You probably have a decent idea about the types of posts your audience likes and doesn't like. But what about WHO they are?
Demographics are data that get to some of the who. Some types of demographics: age, gender, education level, kids or no kids.
Why would you want to know demographics?
If you plan to work with brands, giving them a few bits of demographic data can make it clear that your audience is similar to their target audience. You can include demographics on your PR/Advertising page or your media kit (or both). In fact, in my course Media Kit Smash I go in depth about describing your audience to potential brands. Demographics is part of that.
Finding out the demographic makeup of your audience can be a bit daunting so I want to show you three ways to find your blog demographics.
1. Quantcast (self-hosted blogs only)
One of the most popular ways to find out about your demographics from the website Quantcast. This tutorial walks you through installing the Quantcast code on your blog. (There's also a plugin but since it hasn't been updated in over 2 years, use at your own risk.) Once the code has been set up and verified, it could take a few days up to a week for your demographics to appear.
To see your demographics, login then click on your blog URL . Scroll down to see some demographic data but go one step deeper and click See All to actually get your demographics in percentages. Here's a sample (that's my audience, by the way!):
In Quantcast you can see:
- Gender
- Age
- Children in Household
- Household Income
- Education Level
- Ethnicity
While you don't need to share ALL that, you can share the most relevant ones with potential partners. (Quantcast also provides traffic data, but I don't find it to be accurate… for this blog at least.)
2. Reader Survey
While you shouldn't do a survey just to gather demographics, if you're doing a survey anyway to gain some insight about your readers and what they want, then you can add a few questions about demographics! I'd stick to no more than 3 questions.
Be wary of asking salary range since talking money gets a little personal. Plus, I suggest keeping your survey anonymous if you include any demographic questions. Otherwise, some might feel uncomfortable answering your questions. Kiersten from the popular Oh My Veggies wrote a guest post a while back about surveying your readers.
3. Facebook Insights
Yeah, yeah I know it's not technically not demographics about your blog, but if the other options are too many hoops to jump through, then BAM! Insta-demographics. While it might not be an exact measurement of your blog audience, I bet it's pretty close. Well, unless you bought followers, in which case we'll call that karma.
To access demographics on Facebook Insights, go to your Insights then click the People tab.
When comparing to Quantcast, I found it was a good bit off regarding gender. However, it's probably more indicative of my true audience as the men reading this blog are either closet readers (*waves*) or just come to read a post and don't return.
A note about Google Analytics: Not too long ago, Google Analytics added demographics. You can read how to do that here. To be honest, just about everyone I know has had trouble setting this up (including me). So while it technically is an option, let's pretend I didn't mention it!
Let's Talk!
Do you know any stats about your audience? Anything surprise you?
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Hey- I'm Melissa! I'm a mom, side hustler, online course instructor, and brand marketer. I run a 6-figure blog helping online biz owners find their a-ha moments with can-do tips, tutorials, and online courses. I also work at Burt's Bees as the Social Media Strategist (yep, it's as cool as it sounds). Jump start your biz productivity with my free worksheet!
Where have you been all my life? My blog is still small but I just decided to take the leap and make an advertising page. I wrote what I know my readers to be but only from personal experience interacting with them. This is great advice for getting a better idea of who is reading my blog. Thank you!
You’re welcome! It’s definitely great to write about what you know your readers to be as well. In fact, having both pieces of info (the demographics and the “softer” stuff) makes for a really strong profile of your audience!
I forgot all about Quantcast! I’ll have to go check their info. out again, because I have a pretty good idea of who reads me, but I’d love to figure out more details.
Cool! I like how easy Quantcast makes it to see the data.
a great read. Have been deliberating RE Google analytics but everyone I’ve spoken to has told me to avoid like the plague! May investigate Quantcast – thanks.
Yeah I don’t have the time or energy to fool around with getting demographics in GA when Quantcast works just fine. I’ll wait until Google simplifies the process a bit.
Thanks for this! Quantcast seems a little intimidating at this point- but I didn’t even know how to look up those insights on facebook (my page is about a week old). This was useful!
Georgia
Thanks for the post Melissa. I set up the blog, aiming for a female demographic, but am surprised to find more males at the site. When I found that, I changed the design a bit to appeal to both. But, I wonder if that is the right path to take. Once you find out the truth about demographics, should one aim harder for the original goal, or change the blog based on the findings, I wonder.
That’s a really great question, Meg. I think it’s important to look at your goals and the bigger picture about your audience. While your demographics might have more males, what about those who comment, follow you on Twitter, like your FB page? If those all align with your demographics, then you might decide to adjust. Otherwise, it could just be blog traffic who come from search engines, read one post, then leave. For me, I have more males than I thought but overall heavily female. Females are my target so I stick with that (and keep a feminine vibe to my design). If males want to visit, then GREAT! But they aren’t my target. Hope that perspective helps!
Thank you so much for this helpful answer, Melissa. It really does help me decide on how to proceed!
I have been working on measuring my stats all day via Google Analytics but wanted to get more insight on my reader demographics. I discovered this post and then logged onto my Quantcast account which I hadn’t checked in ages. It was extremely helpful! I discovered my readership is mostly Asian, African-American, and Hispanic females with no children. I was surprised to learn that Asians were the majority! I’ve always called my site multicultural and to learn that my audience reflects that is really cool. Now I just need to start creating better content for my audience. I’d also love to increase my male readership. Cool post!
I’m puzzled as to how anyone knows?? My husband and I use the same PC and same log on to read blogs online – so how can anyone know if a woman or a man is doing the reading? Will it only work for people logged on via google and who haven’t lied about everything when they set up their google profile?
Awesome post, so so useful! My favourites are Canvas & Quick Sprout. My only criticism is that when you click on the different hyperlinks it doesn’t load in a separate window so I kept getting taken away from this blog and then having to find it again. Great work though.