Social Media Marketing Statistics: Where Is Your Audience?

Social media marketing success means knowing where you audience is, and a recent study shows those statistics.

The Pew Research Center published a study recently entitled “The Demographics of Social Media Users – 2012”. The study looked at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr in order to determine where audiences were. As marketers, we need to know where we can find our audiences in order to find success when it comes to social media marketing.

Some of the figures in this study are surprising, considering all we hear about social networking statistics. Below are a few of the key takeaways from the study, and some tips as to how these statistics can be incorporated into your social media marketing strategies.

Facebook Is Still in Charge

Of the population surveyed, 67% say they are on some sort of social media. As expected, Facebook reigned supreme with that entire population stating that they were registered with the largest social network. Coming in second was Twitter, with 16% of the surveyed population claiming to use the micro blogging social network. And in a very close third was Pinterest, with 15% of the population. The growth of Pinterest has been no secret, and these numbers prove it.

With regards to social media marketing, the demographics were rather impressive as well. Have a look at the table below to see a breakdown of the most popular networks and which demographics use them the most.

An In-Depth Look at the Users

When it comes to social media marketing, we need to make sure we are targeting the right audience. In order to do that, we need to know where our target audience is talking. Moreover, we need to know if our target audience would even respond to our efforts when it comes to social media marketing. Below is a breakdown of the surveyed population based on demographics and the proportion using social networking sites in some way.

Perhaps the two most interesting figures arise when looking at minority statistics. When it comes to Race and Ethnicity, the Black, Non-Hispanic and Hispanic population have a higher proportion of social media users than the White, Non-Hispanic population. Furthermore, a surprising 32% of the 65+ population claims to be using social media in some way. Have a look at the table below.

Highlights by Network

The study breaks down similar demographics to those above for each one of the five networks observed. When it came to Twitter, there was a slight edge of male users (17%) over female users (15%) and the most popular Race/Ethnic demographic using the network was Black, Non-Hispanics.

On Pinterest, female users (25%) far outweighed male users (5%), which is to be expected considering the overwhelming data that has been produced showing that Pinterest is a network dominated heavily by the female population. But perhaps what is most interesting to note is that the two income brackets that were the most popular when it came to Pinterest were $50,000-74,999 (23%) and $75,000+ (18%).

On Instagram, women once again out edged men 16% to 10%, respectively. What was interesting about the statistics from Instagram was the fact that there was a fairly consistent makeup of users from nearly all demographics. The same can be said about Tumblr, the least popular of the networks reported.

Finally, Facebook showed yet another favor for the female population (72%) over the male population (62%). Though when it came to the rest of the data, there was little prejudice for one demographic over another in most categories. Based on the study, it would seem that regardless of your socioeconomic status, Facebook is where you want to be. Thus, we can conclude that when it comes to social media marketing to any demographic, Facebook is always a viable place to start.

Click here to read the full report. What have you found to be most surprising? Will any of these statistics influence your social media marketing strategies? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!