Source: Wikipedia
How social media research helps you find the perfect customer
Understanding social media, and which social media people use, is a very important part of your online marketing strategy. A well designed website is a fantastic selling tool in its own right, but add social media into the mix, such as Facebook or Twitter, and you’ll be better able to target the people you most want to impress.
Knowing where to find your perfect customer is a whole lot easier with a few facts and figures at your fingertips. Social media demographics, such as those below, will give you a clear idea of where your tribe is hanging out.
The increase in social media outlets, while not quite an explosion, is still very impressive. Better known applications like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are now facing competition from up and comers such as Reddit and Ning. This just proves that while focussing on larger social media outlets might put you in touch with a lot of people, they might not be the type of people you’re looking for.
It pretty much goes without saying that a little research into social media applications, and how the world uses them, could pay big dividends when you’re devising your online marketing strategy.
A little ‘social media demographics’ Googling could uncover a virtual mine of information. For a start, you’ll discover that there is a gender imbalance. Some 60% of Facebook and Twitter users are female, while the fairer sex also dominates Myspace, with about 66% of overall usage. If you want to go where the guys are, check out applications like Reddit and Digg.
Money, social media and you.
As part of your social media research, you’ll probably want to know which sites attract the most money.
Recent research shows that LinkedIn, the professional networking site, has considerably more high income followers than other applications.
At the other end of the scale, MySpace and Ning are the social media hangouts of choice for lower income earners. Depending on what you’re selling, and how much you charge, this sort of information is vital in helping you formulate your marketing mix.
Social media – a question of age
Just 4% of MySpace users are aged 65 plus. Then again, that figure of 4% features right across the board including Facebook and LinkedIn. The percentage is even lower for Twitter, showing that the more mature market has yet to embrace social media. This will change, but it will be generational change.
Certainly something to consider if you’re aiming to entice older customers. 34% of MySpace users are aged between 0 and 17 years; Just 3% of the same demographic use LinkedIn. This age imbalance, while quite obvious in this case, is another reason why a little research is incredibly important when using social media in conjunction with other marketing tools.
Got any tips on social media? Leave us a comment!
If you need help finding out where your tribe hang out, check out Web123’s Social Media Strategy designed to give you a step by step plan to approach your social media strategy head on.