Why are social media demographics important?
If you were a chef making absolutely world class vegan food, and you’ve put together a book of recipes you’re looking to sell to caterers, which marketing route would you choose as the most sensible option?
- A) A vegan food show
- B) A small town farmer’s market
- C) A butcher’s convention
I’m hoping you chose A. If not, it’s possible that you may need some help with your own marketing in which case please feel free to get in touch. (A cheeky plug never hurt anyone).
In all seriousness though, that’s a bit like social media. The temptation is to have a platform on absolutely everything and spread your message to try and sell as much as possible. ‘Social media’ is the umbrella term, just as ‘catering’ could be an umbrella term for the three options above, but each platform is very different.
Knowing some audience specifics of the main platforms will help you make an informed decision about which ones will be best for your marketing. However, it’s worth remembering that the audiences for each platform are not separate, isolated groups of people. Someone who uses LinkedIn will also likely use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but they’ll use them all for different purposes – so it’s important to make sure the content you post is geared to each platform you’re posting on.
With 3.2 billion social media users worldwide – that’s a whopping 42% of the global population – it’s important to make sure you’re maximising your social use to make sure you’re reaching your perfect audience.
Overview
LinkedIn is known as the ‘professional social media network’ and is the fastest growing. There are more than 30 million companies who use LinkedIn, and two new users sign up every second!
Audience
Gender
57% of LinkedIn users are men, 43% are women
Age
- 18-34 year olds make up 81% of users
- 35-54 make up 16.7%
- 55+ make up 3.3%
Business to business
The top priority for businesses on LinkedIn as of 2019, was generating more leads. The great thing about it, is that people know what LinkedIn is all about, so they’re more receptive to businesses posting about what they offer.
It’s not just a platform to talk about what you do, though. Despite being known as ‘the professional social media network’, it’s still SOCIAL. Which means posts need to be professional in tone whilst recognising they’re going to be read by human beings (so you can still be funny on LinkedIn!).
It’s a great platform for showing that you’re a thought leader in your industry by posting original content, like blog posts, directly to LinkedIn addressing the latest industry news. It’s also important to engage with others, particularly those you’re looking to do business with. Congratulate them on their successes, comment on their posts – start to build up a relationship.
Having a business page is important in this respect, but also making sure it’s very clear on your personal profile which business you’re representing when you’re posting as you, is equally as important. Users engage with people first, and brand pages second.
Fun fact: The average cost per lead when advertising on LinkedIn is 28% lower than Google Adwords.
Overview
Facebook is a front-runner when it comes to shaping the social media landscape. With 2.32 billion active users, it’s also the second most visited website in the whole world, only being beaten by online search behemoth, Google.
Audience
Gender
The gender split of profiles on Facebook are 56% male and 44% female.
Age
94% of UK adults aged between 25 and 32 have their own Facebook profile according to Ofcom – this is mindblowing!
- Users aged 13-24 account for 19.8% of the UK’s Facebook use
- 25-34 make up 25.4%
- 35-44 makes up 18.8%
- 45-54 makes up 15.7%
- 55-64 makes up 11.1%
- 65+ makes up 9.3%
Content ideas
When posting, it’s important to remember to think about what your audience is going to want to engage with, rather than thinking about what you want to say. For estate agents, posting constant links to properties on Rightmove or your website without any kind of context, information, or interesting spin is less likely to inspire engagement than properties with a bit of a twist.
‘Put your dancing shoes on. This lovely family home has gorgeous parquet flooring Gatsby would be proud of.’ – accompanied by a striking image, that’s far more likely to capture someone’s attention as they scroll through the endless stream of content.
Facebook for Business to Business (B2B)
- 95% of businesses worldwide use Facebook
- 6 billion people are connected to small businesses on Facebook
- After talking to businesses online, 66% of people report having more confidence in that business, and 55% feel more personally connected.
It might feel like Facebook isn’t a great place to post for business to business purposes, but all of the business owners who are on LinkedIn, are also on Facebook too! On LinkedIn, they’re wearing their power suits and silk ties, but on Facebook they’re in their jeans and converse.
If you’re B2B, it’s worth remembering this – Facebook is where you can afford to kick off your shoes and loosen your tie a little.
Overview
Twitter has over 321 million active monthly users, with around 46% of users visiting daily and 26% visiting multiple times a day. 13.7 million of those are users in the UK.
Twitter is a really immediate social platform. Whether you’re posting B2B or directly to customers, you can afford to share links to your content multiple times in order to reach the maximum number of people possible. It’s also all about the conversation. Posting a link and then not monitoring your account can be a big mistake.
Audience
Gender
The gender split on twitter is 62% male, and 38% female.
Age
- 13-24 make up 33.6% of all users
- 25-34 make up 29%
- 35-49 make up 23%
- 50+ make up 15%
In the UK, the majority of Twitter users are aged below 34.
Business to business
- 84% of businesses are using Twitter
- 85% of small-and-medium businesses with Twitter accounts say Twitter is important for their customer service
- 6 million people in the UK can be reached by advertising
Posting on Twitter
The very best results on Twitter involve using hashtags and trending topics to get involved in important conversations. This can be quite difficult to do as a business, but when woven into an overall strategy it has immense power and is a great way to talk directly with your customers about things which are important to them, as opposed to just broadcasting a message in the hope that someone will see it.
For the posts themselves, making sure you add an engaging image to any post will help visibility and engagement. They need to be short, relevant, and not be sales-y. Savvy Twitter users will ignore tweets where they feel ‘talked at’.
Overview
Instagram is the ‘pretty’ social network, but with more than 1 billion active monthly users worldwide, it should be taken seriously!
Audience
Gender
59.1% of users are women, 40.9% are men
Age
- 13-17 year-olds make up 6.1%
- 18-24 make up 30%
- 25-34 make up 35%
- 35-44 make up 16.5%
- 45-54 make up 7.8%
- 55+ make up 5.1%
Business to business
On the face of it, it might not seem like Instagram is that useful for business to business posting – lots of B2B business owners like to claim that their audience isn’t there.
However, if we take a look at the audience statistics above the audience IS there, they’re just engaging with the photos and videos in different ways than if they were on LinkedIn!
It’s all about storytelling, so if you are a service-based business with no physical product to take photos of – you’re the product! Use the opportunity to share photos from the office, members of staff working, short videos of staff top tips, awards, charity work – all the things that make your business human.
Even during their social media downtime, business customers will feel like they’re able to get to know you.
Posting on Instagram
Whether you’re posting B2B or B2C, it’s important that you’re posting unique and original content with focused industry hashtags, and it should be curated so that it’s beautiful. Beautiful imagery receives more likes, and more likes = a higher organic post reach, reaching more people.
In conclusion
Have a think who your audience really are, and see where they fit in each social network. Which two do you see as having the most value for you? If you feel overwhelmed by two, pick one. Social media is at its most effective when you put your effort into select chosen platforms, rather than spreading yourself too thinly to try and reach more people, missing out on the engagement in the process.
If you’re thinking of giving your social media an overhaul, you might also like our post.
How to get rid of fake followers from your social media >>
Jane Gardner
I work all over the UK with various business owners, dedicating my creative and expert property knowledge from 35 years in the industry. I am a Level 4 ARLA Propertymark examiner, I sit on the board of Agents Giving Charity and I love everything property related! I can be contacted on 01923 627777 or by email to jane@social-angels.co.uk
