24 May The Affluent More Likely To Use Social Networks

A recent Nielsonwire.com study shows that the more affluent members of society are participating on certain social networking sites more than others.

According to the study, half of the U.S. population visited a social networking site in the last year. These numbers seem to be growing every quarter. Studies similar to this one and the data they yield are becoming increasingly popular with advertisers and marketers. An understanding of the social status of groups using social media will be a very useful tool when developing messages.

The Break Down

• According to the study, Facebook users tend to have a more upscale lifestyle. The top third segment relative to affluence was 25% more likely to use Facebook than the lower two-thirds.
• The bottom third segment was in-turn 37% more likely to use MySpace
• Users of Facebook were also more likely to use the social networking site Linked-In, which is a network for businesses and professional networking.

I think marketers can interpret this data several ways but an understanding of consumer behavior and buying habits isn’t enough at this point. If social media is the future then so is the understanding of social network demographics. If you’re building luxury condominiums and want to utilize social media in your marketing, then you better have an understanding of where your target market is spending their time on social networks (which ones).

This goes back to the core principle of social media. Social networks should never dictate a marketing strategy including whom you choose to target. I don’t recommend molding a message to Facebook because it’s the most popular social network. I suggest creating your message first, finding your target consumer, and then using the necessary social network to reach them. Social media is not a marketing strategy. It’s a tool used to execute a marketing strategy.