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How do high net worth individuals (HNWI) in the United States use and/or behave on social media and other online/digital channels compared to general consumers? What do they read? What platforms do they prefer? How do they interact with their connections, other brands and one another?
Hello! Thanks for your question about how high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in the United States compare to consumers, in general, with respect to online and social media behavior and preferences.
The short version is that, while there are no readily available comparisons of the HNWIs and the general consumers in the United States, I was able to gather information that offers insight into how higher-income groups compare to lower-income groups when it comes to social media usage and behavior. My findings include the following, among others: (a) LinkedIn is a popular platform among HNWIs, (b) the inclination to follow brands on social media is higher among consumers in lower-income groups than among those in higher-income groups, and (c) when it comes to adoption of social media, there are no significant differences between income groups.
Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
usage
Based on LinkedIn's 2015 report "High Net Worth Individuals in the U.S.," social media is used by 70% of HNWIs in the United States. Compared to the rate of adoption of social media among adults in the country, this percentage is higher by 1%. According to Pew Research Center's 2017 Social Media Fact Sheet, 69% of adults in the United States used at least one social media site in 2016.
In addition, the fact sheet shows that adoption is higher among high-income adults. Based on this fact sheet, the percentage of adults in the United States who used at least one social media platform in 2016, by income class, is as follows:
Less than $30,000 - 60%
$30K-$49,999 - 71%
$50K-$74,999 - 73%
$75,000+ - 78%
However, both MarketingSherpa and BI Intelligence find that there are no significant differences between income groups when it comes to use or adoption of social media. (MarketingSherpa conducted a survey of 1,176 U.S. consumers in 2015, while BI Intelligence reported in 2017 that it studied U.S. adult internet users.)
PREFERRED PLATFORMS
As far as platforms are concerned, LinkedIn appears to be a popular platform among high-income individuals, including HNWIs. According to LinkedIn's 2015 report, of HNWIs in the United States, 48% use Facebook, 39% use LinkedIn, 34% use YouTube, 10% use Twitter, and 12% use Google+. Among HNWIs, usage of social media decreases as the level of affluence increases, but usage of LinkedIn stays level regardless of affluence level.
Meanwhile, according to BI Intelligence, among internet users with more than $75K in annual income, 45% are on LinkedIn, while only 35%, 31%, and 30% are on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, respectively.
How these percentages for higher-income groups compare to those of lower-income groups can be seen in the following statistics from Pew Research Center's Social Media Update 2016. Based on the report, the share of U.S. online adults who use a specific social media platform, by income class, is as follows:
Facebook
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Less than $30K - 84%
$30K-$49,999 - 80%
$50K-$74,999 - 75%
$75,000+ - 77%
Instagram
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Less than $30K - 38%
$30K-$49,999 - 32%
$50K-$74,999 - 32%
$75,000+ - 31%
Twitter
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Less than $30K - 23%
$30K-$49,999 - 18%
$50K-$74,999 - 28%
$75,000+ - 30%
LinkedIn
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Less than $30K - 21%
$30K-$49,999 - 13%
$50K-$74,999 - 32%
$75,000+ - 45%
Pinterest
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Less than $30K - 30%
$30K-$49,999 - 32%
$50K-$74,999 - 31%
$75,000+ - 35%
PREFERRED CONTENT
According to LinkedIn's 2015 report, of HNWIs who use social sites for financial purposes, a quarter directs their attention to financial trends, policies and institutions, and advice. And when it comes to branded content, it is branded content on LinkedIn that HNWIs trust the most. LinkedIn is followed by Google+, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. More than a quarter of HNWIs (28%) take action on relevant financial information they see on LinkedIn.
And, based on LinkedIn and Greenwich Associates' 2016 United States Wealth Management Research Study for which it studied 202 HNWIs in the United States, when it comes to content they want to get from their wealth manager, more than half of HNWIs opt for investment recommendations and market news. How the polled HNWIs answered can be seen below.
Investment recommendations - 78%
Market news - 53%
Industry updates - 43%
Thought leadership - 32%
Slideshare presentations/videos - 5%
None - 5%
Other - 1%
Among U.S. adults, in general, 67% get their news from social media sites. Twenty percent (20%) do so frequently. This is as reported by the Pew Research Center in 2017.
INTERACTIONS
As reported in LinkedIn's 2015 report, the most common activities that HNWIs do on LinkedIn are connecting with colleagues (68%), reading colleagues' posts (56%), getting job or industry updates (40%), networking or job searching (37%), connecting with certain groups (33%), and posting job or industry updates (31%).
When it comes to brand following, according to MarketingSherpa's survey, the inclination to follow brands on social media is higher among consumers in the 'less than $50K' income class (62%) than among those in the '$75K-$99K' income class (53%). In general, it appears the following reasons for following a brand resonate more with lower income classes than with higher income classes: incentives; entertaining content; lifestyle reflection; useful content; family, friends, or colleagues; support for charitable work; number of followers; and sighting of social media icons.
LinkedIn and Greenwich Associates' study, meanwhile, revealed that, among the different generations of HNWIs, it is the Millennials that consider it either important or extremely important for their wealth manager to use social media in their interactions. Below you will see what percent of each generation and of each investable asset class of HNWIs think this way.
By generation of HNWIs
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Millennials - 62%
Generation X - 28%
Baby Boomers - 20%
70 & older - 4%
By investable asset class of HNWIs
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$1 to $5 million - 23%
$5.1 to $10 million - 37%
Over $10 million - 55%
As for their preferred social media interactions with wealth managers, most HNWIs chose "staying informed about timely news updates." Below you will see how the polled HNWIs answered.
"Staying informed about timely news updates" - 75%
"Receiving more frequent check-ins/outreach" - 42%
"Participating in or listening to discussions regarding financial topics" - 35%
"Engaging in interactive conversations via screen sharing/WebEx session" - 14%
As for general consumers, on the other hand, the most common activities among heavy social media users are: checking out a friend's profile or page (57%), commenting on a friend's post (55%), sending messages (50%), watching videos (50%), posting pictures (50%). This is according to Nielsen's 2016 Social Media Report.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, while there are no readily available apple-to-apple comparisons of the HNWIs and the general consumers in the United States, I was able to collect information that provides insight into how higher-income groups compare to lower-income groups when it comes to social media usage and behavior. My findings include the following, among others: (a) LinkedIn is a popular platform among HNWIs, (b) the inclination to follow brands on social media is higher among consumers in lower-income groups than among those in higher-income groups, and (c) when it comes to adoption of social media, there are no significant differences between income groups.
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