Your Social Media Audience Will Determine Your Focus

The audience of your business will determine your social media audience and where you focus.

Sometimes your audience may not match up well with any of the major networks though. If that’s the case and you are an extreme niche then focus on social groups for that niche.

Finding your social media niche is important so you’re not wasting your time where you won’t get any return.

The goal of social media for your business isn’t to play for have fun, it’s to reach the people that matter to you.

Understanding who makes up each of the major networks is important so you know where you should focus your efforts.

Who Primarily Makes Up Each Major Social Network

Each network has a different makeup of who you’re likely to find. There are niche social media networks but for the big ones, knowing who is mainly there matters a lot.

All this social media demographics information in the sections below comes from Pew Research Center which breaks down each network by percentage of US adults who use it.

The stats below are for the major social media networks but there are many niches out there.

It’s best to focus some of your attention on one or two of the major networks and the rest of your attention on more niche networks or subsets of major social networks. For example, on Facebook your focus would be on groups and on Twitter, it would be a Twitter chat.

Facebook

Facebook has a very broad audience no matter what demographic you look at. It’s spread evenly across all groups.

No matter who your audience is for your business, they can be reached on Facebook. The problem with Facebook comes from actually reaching those people.

Facebook has locked up almost all organic reach that businesses have on Facebook.

There are only two options on Facebook for reaching your audience organically:

• Use your personal Facebook page (this may be against Facebook terms of service).
• Participate in a relevant Facebook group and help people.

Aside from that the only way to reach people is to pay for Facebook advertising.

Even though most people are on Facebook, it’s still good to understand a bit deeper of the exact demographic makeup.

Among online adults, 79% use Facebook and:

• Gender:
  • Women: 83%
  • Men: 75%
• Age group:
  • 18-29: 88%
  • 30-49: 84%
  • 50-64: 72%
  • 65+: 62%
• Education level:
  • High school degree or less: 77%
  • Some college: 82%
  • College+: 79%
• Incomes:
  • Less than $30k/year: 84%
  • $30k-$49,999: 80%
  • $50k-$74,999: 75%
  • $75,000+: 77%
• Location;
  • Urban: 81%
  • Suburban: 77%
  • Rural: 81%

As you can see most percentages are pretty even across the board. If you think Facebook is a necessary place for your business to be, go set up your Facebook business page first.

Once you get your Facebook business page set up make your first post and make it count.

Instagram

Instagram is owned by Facebook and integrates nicely with your Facebook business page. That is if you’ve converted your Instagram profile to a business profile.

There is one big difference between Instagram and Facebook though. Instagram veers more towards a younger crowd who are either going to college or have a college degree.

So, they’re young and they have disposable income.

Among adults who are online, 32% use Instagram and:

• Gender:
  • Women: 38%
  • Men: 26%
• Age group:
  • 18-29: 59%
  • 30-49: 33%
  • 50-64: 18%
  • 65+: 8%
• Education level:
  • High school degree or less: 27%
  • Some college: 37%
  • College+: 33%
• Incomes:
  • Less than $30k/year: 38%
  • $30k-$49,999: 32%
  • $50k-$74,999: 32%
  • $75,000+: 31%
• Location;
  • Urban: 39%
  • Suburban: 28%
  • Rural: 31%

Hashtags are probably the most important part of posting to Instagram. I recently recorded a video that covers how to post on Instagram along with an infographic to help you post.

If Instagram is where your audience is and your business will work well on it, go out there and set up your Instagram profile.

Twitter

While Twitter doesn’t have the coverage that Facebook and Instagram has, it does have a clear audience.

The users generally have a higher income and are college educated.

Twitter has benefits that go beyond Facebook because your activity on it has a direct correlation to how many people your business will reach.

There are no filters on Twitter. If you use hashtags, help people, and join in on the occasional Twitter chat your audience reach will be huge.

Among internet users, 24% use Twitter and:

• Gender:
  • Women: 25%
  • Men: 24%
• Age group:
  • 18-29: 36%
  • 30-49: 23%
  • 50-64: 21%
  • 65+: 10%
• Education level:
  • High school degree or less: 20%
  • Some college: 25%
  • College+: 29%
• Incomes:
  • Less than $30k/year: 23%
  • $30k-$49,999: 18%
  • $50k-$74,999: 28%
  • $75,000+: 30%
• Location;
  • Urban: 26%
  • Suburban: 24%
  • Rural: 24%

If you’re planning on using Twitter for your business be sure to set up your Twitter profile completely.

After you’ve set up your profile join in on a Twitter chat to maximize your reach.

LinkedIn

If your business audience is other businesses then LinkedIn is the ideal B2B social media network.

There are lots of professionals and business owners on LinkedIn and they’re very well educated with high incomes.

If you make connections on LinkedIn and frequent groups then you can potentially reach a lot of B2B target audience members.

Among adult internet users, 29% use LinkedIn and:

• Gender:
  • Women: 27%
  • Men: 31%
• Age group:
  • 18-29: 34%
  • 30-49: 33%
  • 50-64: 24%
  • 65+: 20%
• Education level:
  • High school degree or less: 12%
  • Some college: 27%
  • College+: 50%
• Incomes:
  • Less than $30k/year: 21%
  • $30k-$49,999: 13%
  • $50k-$74,999: 32%
  • $75,000+: 45%
• Location;
  • Urban: 34%
  • Suburban: 30%
  • Rural: 18%
• Employment:
  • Employed: 35%
  • Unemployed: 17%

If you’re a B2B company then LinkedIn is somewhere you have to be. You’ll need to set up your personal profile to participate in any of the social aspects of LinkedIn such as connecting and participating in groups.

If you also want to establish your business on LinkedIn then setting up a company page is also a must.

Pinterest

I haven’t written a lot about Pinterest but there is definitely a well-defined audience there.

You’ll primarily reach well-educated women who have a high income.

Pinterest also has the added benefit of having a very clear theme for what people are there for. Pinterest has been known as the board of dreams for the internet.

People keep their hopes and dreams for things they want to buy or do.

Among adults on the internet, 31% use Pinterest and:

• Gender:
  • Women: 45%
  • Men: 17%
• Age group:
  • 18-29: 36%
  • 30-49: 34%
  • 50-64: 28%
  • 65+: 16%
• Education level:
  • High school degree or less: 24%
  • Some college: 34%
  • College+: 34%
• Incomes:
  • Less than $30k/year: 30%
  • $30k-$49,999: 32%
  • $50k-$74,999: 31%
  • $75,000+: 35%
• Location;
  • Urban: 30%
  • Suburban: 34%
  • Rural: 25%

There are personal and business profiles on Pinterest but they both function similarly. Go out there and set up your profile. After you do that you’ll be able to convert it into a business profile.

Whoever your business audience is there’s likely an equivalent social media audience out there for you to reach.

Find Your Focus

One of the most important things you could learn in your business is to find your focus.

Knowing your goal and focusing on it will help you reach your goal.

No matter what method you’re using to market your business, focus is key. Social media is no different.

Instead of trying to cover all major networks, creating a profile, then letting them sit there unmaintained, focus on just the one or two that are important. The rest of your energy should be focused on niche social networks.

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation so we can talk about how to establish your business online presence on social media.