Social Media Marketing 2015: Where Is Your Audience?

37 Social Media Marketing Facts (Charts)

In 2015, social media is no longer just mainstream. 2015 Social media’s audience is mature in more ways than one.

Social media is not only mature in terms of its life cycle but also in terms of the age of participants.

Specifically, 56% of US online adults 65 and older or 31% of all seniors use Facebook according to Pew Internet’s “2014 Social Media Update,” based on research of the 81% of US adults 18 and above who use the Internet. (As a point of comparison, here is the social media marketing 2014 data. Also here’s 2015 US Media Consumption data.)

Social media marketing 2015: Where is your audience?

To succeed in 2015 and beyond, marketers must understand their audience and how they use social media as well as how social media platforms have evolved. (Here is related research from GWI focused on social media behavior in 2015. To check out where social media is headed, check out what US teens are doing in 2015 via connected devices.)

At a minimum, you’ll need to update your social media persona and use a mix of social media platforms. (BTW–Here’s the Ultimate 2015 Marketing Checklist to download.)

Facebook

71% of US Internet users are on Facebook. Unlike other social media platforms that experienced high growth during 2014, Facebook’s proportion of Internet users remained flat with August 2013.

Facebook users continue to interact on the platform.

• 70% of Facebook users engage daily with the social network, up 9 percentage points from 2013.
• 45% of Facebook users engage with the social network several times a day.
• Facebook acts as a social media homebase for its users.

Who do people consider their friends on Facebook?

From a marketing perspective, this is an important question to answer since it yields insights into how deep these relationships are.

• 93% of Facebook users are Facebook friends with family members other than their parents or children.
• 91% Facebook users are Facebook friends with their current friends.
• 87% Facebook users are connected to friends of theirs from the past
• 58% Facebook users are connected to their coworkers.
• 45% Facebook users are Facebook friends with their parents.
• 43% Facebook users are friends with their children on Facebook.
• 39% Facebook users are connected to people they’ve never met in real life. These people are looking to build their audience.

Primarily, people use Facebook to connect with people that are important to them in real life; who they view as peers with whom they’ll share unfiltered information. Hence the lower results for parents and children.

Among US Facebook users the median number of Facebook friends is 155, of which 50 are actual friends. These results fit almost perfectly with Dunbar’s findings, where the number of relationships an individual can maintain is 150 and close friends account for a third of that or 50. (Here’s further information on Dunbar via The New Yorker.)

As with other forms of social media and communication, Facebook attracts more women (77%) than men (66%).

What does this mean for marketers?

• Facebook’s composition by age is getting older. It’s important to note that this research doesn’t measure “Under 18 year olds,” the key social media demographic. As we said in 2013, Facebook is no longer the cool social media kid on the block.
• Facebook is retaining its mass social media audience. It’s an important element of your social media and content marketing plans because of its reach. Marketers must still aggregate a variety of third party platforms to match television’s reach despite its declining advertising effectiveness.

Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips:

• Keep Facebook in your social media marketing mix. Sorry, but size counts. That said, tailor your content and interactions to your Facebook followers.
• Use targeted Facebook advertising to reach key prospects. Don’t just boost your posts. Take advantage of Facebook’s targeting potential. Check out Jon Loomer’s blog for specifics.

LinkedIn

While the percentage of college educated Internet users using LinkedIn reached 50%, in general, LinkedIn users are visiting the social media network less frequently.

• 13% of LinkedIn users visit the social media platform every day
• 7% of LinkedIn users visit the social media platform several times a day.
• 25% of LinkedIn users visit the social media platform weekly, down from 34% in August 2013
• 61% of LinkedIn users visit the social media platform every few weeks or less often, up from 52% in 2013.

This reduction in LinkedIn visit frequency points to the use of LinkedIn mainly as a job search tool.

It overlooks LinkedIn’s expanded power as a publishing platform and lead generator/business driver. In our 2015 social media predictions, we call LinkedIn, the must-be destination for businesses of all types.

Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips:

• Incorporate LinkedIn Publishing into your 2015 content marketing plans. Create a separate strategy to ensure that your content shines on this platform. (BTW—In terms of 2015 content marketing predictions, we forecast that LinkedIn will grow its imprint.)
• Leverage the power of your employees on LinkedIn. Don’t be afraid of making your employees look good on LinkedIn for fear of losing them. Instead think in terms of attracting more business, customers and employees.

Pinterest

Pinterest is social media honey that attracts women. 42% of online women use Pinterest and 13% of online men use Pinterest.

This shouldn’t be surprising since it’s the home of couch surfing for shopping inspiration.

• 17% of Pinterest users visit the social media platform daily
• 9% of Pinterest users visit the social media platform several times a day.
• 29% of Pinterest users visit the social media platform weekly
• 52% of Pinterest users visit the social media platform less than once per week.

Underestimate Pinterest’s ability to pull in shoppers and readers at your peril! It’s BuzzFeed’s number 2 source of social media traffic!!!

Actionable Social Media Tips:

• Curate your content marketing on Pinterest, regardless of your business type. Take your cue from BuzzFeed. Make your content alluring with pin-friendly images.
• Display your products on Pinterest where appropriate. Don’t forget to show prospects how to use your products and to show them in context.
• Redirect Pinterest traffic for products that you no longer sell. Bear in mind that prospects may be looking at old pins.

Instagram

Social media marketers should pay attention to Instagram because it’s unlocked the secret code to interaction. In 2015 and beyond, this playbook will be re-written for video, which people find easier-to-understand.

Make your information visual, useful, consumable, and shareable on a smartphone.

• 49% of Instagram users visit the social media platform daily.
• 32% of Instagram users visit the social media platform several times a day
• 24% of Instagram users visit the social media platform weekly
• 26% of Instagram users visit the social media platform less than once a week. 

Don’t assume that Instagram is just for consumer products. General Electric has been one of the early businesses to leverage the visual power of its B2B products and customers.

BTW, here are 4 key types of visual content marketing using Instagram.

Actionable Social Media Tips:

• Make your products and customers Instagram-friendly. Encourage your customers to share their images. There’s nothing stronger than seeing other consumers wearing or using your product.
• Find the visual beauty in every aspect of your business. Think how you would explain your business to someone who had never seen before.

Twitter

• 23% of US Internet users are on Twitter, up 5 percentage points from 18% in August 2013.
• 36% of Twitter users visit the site daily, down 10 percentage points from 2013.
• 22% of Twitter users visit the site more than once a day.
• 24% of Twitter users visit the site a few days a week
• 40% of Twitter users visit the site less often.

Twitter continues to grow, but at a slower rate. Further, the combination of short message longevity and limited participation, translates to publishing your Twitter content when your audience is active and to publishing your content more than once.

Here are 27 super easy tactics to boost your Twitter strategy.

Here are charts explaining Key 2015 Twitter Trends.

Actionable Social Media Tips:

• Take the time to understand your target audience’s use of Twitter. The goal is to maximize your ability to reach your prospects when and where they’re focused.
• Slice and dice your content for Twitter. Your aim is to present your content differently to reach the maximum audience possible.

Multi-platform social media 2015

Multi-platform use is on the rise: 52% of online adults now use 2 or more social media sites. This is a significant 10 percentage point increase from 2013.

79% of social media participants who use only 1 platform use Facebook.

The percentage of Facebook users who also participate on another social media network has increased since last year. 94% of Instagram users also use Facebook. This is attributable to Facebook’s ownership of Instagram and to easy ability to share events via photographs with people participants are close to.

In terms of non-Facebook social media interaction, there’s significant overlap between Instagram and Twitter users. This is also attributable to the easy ability to broadcast your activity to others.

• 58% of Twitter users also use Instagram.
• 52% of Instagram users also use Twitter.

The bottom line: social media is here to stay.

Marketers must figure out where their audience is on social media. Then they must develop strategies to create tailored social media content and distribute it by platform.

To maximize your results, schedule your activity using a social media editorial calendar.

Where is your audience on social media in 2015 and what are you doing to engage them?

BTW–Here’s the Ultimate 2015 Marketing Checklist to download.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen

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Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/idea-saras/10948388796