March 7, 2014
For all you ladies out there, it looks like we’re taking over social media, and smartphones are our weapon of choice – in a metaphorical sense of course!
According to research conducted by PR agency Porter Novelli, also published by marketingmagazine.co.uk, women are dominating the social media sphere. For news and information, they are particularly turning their attention to image-centric social media sites such as Facebook (unsurprisingly as it is one of the most popular networks), Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram. At present, these platforms, such as Pinterest, happen to be some of the fastest growing networks. 58% of women find news from Facebook’s newsfeed, compared to just 43% of men. On the flip-side, only 19% of all women use the professional networking site, LinkedIn, which I find somewhat disappointing. Especially when it comes to females rising up the ranks, and into boardrooms.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, women have taken lead in the usage of mobile devices, with 46% of women using smartphones to access social media sites. But what exactly does this mean? Regardless of whether you’re male or female, social media has increasingly become the number 1 pastime of online activity. And here’s a startling fact: during the month of December 2013, Britons spent on average 41 hours on a smartphone – and that number doesn’t even account for the time spent on social media sites accessed from the desktop or laptop.
Compared to men, women engage more with brands, by following brands to stay up-to-date with company sales and are more likely to directly engage and interact with brand accounts.
So how can companies capitalise on this trend?
Respect their intelligence!
Just because visuals catch our attention, does not mean that we are simple to market to! Debbi Evans, editor of the lifestyle brand magazine Libertine, describes most of her female workforce as “intelligent 30-something women who are very ambitious” who have “recoiled in horror” upon seeing imagery of various advertising campaigns. Undermine your female audience and you risk losing their loyalty.
It does not come as a surprising revelation that women are leading the way in social media. However what is interesting is the fact that women are ahead of the game when it comes to migrating from desktop to mobile devices. So the next step is to carefully consider your targeting…