There is a myriad of different social media channels today and it's very hard to find out which one is the best fit for you. Where should you focus your marketing efforts? This slideshow sums up the most recent user data for each one of them and helps you to select your main social media channels based on the audience you're aiming to reach.
How To Choose The Right Social Media Channels For Your Business?
1. The Right Social Media Channels
for your Business?
YOUR DEMOGRAPHICS CHEAT SHEETS FOR 2016
How to choose
2. There are so many different social media
channels today that the really big question
always is: which one to choose? This
slideshow is for you if you feel in a total
decision paralysis and have no clue how
to select one or several networks for your
marketing strategy.
3. Facebook Instagram
Facebook
Twitter Vine
Twitter
Periscope
YouTube Google+
Google
Tumblr
Yahoo!
LinkedIn Slideshare
LinkedInMicrosoft
So let’s narrow down your choices based
on the type of audiences you want to
reach. Let’s take a closer look at each
social media channel and its most
dominant user demographic. Then, check
if it fits with your business in terms of age,
gender, income, education and geography.
Snapchat Pinterest Quora
5. GENERAL
• Launched in February 2004
• 1.65 billion monthly active users
• 1.09 billion daily active users
• Spend on average 6 hrs / month
• 5th most valuable public com-
pany in the world ($321 billion)
POPULAR TOPICS
• Entertainment (music, TV shows)
• Holidays and Events
• Sports
• Politics
• News
GREAT FOR
• Any target group
• Embedding all types of content
incl. text, image and video posts
• Brand fan pages
• Facebook Ads precise targeting
• Lead generation and sales
• Engagement
Facebook Users
Millennials: 30% of
users are 25-34
Balanced gender: 77%
of US women and 66%
of US men use the site
Developed countries:
in Europe, over 307
million people are on
Facebook
Worldwide: 38.6% of
the online population
use Facebook
Across generations:
83% of parents on
Facebook are friends
with their children
Mobile trend:
47% of users only
access the platform
through mobile
Social Network
Engaged: 70% of users
use Facebook on a
daily basis
6. GENERAL
• Launched in October 2010
• 400 million monthly active users
• Mobile application
• Acquired by Facebook in April
2012 for $1 billion
POPULAR TOPICS
• Luxury
• Lifestyle
• Fashion
• Design
GREAT FOR
• 15 seconds long videos
• Photo filters and hashtags
• Behind-the-scenes, informal,
user-generated content
• Privacy: Instagram does not
claim ownership rights for its
users’ content
• Photos liked a lot being pushed
on Facebook’s Timeline
Instagram Users
Millennials: 90% of
users are younger than
35 years old
Women-oriented:
almost 70% of users
are women
Regional split: users
are mainly from US,
Russia, Brazil, Turkey
and UK
Worldwide: 75% of
users are outside the
United States
Teens: 32% of US teens
list Instagram as their
most important social
network
Mobile OS: Evenly
split between iPhone
and Android owners
Photo Sharing
Engaged: over 60% of
users log in daily, 2nd
most engaged network
after Facebook
8. GENERAL
• Founded in February 2005
• 1 billion monthly unique users
• World’s 2nd largest search engine
• Acquired by Google in
November 2006 for $1.65 billion
• Users spend 15 min / day on
average
POPULAR TOPICS
• Entertainment
• Music
• Movies
• Video games
• Celebrities
• Education
GREAT FOR
• Improving your SEO
• Integrating with other Google
services like Google+
• Engaging your audience: video
content is more engaging than
text or images alone
Youtube Users
Teens: used by almost
82% of US teens, aged
14-17 years old
Balanced gender:
equally split between
men and women
Worldwide: 80% of
views are from outside
of the US
Men more engaged:
men spend more time
on YouTube to watch
games and sports
Millennials: used by
81% of US millennials
Mobile-savvy: more
than half of views
come from mobile
devices
Video Sharing
Millennials who like to
use videos to make
purchasing decisions
9. Google+ Users
GENERAL
• Launched in June 2011
• 150 million monthly active users
(some experts say much less)
• Belongs to Google, world’s
biggest search engine
• Has LinkedIn’s business menta-
lity, Facebook’s usability and
some news aspects of Twitter
POPULAR TOPICS
• Business
• Technology
• News
GREAT FOR
• Improving SEO
• Tech focused businesses
• Google Circles and Hangouts
• Local businesses (Maps)
• Integrations with other Google
services like YouTube etc.
• Traditional male brands: cars,
football, gaming or tech
Young adults: 42% of
users are 18-24 years
old
Expertise-seeking: like
to network with other
experts in their field
Men-oriented: 74% of
users are men and just
26% women
Interests: very tech-
savvy and business-
minded users
English-speaking
countries: most users
are from USA, India,
Brazil, UK and Canada
Occupation: mainly
students, developers,
engineers, designers
and photographers
Low engagement:
users spend on
average 3:46 min on
Google+ per visit
Social Network
11. Twitter Users
GENERAL
• Launched in July 2006
• 310 million monthly active users,
of which 23 million are bots
• 1.3 billion accounts, 44% of which
have never ever sent a Tweet
(low engagement)
• IPO in November 2013
POPULAR TOPICS
• Breaking news
• Celebrities
• Music, television, film
• Software, internet, business
GREAT FOR
• Giving company news/updates
• Providing customer service
• Offering deals
• Giving career and job information
• Connecting with journalists and
news outlets for PR
• Connecting with experts from
your field
Mainly millennials: 46%
of users are aged 18-34
years old
Politicians: 83% of the
world’s leaders are on
Twitter
Balanced gender: 54%
of users are men and
46% are women
Regional split: 50% of
active users are from
US, Japan, Indonesia,
UK and Brazil
Worldwide: 79% of
accounts are held
outside of the US
Media: journalists make
up 24.6% of verified
accounts
Very mobile-savvy:
83% of active users
access the site via
mobile
Microblogging Site
12. Vine Users
Teens: Vine is
extremely popular with
the 13-17 year olds
Creatives: users who
make videos with the
goal to go viral
Women-oriented:
more users are girls
than boys
Musicians: like to share
clips as Vine allows
both video and sound
Millennials: more than
50% of users are under
34 years old
Ambitious: many
users aspire to
become online
celebrities
Video Sharing
GENERAL
• Founded in June 2012
• Launched in Jan 2013
• 200 million monthly active users
• Mobile application
• Acquired by Twitter in October
2012 for a reported $30 million,
just before its official launch
POPULAR TOPICS
• Behind-the-scenes
• Art
• Music
• Fun, sketch-comedy like stuff
GREAT FOR
• 6 seconds long video loops
• Integration with Twitter
• Product or service showcases
ahead of the launch
• Hosting contests and other user-
generated content
• Virality across Vine and Twitter
Worldwide: most
users are from US,
Canada, UK, Ireland,
Australia and India
13. Periscope Users
GENERAL
• Founded in February 2014
• Launched in March 2015
• 10 million registered accounts
• 2 million daily active users
• Mobile application
• Acquired by Twitter in January
2015 for reportedly $50 million,
before the official launch
POPULAR TOPICS
• Breaking news
• Behind-the-scenes
• Sneak preview
• Travel, hobbies, food
• Q&A style videos
GREAT FOR
• Live streaming or TV channel
• Live streaming from GoPro
• Real-time communication
(competition: Facebook Live)
• Celebrities and politicians
• Integrations with Twitter
Millennials: 41% of
users are 16-24 and
75% are under 35
User types: journalist,
citizen journalist,
reviewer of products,
ask me anything guy
Men-oriented: 65% of
users are men and 35%
are women
Engaged: users have
created more than 200
million broadcasts to
date
Most users are from
USA, Turkey and Brazil
People looking to live-
stream their lives
Upwards trend: users
watch a combined 110
years worth of video
every single day
Video Streaming
15. Linkedin Users
GENERAL
• Launched in May 2003
• 106 million monthly active users
• World’s largest professional
network on the Internet
• IPO in May 2011
• To be acquired by Microsoft in
2016 for $26.2 billion
POPULAR TOPICS
• Industry news
• Career tips and inspiration
• Productivity
• Leadership
• Trends, statistics
GREAT FOR
• B2B facing businesses
• Sharing articles and expertise on
your topic
• Serious, fact-based content
• Sharing more elaborate content
as an attachment
• Showcasing expertise
Professionals: 61% of
internet users aged 30-
64 use LinkedIn
High disposable
income: most users are
experienced employees
Balanced: 56% are men
and 44% are women
Well educated: 50% of
college graduates use
LinkedIn
Worldwide: 70% of
users are outside US.
Other key countries are
India, Brazil, UK, China.
Occupation: mainly
employees, also job
seekers and students
Curious: 67% of users
consider themselves
as “news junkies”
Prof Networking
16. Slideshare Users
GENERAL
• Launched in October 2006
• 70 million monthly active users
• Acquired by LinkedIn in 2012 for
$118 million
• One of the top 100 most-visited
websites in the world
POPULAR TOPICS
• Business
• Technology
• Travel
• Education
• Health
GREAT FOR
• Improving SEO
• Targeting SMEs, entrepreneurs
and business owners
• Lead generation
• Visual content: presentations,
infographics, documents, PDFs,
videos and webinars
• Showcasing your expertise
Older age group: most
of the users are 35-44
years old
Hungry to learn: voted
among world’s top 10
tools for e-learning
More women-
oriented: 60% of users
are women
Expertise-seeking:
used to discover high-
quality industry news,
trends, research and
statistics
Global reach: 89% of its
mobile app users are
outside of the US
Occupation: small
business owners and
micro-business owners
Great for B2B: 41%
of B2B marketers in
North America use
Slideshare
Slide Sharing
18. Tumblr Users
GENERAL
• Launched in February 2007
• 555 million monthly unique users
• Users spend on average
2.5 hours / month on Tumblr
• Acquired by Yahoo! in June 2013
for $1.1 billion
POPULAR TOPICS
• Entertainment, fun stuff
• Movies, TV shows
• Fashion, design, vintage
• Art, DIY, photography
• Celebrities, Online celebrities
• Video games
GREAT FOR
• Fashion brands
• Visual inspiration
• Fast-paced, creative and
entertaining content
• Multimedia microblogging
• Tumblr’s strong community
• Sharing anything, even off-limits
Millennials & younger:
almost 50% of users
are younger than 35
years old
Engaged: on average
users spend 34 min per
visit
Balanced gender: 52%
of users are men and
48% are women
Educated & high
disposable income:
almost 50% of users
have a college
education
Worldwide: top 5
countries US (33% of
users), Brazil, UK,
Canada, Germany
Growing: more popular
with 13 to 35 year olds
than Facebook
College students:
Especially popular
among college
students
Microblogging
20. Pinterest Users
GENERAL
• Launched March 2010
• 100 million monthly active users
• 47% of users use it weekly
• Valued at $11 billion
POPULAR TOPICS
• Lifestyle
• Fashion
• Hobby, Travel
• Crafts, DIY
• Design
• Food, Health and Fitness
GREAT FOR
• E-commerce businesses
• Visual industries like artists,
photographers, designers
• Sharing blog posts, images,
visual quotes or videos
• Infographics because of its long
image format
• Lead generation and referral
traffic to your website
Millennials & older:
67% of users are under
40 years old
Well educated and
with high disposable
income
Very women-oriented:
85% of users are
women
Householders: make
85% of all consumer
purchases and are
brand-loyal
Largely US-oriented:
Only 45% of users are
from outside of the US
Mothers: 50% of users
have children
Shoppers: use
Pinterest to save
things that inspire
them and to shop
Idea Sharing
21. Snapchat Users
GENERAL
• Launched in Sept 2011
• 200 million monthly active users
and over 100 million daily users
• Mobile-based
• Users spend 30 min per day on
average on the app
• Valued at over $18 billion
POPULAR TOPICS
• Entertainment
• Funny faces
• Any funny photos or videos
• Behind-the-scenes
• Q&A format
GREAT FOR
• Reaching teenagers
• Raw, scrappy and fun content
• Snapchat Stories
• Snapchat Discover for media
• Engagement
• Entertainment
Millennials: 60% of
users are between 18
and 34 years old
Entertainment: users
like the app for the fun
aspect more than for
the privacy aspect
Women-driven: 70% of
users are girls and only
30% are boys
Growth: Snapchat
reaches 11% of the
entire US digital
population
Mobile-savvy: 60% of
all smartphone users
are now on Snapchat
Young adults:
Snapchat’s core
audience is between 13
and 24 years old
Teens: almost 30%
of teens consider it
their most important
social network
Social Network
22. Quora Users
GENERAL
• Founded in June 2009
• Launched in June 2010
• 80 million monthly active visitors
POPULAR TOPICS
• Technology
• Science
• Books
• Business
• Movies
• Health
GREAT FOR
• Demonstrate knowledge and
expertise on your topic
• Learning from other experts
• Generating recurrent website
traffic and leads
• Answering customer enquiries
about your business, products
and services
• Getting noticed by a media
publication for guest posting
Millennials & younger:
an estimated 46% of
users are 18-24 and
33% 25-34 years old
Most users connect
either from home or
from work, in equal
proportions
Male-oriented: an
estimated 60% of users
are men
Interests: interested in
tech, science, money
and startups
Regional split: 50%
from USA, 15% from
India, UK, Canada
and Pakistan
Well educated: most
of the users are
graduates
Mobile-savvy: almost
50% of users access
the site via mobile
Q&A Website
23. So now you should have a better idea
which audience you can find on each
social media network. Are you targeting
millennials, men or Indians? Is your
content visual or text-based? Use these
cheat sheets to narrow down your
selection and then just go test them out!
24. Want to know more?
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