Many of us in the online retail space have discussed at length the many strategic and tactical aspects of designing, developing, and managing social media for our businesses (no less so right here within the Shop.org team!).  We wanted to step back and understand better who social media users at this point are (surely social media has evolved far beyond something just for teens or young singles, right?), and what they are doing (is it just connecting with friends, or – further to business purposes – are we also connecting more between retailers and consumers?). 

As part of our ongoing consumer research series, this month we asked consumers quite simply, “What do you do on social media sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Kaboodle, or others)?”  A total of 4,034 adults over the age of 18 in the U.S. told us just that in a survey conducted in June 2009 by BIGresearch on behalf of NRF and Shop.org. 

Judging from the results, social media appears to be on the path to becoming increasingly mainstream media.  While there is much growth ahead yet, social media is by now woven into the lives of adults across age, sex, household income, marital and parental status, and region.  And while much of that activity to date centers on connecting with friends (both old and new), chatting, and sharing photos, consumers do recognize that social media is helpful for a number of shopping related activities as well. 

BIGresearch broke out the responses to this question into the overall respondent group (adults over the age of 18), as well as a second group, dubbed “social media users”.  A “social media user” is defined as any respondent who indicated that they did two or more things on the list of answer options provided.   

What did we learn about social media users?  Social media users skew somewhat more female than male.  Close to half are married, and another quarter describe themselves as “single, never married.”  They range in age, with a heavier concentration between 18 and 54 years, and heaviest use among 35 to 44 year olds specifically.  If one couples this data point with the knowledge that social media users skew female and that quite a few are married, one could surmise that social media users include a fair number of moms, as well.  Social media users are found in every household income bracket, although with somewhat fewer represented in the $100,000+ bracket. 

How do these social media users specifically spend their time when using social media sites? (Shop.org members may download the full set of data results from the Shop.org Web site.)  A sampling of answers:   

• Connect with friends – 64.5%
• Share photos – 39.5%
• Reconnect with old classmates / friends – 39.1%
• Look for sales / promotions / coupons – 17.9%
• Look for product advice / recommendations – 13.3%
• I like to follow my favorite retailers – 8.4%
• Post ratings or reviews of shopping and dining experiences – 7.0%

So if you – or perhaps your senior management – have been wondering just who wants to engage with you and is looking for your product information via social media, it appears it’s just about everyone one would pass walking down Main Street.  The absolute numbers of course are still growing – but for retailers it’s increasingly an opportunity to connect with both existing and new customers, many of whom have real purchasing power and actively want to engage with you.  As a retailer, it’s up to you to show them that you really want to engage with them as well.  

As always, looking forward to your thoughts and comments on this subject.