Marketing on social networks in France : stats and consuming habits.

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A new report by Harris Interactive « Social Life 2015 » has come out, aggregating key stats about the use of social networks in France. The study was based on 2000 French consumers, over 15 years of age. The figures show a huge penetration of social media in the everyday life of the French, with certain specificities in comparison with foreign markets.

French people are social-dependant

82% of French web-users are registered on at least 1 social network. The figure goes up to 97% among the 15-25 y.o. Members of this age group are logged-in to 3,6 social networks on average (2,7 for the entire sample). Facebook is, as in a lot of countries, by far the most widely used network. According to Facebook’s statistics, they have 26 million users in France. It’s even further ahead in terms of the time spent by users –nine out of every ten minutes spent on social networks in France is spent on Facebook. This adds up to 5h18 minutes spent on Facebook each month by each member !!

Beyond Facebook, there are a fairly significant number of people on Youtube and Google+. In the study, web-users were asked what social network they had visited in the last 30 days. 63% answered Facebook, 26% Youbtube, 23% Google+. Twitter comes in 4th with 15%, followed by Linked’In (14%) and Snapchat (14%). This last social network encounters a very rapid penetration (+10% in comparison with 2013), mostly addressing the age group under 25 (75% of users).

What French people do on social networks

Social networkers are expressing themselves more and more with images. In the previous month,82% of the sample had watched a video, 68% had posted a photo and 32% had posted a comment live during a TV show, which makes 1 on 3. Social network users are keen on expressing themselves, sharing their content and giving their opinion. One hurdle remains concerning purchases via social media, as only 13% admit to have bought online on the past 30 days.

As to what they are following, 58% said that they were interested in brand or product promotion pages/accounts (81% in the less than 25 age group), and 34% they regularly posted comments on brands. Here are the 6 types of brands that they admit to following : 55% clothing, 47% multimedia, 45% health and beauty, 32% leisure, 31% housing goods and 30% Luxury.

Mobile usage is soaring

French social networkers are turning more and more towards their mobile to log on to their accounts.In the sample, 65% of social networkers said they use their mobile device to access their account(87% for the 15-25 age group). Indeed, the variety of devices used is notable, as 63% admit to using more than one device to access social networks. Here are the % indicating which devices were used in the previous 30 days.

Facebook in particular is very widely used via mobile, representing 20% of the time spent on mobile devices. For this specific network, 65% of its members log-in via mobile, 11 million do it everyday. On average, they connect themselves 14 times a day and14% of them admit to having bought a product after seeing it on their newsfeed.

If you are considering marketing your brand on the French market, Social Networks are definitely a media to consider, especially if you are aiming at the younger age group. My French Communication Agency (www.my-french-communication-agency.com) can assist you in defining a strategy and creating the perfect content for your next campaign : choosing which social network to use, defining and producing the content (text, image or video), managing the account and responding to the comments…. Give us a call and let us help you reach your clients effectively.

Article supplied by My French Communication Agency