Facebook getting older as it grows
By: Bill LaformeJuly 9th, 2009
Small businesses focusing on the youth demographic by using Facebook in their marketing may find that they are missing the target, according to a recent analysis by iStrategyLabs, an interactive and experiential marketing strategy agency.
While the social networking powerhouse is still growing dramatically – the past six months saw a total user increase of 70.8 percent, representing almost 72 million U.S. users – Facebook’s growth comes disproportionately from the 55 and older demographic, the research found.
The growth in that demographic reached a staggering 513.7 percent in the last six months, said the report, while high school users actually decreased by 16.5 percent and college users – its original market base – declined by 21.7 percent.
Small businesses may not need to dramatically refocus their marketing strategies just yet – the report found that there are still approximately 18 million users in each of the 18-24 and 25-34 demographics, while the users aged 55 or older only number 5.8 million.
The largest demographic is actually the 35-54 age bracket, which boasts nearly 20.3 million users.
iStrategyLabs proposes that the phenomena of declining younger users and increasing older users may actually explain each other, as children are possibly feeling alienated by parents, teachers and family friends that join Facebook.
While spending on social media is expected to grow 34 percent by 2014, according to Forrester Research, experts advise small business marketing professionals not to neglect traditional forms of marketing – such as custom printing and ads on television or billboards – as consumers have rated them more trustworthy, on average.
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