You may be wondering if interacting on Facebook on behalf of your business is still worth it, especially if going after millennials and teens is part of your strategy. You have probably several heard reports over the last couple of decades of younger people “cutting the cord” on Facebook. However, such predictions of the social media site’s death may be a bit premature.
In October 2013, then-Facebook CFO David Ebersman admitted the social media platform saw a decrease in teen use from one quarter to the next, and then Twitter soon emerged as the most popular social network for teens. And then in early 2014, a group of Princeton researchers predicted Facebook would lose 80 percent of its users over the next three years. Business 2 Community proclaimed Facebook’s relationship with millennials was reaching a state of crisis, as Generation Y tends to split its social media engagements between platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and even Tumblr. Fast forward to late 2014, and a survey found Instagram was king among teenagers, and that Facebook was used by just 45 percent of them, a drop of 27 points in not even two years.
Hold up, though, because a Pew Research Center study released in April 2015 found Facebook is the No. 1 social media platform used by Americans aged 13 to 17 years old. Not only was it the most ubiquitous platform used by teens (71 percent), but 41 percent said it was the one they use the most. Interestingly, it was the most-used platform for 51 percent of teens in homes with incomes of less than $30,000, but only 31 percent of teens in homes with incomes of more than $100,000 claimed Facebook as their go-to platform. Add to those stats the fact Pew found in early June 2015 that 61 percent of millennials get their political news from Facebook, and you can see Mark Zuckerburg’s creation is still doing well.
Yes, just because millennials get political news off Facebook doesn’t directly mean anything for your marketing efforts, but the figure helps show how viable the platform is with younger generations at this time.
So, in short, reports of Facebook’s death over the last year are conflicting, but you can take away that the social media giant still has a sizeable audience you can reach with your marketing outreach. If your business is trying to spread its message to millennials and teens, Facebook remains a strong place to do it, although it you might want to extend your efforts to Twitter, LinkedIn and maybe even Instagram, if you haven’t already. The rate of millennials who get political news from Facebook shows what a centralized place it is for social media users, and as a business, you’re going to want to continue to try to stay in that conversation. It doesn’t look like Facebook is going away any time soon, so don’t let up on your strategy with engaging users on the platform.
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