Puzzled by Pinterest? Lost with LinkedIn? Flustered by Facebook? Today we’re going to look at which social networks you really need to invest your time in. Last week I talked about How to Create a Successful Social Media Strategy and one of the points included identifying who your target audience is and where to find them. Today’s post breaks down the stats and demographics for 6 of the main platforms right now to help you pick a platform. Not got much time? Check out the last bullet point under each heading for a summary sentence of the ideal user.

CONNECTING WITH YOUR PEOPLE: THINGS TO CONSIDER

We’ll be talking more about this on Friday’s post, but here’s a taster of the things you could be making notes for: age, gender, location, education, industry, income, hobbies, interests, personality, social media use: how often, how long for, which platforms, what for, devices used, who they connect with, skill level, what draws them in, what puts them off. This post will give you a starting point to defining your ideal audience.

FACEBOOK

• Facebook has been the giant of the social media world for a long time now. With a whopping 1.4 billion active monthly users as of January 2015, it far outweighs other networks put together.
• 70% of Facebook users engage daily, with 45% engaging more than once a day.
• Although the highest percentage of users are aged between 18-29, all other age groups including 65 and over are growing daily.
• There are slightly more women that access Facebook than men, with slightly more white and hispanic users than black.
• You’ll also find that Facebook users have a far larger income than other platforms, with an even percentage of those who live in Urban areas to Rural areas.
• Facebook has a higher penetration rate in Europe than anywhere else in the world.
• Over 75% of Facebook users are educated to high school or above.
• Facebook is an extremely competitive network due to its’ high user rate. You’ll find that running a successful campaign for your blog or business on this platform requires an investment of both your time and money for promoted content. You need to be posting frequently with a range of content multimedia styles and engaging at every opportunity.
• If your ideal user: is female, in her twenties, has been to college, now has plenty of disposable income and accesses social media daily then Facebook is for you.

TWITTER

• Twitter has over 302 million active users as of January 2015 – 500% less than Facebook with an even percentage of white, black and hispanic users.
• 4.97 billion searches have been made for “I don’t get Twitter”!
• 88% of Twitter users access the platform via mobile.
• You’ll find a slightly higher percentage of men than women on this network, with more users living in suburban areas than others.
• 36% of users check daily which is a 10% decrease from 2013.
• The most popular age group on Twitter is 18-29 year olds who are tech-savvy.
• Twitter is a super quick moving platform, with a tweet reaching its’ peak after 18 minutes. It requires your time to curate quality content and schedule frequent tweets. For a successful campaign a mix of topical information and real-time tweets is needed, plus engagement through chats and trending topics.
• If your ideal user: is male, in his twenties, accesses social media using mobile and is looking for information and articles then Twitter is for you.

BOTH FACEBOOK AND TWITTER CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY USED BY ANY BLOG NICHE OR BRAND.

LINKEDIN

• LinkedIn has 350 million users as of April 2015 and definitely shouldn’t be forgotten about. 39 million of its’ users are college students and recent graduates, with it being a platform focusing on professionals. B2B (Business to Business) is more popular than B2C (Business to Consumer) currently.
• 13% of users access LinkedIn daily.
• Unlike other platforms, 30-64 year olds are the more popular age group here.
• There’s an even percentage of men to women, but a higher percentage of white and black users to hispanic. More users live in suburban areas and have a higher income.
• For a successful LinkedIn campaign, long-form quality posts are needed but you don’t need to be posting more than 3 times per week. Building relationships – both personal and professional and engaging with others’ content even if only weekly will work well. If you can’t dedicate a large amount of time to social media but can create long-form summaries of your blog content then LinkedIn is for you.
• If your ideal user: is in their 30s-40s, doesn’t use social media daily, has graduated college and uses social media to network then LinkedIn is for you.

PINTEREST

• Pinterest has over 70 million users, with a whopping 80% being female. There are more white users than black and hispanic, and more live in suburban areas.
• It’s an extremely visual platform which makes it ideal for Food, DIY and Decor blogs and businesses.
• 17% of users visit daily, with age groups ranging between 18 – 49 years old.
• The majority of Pinterest users have a mid-high range income, and a huge 88% have bought something because of the platform.
• Pinterest is more luck and a good eye for design/composition than anything, so generating a successful campaign is about trial and error with images. For more strategies read my post,How I Get Over 100k Pinterest Viewers a Month. Once you’ve found something that works for you, Pinterest is an easy platform as it doesn’t require a lot of your time.
• If your ideal user: is female, in her 20s or 30s, uses social media as a consumer and engages with visual content then Pinterest is for you.

GOOGLE+

• Google+ currently has over 363 million users, with more male users (almost 70%) than female. Google+ has low competition yet a very high number of active monthly users making it an underestimated platform.
• The platform has a target audience of internet marketers and bloggers due to its’ SEO benefits – read more in my post, Easy SEO Guide for Bloggers.
• The highest percentage of users are between the ages of 25 and 44, and have a lower income than other platforms.
• Google+ users only use it for around 6 minutes per month, compared to Facebook’s 21 minutes per day. However, Google+ posts receive a very similar engagement rate to Facebook posts.
• Google+ like LinkedIn also works better with longer-form posts that act as summaries of your actual posts. These don’t have to be as extensive as LinkedIn, therefore making this platform a less-time consuming network.
• If your ideal user: is male, in his 30s, uses social media for information but only on a few occasions then Google+ is for you.

INSTAGRAM

• Instagram has over 300 million users, with half of its’ users accessing the platform daily.
• 53% of users are aged between 18 – 29, with the majority living in urban areas, on a low-mid range income and educated to high-school level.
• Male and female users are very close statistically, with a higher percentage of black and hispanic users than white.
• It’s an entirely visual platform, with over 60 million photos posted per day. It can be used by any blog niche or brand as it’s used by people with a wide variety of interests. It’s a really easy platform to use, quick to share and simple to engage.
• If your ideal user: is in their 20s, accesses social media using mobile daily and engages more with visual content then Instagram is for you.