Segmenting the social networking sites users: an empirical study Online publication date: Thu, 04-Sep-2014
by Carlota Lorenzo-Romero; Efthymios Constantinides; María-del-Carmen Alarcón-del-Amo
International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising (IJIMA), Vol. 7, No. 2, 2012
Abstract: The growth of social networking sites (SNS) presents businesses and marketers with risks and challenges. Customers become sophisticated, empowered and increasingly involved in shaping of the marketing offer. Marketers are becoming aware of the threat of losing control over their message but also begin to realise the potential of SNS as marketing tools; understanding the nature of the SNS users and the way they interact online is a vital step in developing business strategies targeting and engaging the networked consumer. The paper presents an explorative survey on the demographics, background, adoption motives and behaviour of SNS users as bases for the identification of segments in this market. The survey, held among SNS users in The Netherlands, identifies four distinctive user profiles of social networking users. The paper presents the results of the survey, discusses the management implications of the findings and identifies areas of future research.
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