Social Media Marketing Personality Differences

Updated January 13, 2023

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Social media marketing doesn’t have a one size fits all solution from a businesses perspective. It also varies by personality preference. Mashable recently released an infographic breaking down how personality drives social media use. It’s a handy insight on the different ways people interact on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

It’s also a great reminder that social media communication should vary based upon your audience. People take in information in different ways. So, just as you wouldn’t rely on only Facebook to network with clients (Our readers are too smart for that, right?), your branding and messaging shouldn’t rely on the same humdrum content.

Your social media marketing should be a mixed bag of goodies. That means guest bloggers, cool designs, humor, photos, videos—the list goes on. A little something for everyone.

Let’s take a look at the major character traits and their social media behavior as described in the infographic. Although these characteristics do not, and cannot, capture everyone’s idiosyncrasies, they help us understand our audience.

Facebook loud with extroverts

In public, you can recognize an extrovert when you see one: They’re the bold ones who will talk to anyone and everyone, and they aren’t shy about sharing their opinion.

And it isn’t much different in social media. Extroverts reported using Facebook more than introverts. What are they doing on Facebook? Browsing and interacting, mostly.

In the real world extroverts may sometimes be a little much. But in Facebook, they might just be your best friends. Take advantage of their enthusiasm. Ask someone to be a guest blogger to provide a rave review of your product. Or encourage discussion on your Facebook page about a certain service, word-of-mouth is the most valuable, and cheapest, advertising you can get.

The point here is to get different voices and perspectives talking about your product.

Think big picture, think Twitter

It shouldn’t be a surprise that people with a preference for Intuition reported being active users of Twitter. People with the Intuition trait take in and present information in a snapshot or big-picture way, and isn’t that a fitting description for a 140-character tweet?

Twitterverse is full of people who want to chat, yes. But it’s also full of people who want high-level overviews. Here’s a great opportunity to link to a graphic or illustration to add some color to your social media marketing.

A great graphic or illustration of your product or service can provide a different view of the same information, giving people, who absorb content in very different ways, another chance to understand what you do.

As an example, just take a look at that Mashable report. Interesting to look at as an infograph, right? As a blog, your eyes might hurt after two minutes.

Don’t rush in, LinkedIn

LinkedIn is unlike any other site in the social networking world in that it is all business, all the time. People classified as Thinking use the site often. The Thinking trait is for those who make decisions by stepping back from the situation and taking an objective view.

This site is tricky. You want to promote your product or service, but, equally as important, you want to build your credibility. And you don’t do that by bragging about how great you are.

People come here for information, so give it to them. Provide links to your blog and website, but also give them newsworthy articles, videos and quotes of the day. Make sure they are relevant to your industry. Your expertise will come across.

People absorb information in different ways. Make sure your social media marketing and communication plan has enough variety to speak your diverse fans.