Retailers, marketers, and advertisers looking for a ways to improve identifying target audiences in their marketing campaigns can find new avenues in the findings from a recent survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The study’s focus centered on identifying who is most likely to their use smartphones for location sharing and searches.
According to an analysis by eMarkter, who published the results, understanding “…these two trends offer significant opportunity…as social-local-mobile integration can help businesses better target users in the right place at the right time.”
The Pew study has several interesting and helpful nuggets of information, including:
- 30% of women and men who use social media had their accounts modified to include their locations in their posts
- Just under 35% of those in the 18 to 49 year bracket used location tagging in their posts
- 26% of those aged 50-64 percent engaged in the practice
Income level does not appear to have an impact, as the percentages were consistent across this demographic element. Throughout the study, though, the percentages of men were slightly higher.
Of even greater interest in the Pew survey, however, is the fact that smartphone users accessing location-based information are between 70 and 75%. This is attributed to how easy and convenient it is to use location services on a smartphone.
However, there was a slightly greater disparity in age distribution: close to 80 percent of 18-29 year olds indicated they access location-based services on their smartphones, compared to 65% who were ages 50-64. As with social media location tagging, the participants’ income level was not a significant factor.
Reference:
eMarketer, “Who’s Using Mobile Location Services?” September 27, 2013.
