When determining how to spend your marketing budget, the road can get a little bumpy. There’s always print, radio and banner ads, but then there’s mobile placement, SEO, public relations, local advertising, video marketing, and social media. That’s to name just a few. How do you know where to invest your budget? How do you know if Facebook is the route you want to take? The answer is simple: where is your target audience?
Who is Using Facebook?
The question to ask yourself is not ‘who is using Facebook’ but ‘who is actively engaged on Facebook?’ Sure, your sister, brother, neighbor and best friend might all be on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, but are they actively engaged on those platforms, or do they just have them to check in on family members?
Recent research is showing a dramatic shift in Facebook demographics; a shift that could be impacting your marketing choices.
The Fastest Growing Demographic on Facebook: age 55+ grew by 80% from Jan of 2011 to Jan of 2014
The Fastest Declining Demographic on Facebook: age 13 – 17 fell by over 25% from Jan 2011 to Jan of 2014
High School and College Enrollment: dropped by 58% and 59%, respectively, between Jan 2011 and Jan 2014
Mobile: Facebook is the most popular social media app on smartphones and accounts for 66% of total social media sharing on iPhones.
But herein lay the rub: are these demographics actively using Facebook? Let’s dive into those numbers…
Total Number of Monthly Active Facebook Users: 1,310,000,000
Number of Fake Facebook Accounts: 81,000,000
Percent of All Facebook Users Who Actually Log In On Any Given Day: 48%
Percent of Facebook Users Who Are Outside of the U.S: 75%
The Single Most Active Demographic on Facebook: Women, 18 to 29 years old
So, the question remains, is your demographic engaged on Facebook?
Getting Your Audience Engaged
The next question you’ll need to ask your team is, “how do I get my audience onto Facebook and onto my Facebook page?” Just because your target audience is not on Facebook, does not mean that you should toss Facebook marketing out of the window all together, it simply means that you have to take a different approach to getting them engaged.
1. Newsletters – Yes, email marketing can still be an effective tool for driving traffic both to your website and to your social media accounts.
2. In-Office Promotional Items – Simple fliers, business cards, and posters within your offices can motivate your patients to join you on Facebook.
3. Motivation – By providing some incentive for your patients to Like you page, such as contests, free educational advice, etc, you can increase how many patients flock to your page.
4. Keep Them Engaged – You might have 2,000 Fans on your Facebook page, but unless you can keep them actively engaged it will be a wasted marketing effort.
Need help with your social media marketing? Give us a call!