ComScore released a new report this week called Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet, which offers enlightening statistics and trends related to how men and women use the Internet around the world. Considering that women make most purchasing decisions, this is a report that brand managers need to read.
One of the most interesting findings in the comScore report tells us that women spend 30% more time on social networking sites than men do. Not only do they spend more time on social networking sites each month (5.5 hours per month for women vs. 4 hours per month for men), but more women are using social networking sites then men with 75.8% of women around the world who access the Internet visiting a social networking site compared to 69.7% of men.
Not only do women spend more time on social networking sites across the globe, but the statistic holds true in specific regions as well, as shown below:
- Latin America: women 94.1%; men 91.9%
- North America: women 91.0%; men 87.5%
- Europe: women 85.6%; men 80.6%
- Asia Pacific: women 54.9%; men 50.7%
Furthermore, women spend more time online overall then men do globally. In fact, women spend a full 8% more time online than month with an average of 25 hours per month (this includes all Web use, not just social networks use). Women also spend 20% more time on retail sites than men, and women spend more time on comparison shopping and review sites.
Brands that want to connect with the female audience have a significant opportunity to do so online, particularly through social networking, comparison shopping sites, and review sites. If your brand isn’t there, you’re missing a huge opportunity and leaving it open for your competitors to leverage making it more difficult for your brand to find space later.
You can follow the link to download a full copy of the Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet.
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Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
