The latest Pew Research Center survey, Social Media Update 2014 finds that just about everyone who can use a computer or mobile device “likes” social media. As marketers, you probably already know that, but if you dig deeper into the findings, there are actually some interesting nuggets of information that could inform how to focus your social media outreach efforts.
Below are the three main takeaways from the Pew report, and how it could affect your social media playbook.
1. Facebook rules them all
Well, we sort of knew that FB is still king when it comes to how people spend their online time, but the important part is this: the level of FB engagement is up.
So not only are people logging in to see what their “friends” are up to, they are posting, sharing, commenting, and liking more than they used to. In fact, 70% of users said they log onto the site daily (with 45% admitting they’re on several times a day). That’s a big uptick from the 63% who were in 2013.
What This Means For Your Social Strategy: It’s not enough to just have a FB presence; you need to put a plan in place for daily content delivery if you want to appear in the timelines of very active users, which it turns out, is most people. Buffer’s Social Media Frequency Guidesuggests updating on Facebook twice per day.
2. Social seniors want in
Overall, seniors are becoming more and more comfortable and active on social media platforms, with the most notable numbers – one third! -- flocking to Facebook. It probably started off with wanting to do some grandkid photo bragging, but the trend has caught on.
What This Means For Your Social Strategy: If you’ve been focusing all of your energy on the young, hip rockstars of the Internet – the Millennials – you could be missing out on a big segment of consumers. And they are often the ones with the deepest pockets. Think about how older users can benefit from your brand and reach out to them.
3. Being a one-trick pony won’t work for long
Multi-platform use is on the rise with 52% of online adults now using two or more social media platforms. That’s up from 2013 when only 43% said the same. In other words, your audience is not only on Facebook (or Twitter, or LinkedIn). Chances are strong that they are reachable in several ways
What This Means For Your Social Strategy: With Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn also seeing a significant increases in the number of people using their sites, it’s time to diversify your social media content plan. As far as where, well, that will depend on the buyer you’re trying to target, but these stats from the report might help you decide:
- Double-tap this: Young people love their Instagram, with over half (53%) of the younger demo of 18-34 saying they are on the platform.
- Smart social: 50% of college-educated social media users are on LinkedIn.
- Pin-worthy stat: 42% of women use Pinterest (only 13% of men).
- Tweetable trend: Twitter’s user increases have been significant among men, caucasians, those 65 and older, those who live in households with an annual household income of $50,000 or more, college graduates, and urbanites.
