Men & Women Use Social Media Differently
The way men and women use social media has become a hot topic in the last few months: and with good reason. There are real differences between the way men and women communicate, network, and engage online. There are also differences in what and whom they engage with.
While everyone seems to get their numbers from different sources, the overall data shows us that women hold more social media accounts than men. This Burst Media study gives us the numbers:
The study of gender differences on social media has recently inspired half a dozen infographics, all with a slightly different take on the issue. There is valuable information to be found for brands here.
According to this Digital Flash infographic (excerpt below), women’s lifestyle brands are reaping the benefits of Pinterest. This social platform is where women rule.
Apsalar points out that women are also avid users of mobile social media Apps. In fact, women have installed 40% more mobile Apps than men across the board:
This Social Intelligence Infographic shows what brand categories attract men and which ones attract women on Facebook:
Alas, men and women are worlds apart in their preferences.
But no matter what the infographic or study, the main revelation is, in a nutshell, that women are using social media more. (Except on LinkedIn, which is a subject we will leave to a future blog post.)
Women & the Art of Socializing
Renée Davidson, New Media Director for Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS) sees the numbers as a blessing, and pointedly notes in a Social Media Week opinion piece, titled Women, Tech and Democracy: The Next Frontier that, “Women’s domination of the social media world is significant because women’s voices remain severely underrepresented in the media.”
So why social media so popular with women?
How Women Network
Academics Michael Szell and Stefan Thurner published results of a fascinating study that measured male and female behavior in an online social-networking game, called Pardus in Nature at the beginning of this year (2013). How Women Organize Social Networks different from men was published in Nature. Though the authors caution that their results can’t necessarily be projected wholesale onto the real world (or other online worlds), the scope of the project (23,872 players studied over 856 days) combined with the game’s demands (messaging, sharing information and conducting transactions) together provide a fascinating microcosm of human behavior.
Among their conclusions: women have more communication partners, attract positive behavior, organize in clusters, reciprocate friendships, and take fewer risks but accumulate more wealth. They also demonstrate homophily (a tendency to associate and link with similar individuals), whereas men are less specific in their choices. The study found men seek out fewer, but more well-connected, communication partners, and respond more quickly to friendship initiatives from women.
“Right now, I would not bet too many millions on business models based on these findings,” said co-author Thurner to the Santa Fe Institute, adding with understatement, “but there is potential.”
CFO’s of the home: women make 80% of consumer decisions
The analysis of the Pardus game may explains how women interact in digital environments, but the question for marketers remains, does that translate into consumerism? During a panel discussion at the New York’s Internet Week Conference in May of this year, women entrepreneurs shared what they thought about how women use technology, and how it made them good online consumers. Four main ideas surfaced.
1. Women look for intuitive designs.
“I’ve seen a lot of research that women like things that are intuitive,” said Alice Han, Senior Designer/Product Lead at Zappos Labs. “That doesn’t mean dumbed down; it just means women have less tolerance for bad user experiences, because we’re multi-taskers.”
2. Women do more online research before making their purchases.
“There are five steps in the buying process, and women own four of them exclusively,” said Emily Crawford, Regional Sales Manager of U.S. Enterprise Sales at Cisco. She is referring to the research and browsing that goes with making a consumer choice. “The fifth and last step is actually purchasing, which they co-own with men.” Not only does that make women a powerful demographic for marketers, but it also means that successful brands should prize communication and digestible information when trying to reach a female audience.
Given that women are responsible for 80% of consumer decision making, that makes them a very important demographic.
3. Women may be more brand-loyal.
“It’s emerged in social media that women who follow brands are much more loyal than men who follow brands,” said Han, “so capturing a woman and engaging her in your brand is even more important nowadays than in the past.”
4. Women may even be better tech disruptors than men.
Paraphrasing James McQuivey, Ph.D., a principal analyst at Forrester Research who conducted a keynote address at Internet Week separate from the panel, Kade concludes that “Because of their focus on end results, ease of use and the utility for individuals, women have a unique perspective on product development.” She adds, “This has the potential to benefit female target markets as well as male ones, and, given the outsized buying power women have, could have long-reaching implications.”
These quotes are from a summary of the panel written by Allison Kade in MainStreet magazine.
Are your customers primarily women? How many of them are on social? Are you connected with your female followers? Do you listen to what they’re talking about? How do they talk? (Another study actually proves researchers have the ability to tell the difference between a male and female tweet on Twitter.)
Do you know what women want from your brand? Take the question to your next marketing meeting. Make sure your team understands that women are not just active on social media: women are dominating it.
