Social media demographics are the free version of a real time census for marketers. The evolution of various age groups, income bracket groups and other relevant groups help businesses assess the size of their market as well as the future expectations and needs of their customers.
In many situations, businesses fail because their founders are not aware of the size of their market in the future. We witnessed so many passing trends, such as the hoverboard. It had its moment of popularity 3 or 4 years ago and was quickly put out of business by the rise of electric scooters, which are safer to manoeuvre and of a sturdier build.
Social Media Demographics Monitoring Is the Key to Long Term Success
A viable business needs a market of interested customers not just in the next 2-3 years, but 5, 10 years later and beyond. And this is why you should be analysing the evolution of the social media demographics of your business page or account.
By comparing the followers you have today with those you had 3 years ago, you can observe some very important aspects:
- If your customers stay loyal over time (their age group, education, income level evolves with the age of the page)
- If you constantly attract users from a specific demographic group (youths, young professionals, senior citizens, etc.)
- If your customer persona needs adjustment to conform to the actual profile of people who follow your page and buy your products.
However, when you are looking only at the audience of your page, you see the small picture, the detail. What we will do in this article is show you the bigger picture. We will go through the most relevant changes and evolutions in social media demographics at platform level.
Key Social Media Demographics to Keep Your Eyes on Platform by Platform
With these introductions made, these are the demographic data that caught our attention and are worth sharing with our readers and clients:
We will start, of course, with the social media demographics on Facebook, the most relevant platform for marketers.
1. Seniors Start Using Facebook
According to a Pew Research Center paper, the +50 age group is the fastest growing compared to other age groups on Facebook. As senior citizens become more comfortable with the technology around them, they start using it to connect with friends and family. Of course, they will also connect with their favourite brands, if they see ads and posts that target their interests and needs.
2. Women Lead in Groups and Fundraisers
Women were behind 70% fundraisers on Facebook last year. They are also 40% more likely to create a group that attracts a lot of members and stays active for a long time. For marketers, this is a significant evolution in social media demographics. For example, if you run a charity, you are most likely to find female influencers on Facebook to raise money for your cause. Also, if you are selling products targeted at women, you are more likely to succeed if you create a group attached to your Facebook page.
3. Higher Education Demographics Prefer Facebook
The largest groups of Facebook users by education level are:
- 75% some college education
- 74% more than college education.
This is an indication that Facebook becomes attractive for B2B companies as well. Among those with more than college education, many are decision makers (buyers, financial directors) directly involved in corporate purchases.
Instagram is owned by Facebook and is connected in many ways with the parent platform. You can select Instagram as ad placement from the Facebook Ad Creator platform. You can connect your accounts and share the same content simultaneously on Facebook and Instagram. And the social media demographics show that you are not posting or advertising to overlapping audiences.
1. Instagram Users Are Young People
The best represented age groups on Instagram are:
- 72% – 13-17 years old
- 67% – 18-29 years old
- 47% – 30-49 years old.
This means that you can easily create campaigns for the same product, but targeted at different age groups. One ad sets goes to Facebook, the other on Instagram.
2. High Earners Are Most Active on Instagram
Here is an interesting social media demographics fact. 60% of the users are people who earn more than US $100,000 per year. The second most active group by earnings is that of people with revenues between US $70,000 and US $80,000 (55%). This means that Instagram is a great social media platform for premium brands, who can showcase their high end products in lavish photos and videos to potential customers.
3. Both Sexes Are Equally Represented on Instagram
As for gender groups, the gap is very small. 51% Instagram users are women and 49% are men.