Social Networks Engagement and Demographics

Social network activity, engagement and demographics are key factors for organizations attempting to decide where to best allocate time and resources. Time users spend and how engaged and interactive they are with content are important metrics. Demographics of each social network and differentiation of audience and usage patterns should be considered to determine target audience. Ability to identify the demographics of social media audiences at a granular level is the basis for all targeted marketing and messaging. 

PC-smartphone Engagement Index scores:

Facebook, 50.7
Instagram, 13.5
Twitter, 7.4
Snapchat, 6.6
WhatsApp, 4.6

Facebook's users skew younger, and that means brands that advertise luxury goods and services are still finding more success advertising in magazines than on social media. Other types of brands - such as fast-moving consumer goods - - perform well on Facebook. Facebook users show high ad engagement overall, accounting for half of all re-targeted clicks on the Web.

Twitter is mostly used for news consumption. In 2012, 83% of users reported seeing news on Twitter. Additionally, a bulk of users are located in urban areas. For brands, the best time to post on Twitter is Monday through Thursday between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The worst time is after 3 p.m. on a Friday.

LinkedIn has the advantage of being the place for white-collar professionals to network, meaning its population is highly desirable since it is a high-income and highly educated user base. The best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday through Thursday, when professionals are either beginning or finishing their workday.

Pinterest is riding the wave of mobile and is the leading tablet-first social network. Pinterest users already account for 48.2% of all social media sharing on iPads. They're primarily sharing food and drink-related content  and family and parenting-related items. Pinterest may become one of the big four top social networks.

Over 90% of people who use Instagram are under the age of 35, which makes it an attractive platform for the many apparel, entertainment, and media brands focused on the 18- to 34-year-old age bracket.

Tumblr is strong with teens and young adults interested in self-expression. Teens who do use Tumblr, use it a lot — 61% of 13- to 18-year-olds said they used the service several hours a week or more.