Keep reading to know more demographics that will help you inform your Facebook strategy in 2021.
14. In the U.S., African American and Hispanic are the most popular multicultural affinities
Facebook makes use of machine learning to designate its users with “multicultural affinities.”
Not all users are given a designation, however, a recent survey in the U.S. discovered that among those who are, 43% are thought to have an interest in African American culture.
The same share of participants with designations—43%—were assigned an affinity to Hispanic culture. One-in-ten had an affinity with Asian American culture. There are no “Caucasian” or “white culture” classifications.
It’s worth noting that only 60% of people given a multicultural affinity felt a “very” or “somewhat” strong connection to the culture. Some 37% felt otherwise. More than half thought of themselves to be members of the multicultural group, while 39% said they were not.
15. The majority of Facebook’s audience is based outside of the U.S.
U.S. and Canada combined make up just 10% of Facebook’s daily active users. Europe, meanwhile, clocks in at around 40%, with the majority coming from elsewhere in the world.
16. User growth in Europe bounced back in 2019
Facebook lost more than one million European customers amid the 2018 privacy scandals, dropping from 376 to 375 million monthly active users over a three-month period.
In 2020, it jumped even greater: the company counted 410 million monthly active European users in the second quarter of the year.
17. Asia-Pacific is Facebook’s most active region
About 42% of Facebook’s monthly users can be found in the Asia-Pacific area. Every day, the region is home to 39% of Facebook’s active users.
Source: Facebook
That’s a powerful showing, considering that Facebook continues to be banned in China (along with Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other sites).
18. India boasts Facebook’s largest advertising audience
With a reach of 260 million people, India is a place to the largest audience for Facebook advertisers (at least in terms of reach). The second place is the United States, where advertisers can reach 180 million individuals. Indonesia is in third place with a reach of 130 million.
Source: Hootsuite Digital 2020
The viewer’s sizes are impressive however have gotten smaller. As world-renowned digital expert Simon Kemp (co-author of Digital 2020) notes, the numbers are lower than they were in the last quarter.
19. India, Indonesia, and the Philippines are Facebook’s fastest-growing areas
The greatest audience increase this previous year came from Indonesia (up 10 million users), followed by Bangladesh, Mexico, and the Philippines, which each grew by two million.
One of the reasons Facebook gives for the accelerated growth is that digital adoption is spreading rapidly in these areas.
20. Half of Facebook users speak a language other than English
While English-language users account for 56% of the audience, more than 50% of the social network’s 2.7 billion users speak a non-English language.
If you know what languages your audience speaks, you may either rely on the Facebook Translate tool or try Facebook’s language optimization ad feature. It may also be worthwhile to create multiple Facebook pages for different languages.
21. People in emerging markets are more likely to message businesses
In the Asia-Pacific area, customers are 1.26x more likely to use Facebook Messenger for product research. In Latin America, 58% of shoppers messaged a business directly last holiday season.
C-commerce (or “conversational commerce”) consumers across a variety of countries plan to increase their spending in these interactions: Brazil, India, and Indonesia among them.
Interestingly, it’s not just Millennials chit-chatting away with salespeople on Messenger. In Vietnam, for example, Baby Boomers are a major force driving c-commerce forward.
22. Mobile reigns supreme, especially in Africa and Latin America
While 19% of global Facebook users access the platform via both phones and computers, a whopping 79% of users only access Facebook with a phone.
In many developing countries, telephones are a way more common technology than a laptop or desktop. You’ll see mobile access figures skyrocket in these areas.
23. Facebook is the most popular social media platform in low-income households
Findings from a 2019 Pew Research survey revealed that 69% of U.S. adults in the lowest income households use Facebook. Apart from YouTube, no other social media platform comes close. For instance, only 35% of people at the same income level use Instagram.
The economic gap widens among U.S. teenagers. The same study finds that teenagers in low-income homes are more likely to use Facebook than teenagers from high-income households. Seven-in-ten teens in households that earn less than $30,000 a year use Facebook, versus 36% of teenagers who live in homes with an income of $75,000 or more.
That said, overall, Facebook use is fairly evenly distributed across income ranges. The only site that has a better share of high earners is YouTube.
24. More than a quarter of users feel Facebook does not classify them correctly
Advertisers can target people based on tons of things from age and location. Facebook also provides other identifiers based on consumer data and behavior to help marketers target ads.
Anyone can see what categories Facebook puts them in on the Your ad preferences page. However, not everyone thinks Facebook gets it right.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 27% of people think they are not accurately represented by Facebook’s classifications. On the flip side, 59% of users think classifications are “very accurate.”
Right or wrong, about half of Facebook users are not comfortable with how they are categorized. Remember when targeting your next Facebook ad campaign.
25. Politically, Facebook users are divided
It’s no secret that Facebook tracks the political affiliations of the users.
The latest Pew Research Center survey discovered that of those in the U.S. who were given a political label, 35% were classified as conservative or very conservative, and 34% were categorized as liberal or very liberal. The remaining 29% were moderate.
Most people—73%, in fact—think that their political label is either very or somewhat accurate. The other 27% think their label is not accurate.
26. Four in ten people have taken a break from Facebook
For many Facebook users, a little digital detox is in order from time to time.
Some 42% of U.S. adults have taken a break from Facebook for several weeks or more. And roughly one quarter has deleted the Facebook app from their phone.
27. People love to scroll Facebook on their lunch break
The latest stats about consumer Facebook behavior revealed that the best time to post on Facebook is noon EST on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday — a little lunchtime check-in if you will.
Of course, every brand will have its own unique audience behaviors, so use an engagement measurement tool to determine what’s best for you.