What Social Network Should You Use to Grow Your Business?

by Pam Dyer

Social media bandwagon

Where should you go to reach your target market via social media? It depends on who your customers are.

Here are some recent demographics for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. By tailoring your marketing strategies to dovetail with statistics like these, you can maximize the effectiveness of your social media efforts and focus on reaching your desired audience. And if your goal is to reach a wide variety of users of all ages, incomes, and education levels, you can do so by using all three. Compare your target audience with this data:

Facebook Users:

  • 116 million unique U.S. visitors in December 2009
  • follow the Internet average pretty closely in terms of affluence, education, and household size
  • are slightly more female
  • are mostly younger, aged 13-34

LinkedIn Users:

  • 24 million unique U.S. visitors in December 2009
  • are slightly more male
  • mostly have at least a college education
  • … and an astounding 33% have a graduate degree, as compared to the Internet average of 21%
  • are generally older, more educated, and more affluent

Twitter Users:

  • 23 million unique U.S. visitors in December 2009
  • reflect an even male/female ratio
  • peak at the 18-34 age group (16% of its total users, compared to 8% of the total Internet audience), with an even number of older and younger users.
  • are generally less wealthy than those on Facebook and LinkedIn

ages twitter facebook What Social Network Should You Use to Grow Your Business?education twitter facebook What Social Network Should You Use to Grow Your Business?affluence twitter facebook What Social Network Should You Use to Grow Your Business?

(Via Business Insider)
(Photo: Matt Hamm)


What Social Network Should You Use to Grow Your Business?



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Tagged as: Demographics, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter

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  • alexasamuels

    Hi Pam,

    You'll probably find this article on demographics of social media sites interesting, too. http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-…

    I found it interesting how it aligned with my preferred sites, given my age. (Hint: not a myspace user.) Of course, all demographic data should be taken with some salt – averaging makes it too easy to overlook specific segments.

    Cheers,
    Alexa

    http://alexasamuels.com

  • http://www.pamorama.net/ Pam Dyer

    Thanks Alexa — interesting stats. They align pretty closely with my sites, too.

  • http://www.capecod-websitedesign.com/ Cape Cod Web Design

    Personally I find LinkedIn brings the least hits to my website even though I am quite active on there, any tips for building a great LinkedIn profile?

  • http://www.pamorama.net/ Pam Dyer

    I've found that LinkedIn is very helpful in terms of driving blog traffic. If you join groups that are relevant to your area, you can post links to your articles in the groups' news section. Here's a helpful post at Problogger: http://bit.ly/dtF6kS The caveat on #8 is that this can only be done if you're the group owner/manager — otherwise you need to post individual links to your articles. HTH!

  • http://twitter.com/robbinblock Robbin Block

    Beyond the mainstream social sites, it's important to look for niche sites that attract your target audience. These may include pure social networks or websites that include social components. In fact, niche sites have been shown to attract real buyers, not just browsers. As for LinkedIn, that predominantly targets managerial professionals. If that's not your audience, look elsewhere. Here are some places to look: industry orgs, trade pubs, Alexa, Mashable's social media guide… . For more info, check out my new book on the topic: “Social Persuasion: Making Sense of Social Media for Small Business” at http://blockbeta.com

  • http://www.pamorama.net/ Pam Dyer

    Great suggestions, Robbin, and particularly helpful to small businesses. Your book looks really interesting — thanks for visiting!

  • http://www.blockbeta.com/ Robbin Block

    Beyond the mainstream social sites, it’s important to look for niche sites that attract your target audience. These may include pure social networks or websites that include social components. In fact, niche sites have been shown to attract real buyers, not just browsers. As for LinkedIn, that predominantly targets managerial professionals. If that’s not your audience, look elsewhere. Here are some places to look: industry orgs, trade pubs, Alexa, Mashable’s social media guide… . For more info, check out my new book on the topic: “Social Persuasion: Making Sense of Social Media for Small Business” at http://blockbeta.com

  • http://www.pamorama.net/ Pam Dyer

    Great suggestions, Robbin, and particularly helpful to small businesses. Your book looks really interesting — thanks for visiting!

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