More Studies on the Value of the Social Web’s demographics
On Monday, CIO.com reported on a Neilson Study on the affluence of users of Social Media.
“Nielsen’s online data shows that about half of the U.S. population visited a social networking Web site in the last year and that number grows every quarter,” said Wils Corrigan, an associate vice president with Nielsen.
The survey, which studied the top seven social networking sites, showed that Facebook users generally have an “upscale profile.” Nielsen also noted that people who are more affluent than the other two-thirds of the population are 25% more likely to use Facebook than those in the lower third. And conversely, those in the bottom third of the financial chart are 37% more likely to use MySpace than those in the top third.”
While I don’t think that the study tells us anything that we probably didn’t already intuitively know, it adds to all of the recent evidence that the social web is in fact where the customers are – and the customers are not your low end shoppers. I think that most B to C companies have recognized the value of the audience and are now working on conversing with the audience and getting a real feel for the value they have.
The study I want to see is the one that talks about what all of these users do for a living in order to earn that affluence. As that data becomes known, the possibilities for traditional B to B organizations begin to open up in the Social Media space. My experience in speaking with B to B organizations about the Social Web thus far is that they have a blind spot when it comes to understanding the potential value. I think this is short sighted because ultimately – it is people within the business who are making the buying decisions.
I believe forging deeper relationships with those buyers will offer a great benefit to B to B organizations and give them “customers for life” as those buyers move from organization to organization throughout their career. At a more complex level – there is also the opportunity for B to B companies to use the social web to engage in converstations – not necessarily around their brand but rather around the problems they solve.
