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vangogh
06-16-2011, 11:23 AM
The Pew Internet & American Life Project just published a report on social network and how it affects our lives. As part of the report they offer statistics on who's using different social networking sites in the US.

They have stats on:

Facebook (38)
Twitter (33)
MySpace (32)
LinkedIn (40)

The number in parenthesis is the average age of people on each network. LinkedIn users are predominantly male, while users of the others are predominantly female.

There's lots more in the report.

You can grab the full report in PDF form, Social networking sites and our lives (http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2011/PIP%20-%20Social%20networking%20sites%20and%20our%20lives .pdf)

If you'd rather see a summary of the stats you can check this article on Search Engine Land, A Portrait Of Who Uses Social Networks In The US (And How Social Media Affects Our Lives) (http://searchengineland.com/a-portrait-of-who-uses-social-networks-in-the-u-s-and-how-social-media-affects-our-lives-81653)

tylerhutchinson
06-16-2011, 01:21 PM
Thank you for sharing. Much of this seems accurate from being on these platforms. I thought myspace would be a little younger. I do not know many people who use it any more and those who do are high schoolers.

greenoak
06-16-2011, 02:43 PM
good info...thanks..
.facebook is so good for us.......im so thankful we jumped into it... ..i posted our palm trees last week and got a new customer who came up just for them that day, and mentioned our facebook and spent over 200$$ ......

KristineS
06-17-2011, 11:28 AM
Hmm, interesting. I would have thought MySpace users would be younger too, but I think that's because I still have the image that was planted in my mind when the site was hot.

vangogh
06-17-2011, 12:20 PM
I was thinking MySpace users would be a little younger as well. Of course musicians make up a significant portion of the MySpace audience and they aren't all kids. I think the numbers show social networking isn't just for kids anymore. Adults now make up the majority of users.

Business Attorney
06-20-2011, 09:56 AM
I use all of them but MySpace. From what I have personally seen, I expect that in the case of LinkedIn and FaceBook, the gap will get closer. FaceBook will always be the younger of the two because there is really no reason for a teenager to be on LinkedIn, but I have seen a lot of recent college graduates (sons and daughters of people in my network) joining the site.

954SEO
06-20-2011, 10:52 AM
Everyone uses social networking :) I'm just kidding, but in all seriousness, social networking may soon define brands online. Bing is already "Likes" from facebook in their results for goods and services. From what I've read, in the near future, Google will be using Twitter and Facebook to determine the "significance" of businesses and websites and use that information to rank them in search results. To me, it seems like social media and SEO are slowly melding. Just my two cents. So if you aren't social networking, your website may suffer (relatively) soon, but no one can say when for sure.

vangogh
06-20-2011, 10:56 AM
Both Google and Bing have said they look at social signals to determine where pages rank. I've noticed in my own stats that whenever I see an increase in Twitter or Facebook traffic I tend to get an increase in search traffic as well. Questions still remain as to specifically what parts of social are being looked at and how much the signals contribute to ranking. I don't think anyone is questioning whether or not social signals are being collected and used. Search and social are beginning to meld like you say.

greenoak
06-20-2011, 12:52 PM
i hope i dont get ranked bad on google....my stats are about local, where 1500 is pretty active....but not compared to a national brand...

vangogh
06-20-2011, 01:12 PM
Ann it's more about people sharing your content on social networks than how many followers or fans you have, though both of those could be used to determine how much authority your social account has. You wouldn't get ranked poorly because you aren't as big as a national brand. However Google has been favoring big brands in their search results for awhile now and seems to be moving more in that direction.

AaronConway
06-23-2011, 09:27 AM
Adults now make up the majority of users.

That's why I think there's a prime opportunity for somebody to create a social site more geared towards teens.

Aaron

vangogh
06-23-2011, 11:03 AM
MySpace started out as a site more for teens. Even Facebook originally started with a much younger audience. I think what happens is these sites don't really grow until they attract a wider range of ages. Also teens aren't spending a lot of money on these sites so the money follows an older crowd.

Not that someone couldn't build a site or social community targeted solely at teens

billbenson
06-23-2011, 12:55 PM
VG, you are familiar with my site. Do you think social networking would help me? People IMO aren't going to look for me or be interested in me on social networking sites today. Perhaps if I make the site a true reference site down the road it would matter, but not today. If social networking is becoming important part of SEO I would have a gap there, put I just don't see corporate purchasing agents or engineers going there. They are already sold on the product before they ever search for a place to buy it.

vangogh
06-23-2011, 07:16 PM
Do you mean building a social community on your site or participating in existing social communities?

To the former, no. I couldn't imagine your customers spending time socializing on your site.

To the latter I think we could develop a strategy to make it work. First networking with other people is never a bad thing for business. Granted most people you would interact with on Facebook probably aren't your customer, but you never know and you never know who those people know or how they could help you.

As far as generating links and visits and leads from social sites I think it works best when you're not trying to make a direct sales pitch. Information content is much more likely to attract both links and people. Different social communities show preferences for different types of content so in a strategy for your site we'd need to figure out how we could align your products with different communities and start by creating content that works with both. Related enough to your products and interesting enough to specific communities to make them want to share.

billbenson
06-24-2011, 01:19 AM
To others reading this post, unfortunately I don't want to go public with my site for various reasons. I have a site that ranks 2 on G for an extremely important keyword and its supplemented as well by Adwords ads. I'm a distributor for one of the two main players in a very niche multi billion dollar market. There are some other smaller players in the market as well. I sell mostly b2b products that are quite technical. They are also pre sold. By that I mean that I don't need to sell the concept of the product. The engineers or purchasing people are already sold on the product. It usually is a standardized product within a company. The company I represent or their main competitor. I do a consultive sell. I am the expert and answer their questions, come up with equipment configurations, go for the close before the prospect goes to another distributor. The site is currently a ecommerce site and I would like to grow it to an industry resource site, but that would take writing a lot of technical web pages which will take time.


As far as generating links and visits and leads from social sites I think it works best when you're not trying to make a direct sales pitch. Information content is much more likely to attract both links and people. Different social communities show preferences for different types of content so in a strategy for your site we'd need to figure out how we could align your products with different communities and start by creating content that works with both. Related enough to your products and interesting enough to specific communities to make them want to share.

I think I follow what you are saying, Steve. I don't see how I could do much until I make it a resource / authority site. I think I would need to be in "3rd person" in this. Remember I don't know how social sites work, but I think I would be trying to start communications between others and answering some of them as opposed to being the expert. Perhaps finding a retired industry expert to write web page text and social networking stuff???

How would you approach it?

vangogh
06-24-2011, 11:23 AM
You probably do need to get the resource part of the site started. I can't go into any details here since I know you don't want me to be too specific, but we can figure out some topics related to your products that might work well with social sites.

From the social site side you can join one or two right now. The first step is opening accounts and following or friending a few people and just observing the community to see how it works. Answering questions others have is one way to get involved. It's not the only way though. It depends a little on which network. For example on Twitter I mainly post links to interesting content when I come across it, which usually means clicking the tweet button on posts that have added it. I've been building an audience on my blog for years and my audience now posts my content to Twitter or Facebook without me having to do anything. The hard part with that is it takes time to build an audience.

I don't think you have to try to be anything other than yourself on social networks. When building the network follow people you genuinely think post interesting things. And then start interacting with them. With Facebook we could build a fan page for your site. Linked is more like an online business card or resume with a question and answer section. I'm guessing we might also find some more niche sites that come a little closer to your products. And don't forget about other forums that may be more in line with your site.

Why not start by searching out some social networks. Open an account or two with any you like.

billbenson
06-24-2011, 11:37 AM
Thanks, that gives me something to think about.

JeremyJ
08-25-2011, 11:32 AM
we primarily use facebook pages and google plus. Even before g+ pages have opened up we've found some effective marketing ideas that work great there!

JeremyJ
08-25-2011, 11:43 AM
Bill,
one thing to keep in mind is that people go online to search for information not to buy, so giving them information first and capturing their info to provide it works best. Also, they go on facebook for social interaction and have fun, you have to promote subtly there. Social networking is great to build a community that are passionate about a topic, if you can relate that to your specific product category you are in like gold :)


VG, you are familiar with my site. Do you think social networking would help me? People IMO aren't going to look for me or be interested in me on social networking sites today. Perhaps if I make the site a true reference site down the road it would matter, but not today. If social networking is becoming important part of SEO I would have a gap there, put I just don't see corporate purchasing agents or engineers going there. They are already sold on the product before they ever search for a place to buy it.

vangogh
08-25-2011, 08:55 PM
one thing to keep in mind is that people go online to search for information not to buy

True with a caveat. It's not that people don't go online to buy, but that they go online to do other things. Search queries are usually classified as navigational, informational, and commercial. I think brand related searches are considered navigational. The majority of searches are usually about information, which is why if you want to do well with search engines it's so important to have informational content on your site.

Before people buy they gather information and you can attract people to information that later leads them to a purchase. That might mean you leading them directly from your information to your products or services or it might be that when they do search later to buy something they remember it was you who helped them decide what to buy.

alphadore
08-26-2011, 10:46 AM
I always thought the majority of the facebook users are teenagers. I could not be more wrong. The average age is apparently 38!

KristineS
08-26-2011, 03:00 PM
I'm not sure that people only go online to search for information and not to buy. The majority of the stuff I buy I buy online. I can usually find better prices and deals on shipping that make it as economical to buy online as it is to purchase at a brick and mortar store. Every day purchases like groceries and toiletries and stuff I buy in town, but a lot of other stuff, clothes, books, furniture, etc., I've purchased on line in the past.

It is true that educating people can be a big benefit to your business and I definitely recommend it. I just think you also have to keep in mind that the pool of people who purchase a great deal of merchandise online is steadily growing.

greenoak
08-26-2011, 03:50 PM
i use it to tempt people to come to my store...with pictures and news..... i try for a little social but mine is mostly about the stuff......we are a store not a social thing.... but a friendly store!!!
i dont think they want to hear about my kids dh pets or garden....