Mediaboss Marketing

Targeting demographics is one aspect of smarter commerce. With social media integrated into online marketing and the everyday lives of consumers, midsize businesses must know how these platforms affect customers. Even business leaders don't participate in social networking, understanding customers affects the way companies connect with them through online content. Social networking for adults is not a new concept, but it's a misunderstood metric that businesses sometimes group together with other social media numbers.

Reddit, which is regarded as an "adult" playground for social networking, is said to have the attention of 15 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 29, reports The Washington Post. This number might seem low compared to the 16 percent of reported population using Twitter and 67 percent of people who use Facebook. However, Reddit has its own culture, and it is a founder of many Internet memes that get passed around in social networking circles. There is a large chance that you've seen and shared a photo or video from the Internet that originated on Reddit.

Reddit gained its popularity through the demise of another popular social networking site, Digg. Through a series of website design and layout changes, coupled with being sold to Betaworks in 2012, Digg saw its users revolt, and a mass exodus of fomer Diggers turned to Reddit, which took over as a favorite social networking site for adults. Incidentally, the max exodus, reported by Forbes, is one of the finer examples of how a poor layout redesign can lose customers and crash a business.

While Reddit may seem rough around the edges, its usefulness and popularity are in the eyes of the beholder. Redditors despise spammers, but businesses that get featured on the front page can see a ton of incoming traffic. Reddit reported it received 71 million unique visitors in May 2013, so a business featured on its front page will definitely see a spike in traffic. Reddit has a powerful culture that seems to proliferate across the Internet. Businesses looking to capitalize on Reddit should bear in mind that many of its users are tech-savvy, with a large number being involved in the IT field. Users on Reddit don't want to feel patronized or talked-down to - they are fully aware that the site is a strong form of social networking for adults, and they want to keep it that way.

Midsize businesses must understand the growing popularity of sites such as Reddit to better understand the consumer. Reaching consumers across all social media platforms is the best way to engage them and interact favorably with your target market.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise, and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

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Reddit: Social Networking for Adults