Perhaps looking at the users of social networking sites might give us a clue. Here are some findings according to the latest Anderson Analytics Survey as quoted in Advertising Age July 8, 2009.
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Profile: Broad range of users - high-school and college students, business people, parents and grandparents interested in fun, leisure and staying connected.
- Married (40%); white (80%); retired (6%).
- A bit older and are more likely to be late adopters of social media.
Loyalty: Extremely loyal to the site. 75% claim Facebook is their favorite site; 59% say they have increased their use of the site in the past six months.
Average income: $61,000
Watch a Very Amusing Video on FaceBook Manners
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Profile: More interested than the others in many subjects but skew particularly high in all news categories, restaurants, sports, politics, personal finance and religion.
- Especially likes pop culture, music, movies, TV and reading, ranking higher than average
- More likely to buy online than other groups, and they are more likely than others to use the service to promote their blogs and websites
- More likely to be employed part-time (16% vs. 11% average)
Loyalty: Not particularly attached to the site. 43% said they could live without Twitter.
Average income: $58,000
Watch a Video that Explains Twitter in Plain English
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Profile: The young, students (23%) and the single (60%). They now use the site much less in the past six months.
- More likely to be interested in entertaining friends, humor and comedy, and video games. (The content MySpace users put up is most often about specific hobbies, or pictures of family and friends.)
Loyalty: They are “fleeing” although 67 million remain.
Average income: $44,000 |
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Profile: These guys are all about business. Yes, guys - LinkedIn has the only user group with more males than females (57% to 43%).
- More likely to have joined the site for business or work - business networking, job searching, business development and recruiting.
Loyalty: The report made no comment with respect to loyalty.
Average income: $89,000
Watch Video on LinkedIn Explained in Plain English |
Based on the demographics, the obvious winner for any Internet Marketing Strategy is LinkedIn.
Strictly speaking, LinkedIn is a business networking site. It is the online equivalent of the business networking social event. And, like in the real world, you get out of it only what you put into it. If you stand in the corner by yourself and do not engage in conversation, you get zip. Same thing online. Having a LinkedIn page is just the start. You need to make connections, ask and answer questions, offer endorsements, and more.
Recommended reading: 5 Tips Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Business.
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