x a week: 15%
1-2x a week: 17 %
Every few weeks: 11%
Less often: 5%
Never: 1%

We think it is interesting that more than 50 percent of Facebook users check in at least once a day, with 34 percent using it multiple times daily.

Twitter has far fewer users

Twitter still has a long way to go. Less than 10 percent of the U.S. population uses the site.

It too has about 10 percent more female users than males, and a huge majority of its users (83 percent) are between the ages of 18-49, split about evenly in the 18-29 and 30-49 segments.

One statistic we think stands out: 39 percent of Twitter users have a bachelor’s or graduate degree.

LinkedIn the most male dominated

Of the three major social networks Black Box looked at, LinkedIn has the most male users at 58 percent compared to 42 percent female.

You might want to be more careful about your spelling, grammar, and sentence structure when you post on LinkedIn. A whopping 75 percent of its users have either a bachelor’s or graduate degree.

It’s also interesting to note that all three of these social networks are predominantly white. Will that change as the nation’s demographics change?