Knowing Your Audience: Social Media Segmentation

Knowing which methods of communication are most used by a target audience is crucial to the success of any campaign. And as an agency committed to meeting audiences where they are, we know how much communication habits differ by context.

A recent Pew study on U.S. teenagers and their engagement on social media gives us unprecedented insight into our highly digital world.

In comparison to a decade ago, social media is now one of the most relied upon sources for information and education (whether that horrifies you or not), and curating campaigns specifically for social media is essential to reaching younger audiences. By categorizing the data along race, socioeconomic status, gender, religion, you can identify which audience you want to reach and what the most effective means of communication are.

Here are three insights you should consider when using social media as a marketing platform, especially to attract youth: 

Exposure differs by demographic. 

And just because it seems like all teens are always on their phones, that doesn’t mean they’re all online the same amount. Teens in middle-income households are more likely to use the internet constantly compared to those in more affluent households, and Black and Hispanic teens are more likely to be constantly online compared to their White counterparts.

Access to multiple devices is a privilege.

While most teens generally have the same access to a smartphone (95%), only 79% of teens with a HH income of less than $30K have computers compared to the 94% of those with a HH income of above $75K. And even teens with phones are likely to have different levels of data accessibility.  What many people don’t realize is the privilege they have to be able to consume content in multiple formats and on multiple devices (at the same time).

Not all platforms are considered equal. 

This is why it’s important to familiarize yourself with the tools and trends needed to create content for multiple platforms — the ones preferred by your target audience, not just the one you’re most familiar with. Research shows 95% of teens are regularly using Youtube, 67% are using TikTok, 62% are using Instagram, and 59% are using Snapchat. When was the last time you created ads for more than one of these platforms?

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In short, everyone should be utilizing social media as a marketing and information dissemination tool; and the more specific you can be about who you are trying to reach, how and why, the more likely you are to get your message in front of the eyes of those its intended for.