Si Muddell: Social Media Networks by demographic (Infographic)

There is always a lot of discussion about Social media advertising.

From the advertisers "does it work? How do I measure ROI"
From the publishers "Yes it does, spend some more $$"
From the industry "How to calculate your Social Media ROI....Social Media 101.." etc etc

According to a recent Nielsen Report, 64% of advertisers said they will increase their Social Media advertising budget this year, so it pays to know a bit about the audience, and how they differ.

When thinking about Social Media advertising, or simply activity on Social Media Networks, Marketers may have questions like?

How do I get the best ROI from advertising via social Media?
Does it work?
Who is the audience?
How is the audience changing?
How does one network differ from another in terms of demographics?
Etc etc?

Well, this post isn't isn't about answering all of those questions, it is about the audiences, and how they differ.

Demographic breakdown of the major Social Media Networks (Infographic)

Below is an interesting infographic created by .docstoc http://www.docstoc.com/ that shows the demographic breakdown of users on the major social networks in the US; that is Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr.

I don't think it should be used conclusively to tell you if you should be spending your marketing budget on Social Media, or which platform you must advertise on - the proof is in the pudding, test it.

But what this infographic does do is at least give the Marketer an indication into the top level demographic breakdown of each platform, and how they differ from one another. These can be valuable insights to use when planning your next digital campaign.

Other considerations are that there are many other 'networks' that are not included in the infographic below which have very captive audiences, think WhatsApp and Instagram. (A few of many others)