Facebook may have lost some of its cool factor over the years as newer networks like Instagram and Snapchat gained widespread fanfare — but it’s still the number one destination for sharing content among millennials. In fact, over half of millennials say Facebook is where they’re most likely to share content, according to BI Intelligence’s 2017 Digital Trust survey, head and shoulders above any other social platform. The fraction of users who fall into the demographic is relatively consistent across social platforms, except for Snapchat, which skews heavily toward millennials.
Millennials are also more likely to share on Facebook than Gen Xers and baby boomers — knocking down a common argument that Facebook is for “old people.” Younger users are typically the driving force behind a social platform’s popularity in the early stages, and incumbents can easily lose their attention when a new one pops up. As a result, mature platforms must fight to keep hold of this demographic, which is highly coveted by marketers. Facebook winning this battle speaks to its ability to keep millennials engaged even as they are wooed by younger platforms like Snapchat.
While Snapchat is a teenage and millennial hotbed, it’s for ephemeral messaging between close friends, not for sharing other content found online. A whopping 63% of Snapchat’s daily active users fall into the millennial demographic, and another 22% are teens aged 13-17 — but they’re not sending posts or links to articles. Snapchat users create their own content, or “Stories,” meaning the platform is populated with content that’s largely user-generated. Brands should utilize Snapchat for the authentic interactions of its users, but Facebook is better suited for casual sharing at scale.
For brands and advertisers, getting people to share content can help spread their marketing message more organically than ad targeting. This underlines the importance of native advertising, and the potential in targeting millennials on Facebook with relevant content they are willing to share. Devoting more native ad spend to Facebook can also help make ads on the platform less annoying, while encouraging greater engagement.
Moreover, Facebook’s sheer size means brand messaging has the potential to go viral. While this could prompt some brands to do some serious damage control if the message is ill-conceived, positive content that is shared and trending on Facebook can benefit them tremendously. Facebook’s massive scale is second to none, and if brands can successfully make a message go viral, they may enjoy lower advertising costs, mainstream media exposure, and faster lead generation.
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BI Intelligence’s Digital Trust survey examines consumers’ perception of major social platforms. It rates Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn on security, community, user experience, and content authenticity and shareability to help brands and marketers make informed decisions about what platforms to spend their marketing and branding dollars on. The full report will be available through BI Intelligence in May.