While propensity to click-through on Facebook is positively correlated with age, propensity to like is not, according to data released in August 2011 by Facebook marketing consulting firm SocialCode. Age has a strong positive effect on whether a user will click, but has a less pronounced opposite effect on the likelihood of them becoming a fan of a page.
Fifty-plus-year-old users, the oldest segment in the study, are 28.2% more likely to click through and 9% less likely to like than 18-29-year-old users, the youngest group observed. Compared to the rest of the younger population, 50-plus users see a 22.6% higher CTR and 8.4% lower like rate.
Interestingly, CTR by age rises much more directly than like rate by age falls. CTR rises almost continuously as user age progresses, rise in an almost direct line as users age, with a minimal plateau inside the 30-39-year-old age bracket.
However, the like rate shows some strong fluctuation before plummeting once the user enters the 50-plus bracket. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, the like rate is about 39.5%, and then dips to about 38.5% in the 30-t0-39-year-old demographic.
However, the like rate jumps back to its highest point of slightly more than 39.5% among 40-to-49-year-olds. It then dramatically drops to slightly more than 36% in the 50-plus group of Facebook users.
Overall, women are 11% more likely to click on an ad than men. Like rates, however, are almost even for men and women, with men actually 2.2% more likely to like an ad than women.
In addition, when broken down by age, age has a much more pronounced effect on CTR for women than it does for men, whereas for men there is a stronger effect on like rate than for women.
For women, CTR is 31.2% higher for the 50 plus age group compared to 18-29-year-olds, whereas men only see a 16.2% difference. Compared to all age groups, 50-plus women’s CTR is 22% higher, compared to a 16.4% difference for males.
However, the oldest male segment has an 11.7% higher like rate than the youngest segment, and 9.5% higher like rate than all age groups. Women only see 7.2% and 7.9% differences, respectively.
Consumers are tapping into their networks of friends, fans, and followers to discover, discuss and purchase goods and services in ever-more sophisticated ways, according to an August 2011 advisory from consumer trends firm trendwatching.com. As a result, trendwatching.com advises it’s never been more important for brands to make sure they too have what it calls the “F-Factor,” with “F” standing for friends, fans and followers.
trendwatching.com identifies five key ways the F-Factor influences consumer behavior:
1. F-Discovery: How consumers discover new products and services by relying on their social networks.
2. F-Rated: How consumers will increasingly (and automatically) receive targeted ratings, recommendations and reviews from their social networks.
3. F-Feedback: New ways in which consumers can ask their friends and followers to improve and validate their buying decisions.
4. F-Together: How shopping is becoming increasingly social, even when consumers and their peers are not physically together.
5. F-Me: How consumers’ social networks are literally being turned into products and services.
The average age of social network users rose between 2008 and 2010, according to data from the Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project. For example, the percentage of social network users age 18-22 fell 43%, from 28% to 16%.
Consumers of traditional media sources such as print and TV tend to be older than online media consumers, according to results of a new 24/7 Wall St./Harris Poll conducted by Harris Interactive.
