Teens Not the Driving Force for Twitter

In general, trend forecasters look to teens to forecast trends and to predict growth. In general, teens are a good source; they initiated the Facebook trend, they are early adopters of technology, and they know no world without Internet.

Yet, in the case of the social media network Twitter, it is the 25-54 year olds that comprise this application's largest user demographic. In fact, teens are the least likely to use Twitter. Even the 55 and older demographic outpaces teens on Twitter. Read the original Mashable article.

Not surprising, it is the 35 and older group that is the fastest growing group among Facebook users. And in June alone, Facebook acquired 24 million unique visitors worldwide to increase their total user count to 340 million.

To further the importance of the ever-expanding reach of the Internet, a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch article quoted a recent survey that showed a 11 percent spike in broadband connectivity among senior citizens, so that 30 percent of senior households are now opting for faster Internet speeds.

As a broader range of age demographics adopt regular Internet and social media usage, so must businesses seeking to reach their target audiences. Even today, a lead from a client that wanted to advertise on Dish led me to discover Google's new TV ad campaigns, which make cable-broadcast commercials accessible to smaller vendors who need more regional than national advertising.

While I do not advocate dropping all traditional marketing efforts, I do recommend starting to better track your advertising dollars and the effectiveness of each avenue. Likely, you will find that you will need to reallocate your marketing budget, decreasing avenues in some areas to start driving new media alternatives.

If you need consulting services on how to better allocate your marketing dollars, call Marketicity at 618.281.6648 or 314.266.4450. We help companies in the St. Louis metropolitan region, including the Metro-East, and beyond.