You consider yourself a fairly internet savvy small business owner, don’t you?
You know what a Tweet is, you’re swapping sales leads on Referral Key and you think MySpace is “so last year”. But, have you studied your social media demographics lately?
Every marketer knows that it’s important to understand the demographics of your target customers. It’s also important to understand the demographics of the people whom use the medium through which you deliver your message. Ask Proctor and Gamble to tell you about the people who watch the shows in which their commercials air and you’d be surprised just how much they can tell you.
Social media, as a marketing tool, is so new that there aren’t any definitive demographics.
Over the next few days, we’ll be discussing the future of demographic trends in social media.
Men and Women
According to a study conducted by Cone, a well-respected Strategic Consultant Agency, Men are twice as likely as women to interact frequently (one or more times per week) with companies via social media (33% to 17%, respectively).
“The ease and efficiency of online conversation is likely a draw for men who historically do not seek out the same level of interaction with companies as women.” says Mike Hollywood, Director of New Media at Cone. He goes on to say, “The ease and efficiency of online conversation is likely a draw for men who historically do not seek out the same level of interaction with companies as women.”
You can find the full study here.
What Small Businesses Will Want to Consider
The benefits of marketing through social media is still a hotly debated subject but if you do find social media is worth your time and effort, then you’ll certainly want to consider your demographics just like you would using any other marketing medium.
- Are your networks mostly made up of men or women?
- Who do you interact with more often, men or women?
- Is your product/service gender specific? If not, could your message be tweaked to more intimately appeal to a specific gender?
- Is it possible that you could be alienating or even upsetting a particular gender and not even know it?
- Are you making sure you’re networking with your target market, not just the kinds of people you personally find easiest to interact with?
Tags: sales leads, small business, social media marketing
