Making sense of social networkers
Alice Dunn, marketing executive at Kantar Media, reveals interesting insights about social networkers, who are 26% more likely than the average internet user to find ads helpful…
Today there are a bewildering number of social networking sites, all competing for consumers’ attention.
From big players like Facebook, to blogs, dating and photo-sharing sites, being able to effectively differentiate between users is vital for marketers wishing to maximise their targeting opportunities in this online space
Latest insight from Kantar Media’s TGI survey reveals that 11 million adults (aged 15+) in Britain visit social networking sites more than once a day. 59% of this group are in the ABC1 social grades and close to a third have a family income of over £37,000.
It is even more understandable why marketers are keen to reach these social networkers as they are 26% more likely than the average internet user to find advertising helpful when choosing what to buy. They are similarly more likely to spend money without thinking – all of which make them a particularly lucrative target.
Though a tempting target overall, the profile of social networkers differs widely by the types of networking sites they like to visit and it is important marketers can make their targeting as efficient as possible by reaching the right kind of social networker.
Insight from TGI reveals 2.7 million British adults visit online dating sites. Pulling them apart from other types of social networking, they are 55% more likely than the average British internet user to be influenced by celebrities in their purchase decisions.
They are also eager consumers of a range of different types of media, indicating the potential for also reaching this group offline. For example, they are 53% more likely to say relevant direct mail can change their opinion of a brand and similarly more likely to buy products from companies who sponsor TV programmes.
Fitting with their dating tendencies, they are 32% more likely than the average internet user to eat out in restaurants two or three times a month, with Japanese the cuisine they are most likely to sample.
TGI’s new Clickstream study reveals these dating social networkers’ online habits in greater detail. When it comes to specific online dating sites, they are almost six times as likely as the average internet user to visit zoosk.com. In terms of time spent on site, however, they spend most time on badoo.com – 106 minutes a month.
When Facebook bought photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion, Mark Zuckerberg firmly put photos on the social networking map in their own right. Indeed photo-sharing is big business on the web.
TGI reveals 5.8 million British adults visit photo-sharing websites. These photo-sharing social networkers are a lively bunch who like to get noticed, being 31% more likely than the average British adult to like taking risks and more likely to wear designer clothes.
They are also a third more likely to think it important that their house is equipped with the latest technology. In addition, these photo-sharing fanatics like their live music: they are 39% more likely than the average internet user to go to music gigs.
In terms of which social networking sites this photo-sharing group are especially prone to use, TGI Clickstream reveals they spend an average of 11 hours a month on the meet-new-people site tagged.com. Other sites they spend particularly long amounts of time on include the music streaming site lastfm.com – four hours a month – and blogging site tumblr.com – two hours a month.