Facebook has long been the pinnacle of social media. It has the largest user base in the world. Facebook passed 1.19 billion monthly active users, 874 million mobile users, and 728 million daily users as on October 2013. Every chart that shows Facebook traffic is a positive one; up until now.
It is clear and evident that Facebook is seeing a negative trajectory in one single outstanding category, Facebook teenage flight i.e. the 13-17 age groups. This is one of the largest groups that uses Facebook and has seen the bulk of traffic since their inception. The data has built up from 2011, when the Facebook teenage flight began and has gained significant numbers to be noticed by the media now. There are multiple reasons for this decline. Today, there are some very cool apps and social sharing platforms that seem to attract this specific demographic such as Snap Chat, Vine and Instagram. These niche social networks seem to appeal to the audience and are able to give them instant gratification that Facebook has been unable to as of now.
What does this mean from a B2B perspective
We cannot deny the mass presence that Facebook has and the reach it can generate. It is truly mind blowing that a simple social networking site is capable of immense feats of public uprisings and so on. The decline in Facebook teenage flight (13-17 age group) user base aside, here is another interesting chart for your observation.
All the major age groups baring the 13-17 year old’s have seen a meteoric rise, especially the 35-54 year old group. From a B2B perspective, this should have you grinning like a Bond movie villain! The B2B business is seen as a mature one, and the general consensus is that the age group that operates is the 35-55 groups. Do you see the connection we are making? Facebook has become a hot bed for marketing activities for B2B marketers. There are many things that we can do to leverage this target audience.
Networking is a cake walk
Teenagers generally are on Facebook to interact with their peers and generally network within their known networks. The mature audience is more receptive to networking and creating opportunities for themselves and for their companies.
Syndication and Distribution
The audience is mature and understands the value of good, heavy and credible content and not just the sharing of photos and the ever popular, ‘memes’. B2B brands consider content distribution as a serious effort on Facebook and try to make the most of this adult audience.
Advertising
Facebook was never an easy place for advertisers. It was difficult to get through the various boundaries that they laid and your reach was minimal at best. Now, it’s a whole new game, the reach is terrific and tools that you can use are powerful and effective.
B2B marketers everywhere are scrambling onto Facebook to make the most of this massive shift in audience. Facebook has always been a powerful medium, but only time will tell if the demographic shift in user base is going to be the next gold rush for our generation.
