The average consumer uses four social media platforms. Seven  in 10 log on to social media a least once a day. These apps and  sites are part of the fabric of life for most people, and marketers  are well aware: Social marketing is already the fifth highest area  of investment for marketing leaders, commanding 7.1% of the total  marketing budget. While more than 60% of marketing leaders  expect to increase spending on social marketing in 2019, most of  them plan increases for the biggest platforms, including Facebook  and YouTube. Conscientious marketers see early indicators that  suggest the bloom is off the rose for consumers who use the  biggest platforms. Yet these troubling developments haven’t yet  spurred marketers to make big shifts to diversify their investments  across smaller platforms but they should.

Many consumers report conflicted feelings about their habitual use  of big social platforms in the face of mounting privacy concerns  and polarizing chatter. Most consumers in the U.S. say social media  services do more to divide Americans than bring them together,  and only about a third have positive feelings toward Facebook. 

Every week brings new, scandalous headlines forcing consumers to  scrutinize their own use — from data breaches at Facebook to fake  accounts on Instagram and inappropriate content or angry creators  on YouTube. Michelle, a Boomer from suburban California and  frequent Facebook user, sums up her grievances with social media  in this way: “There are too many annoying and useless bots, spam,  trolls. It's difficult to separate the trash from the content I want to  see. There is too much misinformation and negativity.”

As a result, some consumers simply contribute less or log in less  often, but others quit altogether. In the last year, more than a third  of consumers deleted an account on a social platform. Almost threequarters (73%) say they use social media primarily to check out what  others are doing, rather than to share updates about themselves —  8% more than said so in 2015. Marketing leaders are sensitive to these  mounting concerns from consumers, but there is little they can do to  prevent defections, let alone turn the tide on major systemic fiascoes. 

Social media marketers also continue to struggle to contend with  ongoing algorithmic changes that make it ever harder for branded  posts to reach as many consumer eyeballs as they would like.

Marketers can hedge against a decrease in consumer activity,  receptivity and visibility on the biggest networks by supplementing  with smaller networks. While these may be less populous, they  house hotbeds of distinct consumer groups with very specific  ideas about what should take place there. Marketers who meet  these idiosyncratic expectations for engagement will benefit from  the upsides of unsaturated, fresh social terrain: boosts in brand  awareness and brand perception as well as a deeper understanding  of consumer targets. This note teaches a model for pinpointing  the alternative, “second-tier” networks rife with highly engaged  consumers and helps marketers understand what specific consumer  groups want and expect from each one.