• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 18, 2016

While different social media platforms obviously host different types of content, one less obvious but no less important trend is the variation by brand following across platforms. A study of Spanish social media users by The Cocktail Analysis and Arena Media, first cited by eMarketer, found that certain brand categories are prevalent on some social platforms but not others, with additional variation by the age of followers.

Thus among Spanish Facebook users ages 18-30, 61% followed leisure and culture brands, 54% followed fashion brands, 46% followed media brands, 42% followed food brands, and 35% followed technology brands; the comparable figures for Spanish Facebook users ages 31-60 were 45%, 52%, 38%, 38%, and 32%, respectively.

Meanwhile fashion brands were popular on Instagram across both age groups, but travel, leisure and health brands were more prevalent among older users. Among the younger cohort of Spanish Instagram users, 64% follow fashion brands, 41% leisure, 40% care and health, 32% travel, and 31% food. The comparable figures among Instagram users ages 31-60 were 56%, 44%, 48%, 35%, and 29%.

The survey also found differences between the age cohorts in terms of brand following on Twitter, with the older cohort more likely to follow technology and fashion. Among Spanish Twitter users ages 18-30, 53% follow media brands, 42% leisure and culture, 39% technology, 37% sports and automotive, and 35% fashion. The comparable figures and Twitter users ages 31-60 were 41%, 37%, 42%, 32% and 38%.

As eMarketer notes, there are also some significant differences between U.S. and Spanish social media usage patterns, which means these findings should not be viewed as directly applicable to the U.S. market. The biggest difference is the popularity of WhatsApp, the messaging platform owned by Facebook: 41% of young adult social media users in Spain said WhatsApp was their favorite social media platform, compared to 27% for Facebook, 8% for Twitter, and 7% for Instagram.