By Naomi Linturn, Digital Account Director as originally featured in NewDigitalAge
According to Google, yes. After some quick searching, the top hits suggest that ‘Facebook is for old people’. Well at my ripe age of 32, I have to disagree. Where else would I go to hear people complain about a helicopter at 3am? Or better yet, where would I find the 128 photos I uploaded on one club night out back in March 2011?
Facebook is seen as outdated, uncool and clunky amongst younger audiences, so does that mean we can’t reach them there? Let’s dig into it.
In this day and age, it’s easy to assume media usage and behaviours across different demographics. We tend to talk about finding younger audiences on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, whilst Facebook skews much older. And to be clear, I’m not here to contradict that, I know it’s true. I’m here to say, let’s not rule anything out.
Data from Ofcom shows that 77% of surveyed adults aged 65+ would class Facebook as their main social media app, compared to just 9% of 16-24s. This is a pretty stark contrast and shows a clear indication of where you potentially can (or can’t) find these age groups.
However, we need to understand this audience size on Facebook to fully understand the impact on our potential media buying choices. Let’s consider 9% of 16-24s as a proxy to understand the potential reach across the whole of the UK. If we take 9% of the ~7 million people in this age bracket living in the UK, that equates to ~675,000 people on the platform.
That’s a huge potential audience size, and what’s more, it can be cheap to reach them here if advertisers are shying away from Facebook to reach younger groups. A recent client campaign at TKF found CPCs for an audience aged 24 and under were 10% lower than for the same audience aged 25+.
Meta has recognised its decline in younger audience uptake on Facebook, particularly given the launch of newer platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat that are drawing in the likes of GenAlpha. The media giant is attempting to stay relevant by dipping its toes into AR via the launch of the Metaverse, AI via Advantage+ placements and ads, and video-led content via Reels to compete with its ‘younger’ counterparts.
These rollouts are proving valuable, with Reels delivering 200 billion views daily. Not only that, but these audiences are proving engaged, with audiences spending at least 30 minutes on Facebook every day.
To get the best results it is, of course, a question of reaching the right people at the right time, and serving the right creative. For instance, to reach those younger audiences on Facebook (because we know they can be found there), it’s important to serve ‘younger’ creative such as a younger tone of voice, or emojis to gauge attention and drive action.
A study from Meta showed that small businesses using personalised ad content reported 16% more positive sales growth than those businesses who did not.
Using the same rationale, TikTok isn’t just a platform for younger audiences. As an example, the platform is the perfect place for parents or grandparents to search for things for the family to see, do and learn, showcased via the surge in the #parenttok and #parentsoftiktok hashtags. To quantify these audiences, the #parentsoftiktok hashtag boasts a whopping 2.4m posts.
When media planning, it’s important to avoid assumptions or biases towards certain channels or platforms. Identifying where a client’s core audiences can be found, identifying gaps for opportunities, and then developing ideas grounded in data is essential. By diving into the nitty gritty, you can create media plans best optimised to reach a target audience where they are spending their time and reaching them when they are most likely to engage.
So, where does that leave me, a millennial? Where should a typical marketer look to advertise to me? Well, whilst the data might indicate you’ll find me on Instagram, which is true, you can still find me on Facebook browsing marketplace.
In fact, I just listed my sofa for sale – hit me up if you’re interested.