There are a lot of misconceptions about social networking and social media, chief among them being that it is a domain reserved for 13-year olds endlessly texting each other while updating their Facebook status.
While this is demonstrably false, it's not enough for me to say things like "demonstrably false" from my high horse. So consider this: eMarketer reported on a survey that showed 40% of 40-something women had a social networking profile. And the way to reach them was not by taking out ads on social networking sites, because they actively avoided them. Instead, engagement and more sophisticated marketing would be the key in reaching this influential group, as 70% of women with kids ages 13-17 had talked about products on social networks, connected with others, researched products, got their news or monitored their kids' activities. In other words, THEY USE THE INTERNET!
Interestingly, women aged 45-54 make up a larger group of internet users than men of the same age.
Does this data surprise you? Do you fall into this demographic? If you are a marketer, what have you done to reach out to this key demo? Leave a comment and share your knowledge.
