Since its tiny inception in the early ’90s, social media has quickly grown into one of the most influential marketing outlets of this generation. Fortunately for us, every click on the internet is trackable, taking a lot of the guesswork out of brand awareness and demographics. With this information though, comes an overwhelming amount of data. According to a new report from GlobalWebIndex, the average person now has 7.6 active social media accounts, with 98% of people having at least one social network account! Let’s narrow it down to a few of the most important key platforms and their demographics.
According to Spreadfast’s 2018 Social Audience Guide, Facebook is the most widely used social media platform with 2 billion monthly active users. Its users are aged 18 to 65 and up, with a slightly higher percentage of females at 52%. Spreadfast also tells us that there is also a large variety of income levels on the platform: between <$30K and $75K+ annually. It is fair to say that most demographics are represented pretty equally on Facebook.
One key piece of information offered by Spreadfast: “30% of retail shoppers who recently made a purchase discovered a new product on Facebook.” In a study conducted by Pew Research Center, it was revealed that Facebook is the social media platform that is visited most often: 51% of users visit several times per day. This means that products and brands have more potential visibility here than on any other site.
Spreadfast informs us that the second most popular social media platform with 800 million monthly active users is Instagram. Pew Research informs us that this is the most quickly growing social media platform since 2012. The majority of Instagram’s users are aged 18-29, with usage dropping significantly as age increases. Female users are more dominant in this platform as well at 58%.
Teens seem to be the most successfully reached target audience with Instagram as 53% tell us that this platform is where they learn about new products first, according to Spreadfast. This study also informs us that a robust 53% of users also follow brands.
Twitter rounds out the top three most popular social media platforms at 317 million monthly active users, Spreadfast informs us. Most users are 18-29 and usage dwindles among older age groups. Twitter is more popular among higher ($75k+) income levels and has a higher usage among males at 53%.
According to Spreadfast, “84% of Twitter users use Twitter to find coupons, deals, reviews, and ideas.” Twitter is a great way of reaching that higher-income, male demographic than its competitors.
How does the data from 2018 compare to the data in 2019 so far?
It’s safe to say that social media data for 2019 is close to the 2018 data at this time. Here’s Why.
Social networks are now so well established, that there are a core ‘top five’ social networks that don’t change much from year-to-year. The share of U.S. adults who say they use certain online platforms or apps is statistically unchanged from where it stood in early 2018 despite a long stretch of controversies over privacy, fake news and censorship on social media, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted Jan. 8 to Feb. 7, 2019.
Facebook – which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary – remains one of the most widely used social media sites among adults in the U.S. Roughly seven-in-ten adults (69%) say they ever use the platform. YouTube is the only other online platform measured that matches Facebook’s reach: 73% of adults report using the video sharing site. But certain online platforms, most notably Instagram and Snapchat, have an especially strong following among young adults.
