Consumers have become very app-centric over the last few years. Research abounds with reports on how many hours consumers spend on the Internet using their smartphones with the majority of that time spent in only 5 or 6 mobile apps including social networks.

For retailers trying to reach the ever distracted consumer, understanding how a particular audience consumes information has a tremendous impact on tactical marketing plans. Building a following on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest is one key approach that has been the focus of most brands and advertisers over the last several years, however, that’s only part of the equation.

When it comes to mobile engagement, putting follower numbers aside, retailers should be asking themselves questions about social mobile app penetration rates in relation to the audience for every campaign. We call these data points the social mobile app graph for a particular audience.

What percentage of my audience has the Facebook mobile app for iOS and Android installed?

What percentage have the mobile apps for Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest?

Does my audience skew toward a certain pair of mobile social apps (i.e. Facebook & Instagram or Twitter and Pinterest)?

In our data, we have found that the Facebook mobile app penetration rate on average is close to 70% across iOS and Android while Instagram has the highest average app penetration rate at about 82%.

That may no surprise given the popularity of these social networks. The mobile app penetration rates for Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ are somewhat lower, however, which means these networks have a higher percentage of users to that don’t install the app but use the mobile website instead.

Here’s a look at the average mobile app penetration rates for the top social networks.

For brands and retailers, however, a closer look is warranted. To what degree does a brand’s particular audience stray from these averages? It’s well known that Facebook skews to an older demographic, Pinterest skews toward women and Instagram skews toward a younger demographic. Depending on the brand, product and target audience, the social mobile app graph may look quite different.

For example, let us consider an apparel brand designed for teenage girls. The social mobile app graph may be skewed more heavily toward Instagram and YouTube.

How to Determine Social Mobile App Graphs By Audience

The easiest way to determine the social mobile app graph by audience is to promote social content and links to your social profiles through various marketing campaigns and channels including display, search, email, affiliate and social. Most Advertisers are already doing that but with links that send users to mobile websites for the social network in question. This mobile website login barrier leads to frustrated customers and lower engagement rates while providing no information about the social mobile app graph of your audience.

When promoting content and links to your social profiles, the key is to update your links so they can detect and auto-open the various mobile apps for each social network. You can update you’re your social profile links today with URLgenius which provides you with intelligent links for iOS and Android.

Once you understand the mobile app graph of your audience, you’re marketing team can become more focused in their approach to social content and promotional strategies that maximize engagement and conversion.

Questions? Contact us.