Every week, it seems a new social platform, tool or improvement pops up. Just in last few weeks, Instagram introduced "Stories," Pinterest added new advertising features and Facebook changed its Trending News.

With the constant barrage of "new, new, new" on social media, it's easy to get caught up in the frenzy — you want to try the new tool before your competitors do. As you continually research, develop and test the newest tool of the week, the time quickly adds up.

Is it worth it?

Instead of focusing on new tools and platforms, zero in on the platforms you should be investing in the most. Scroll through the demographics and statistics of the top four social networks. Pick and choose the social platforms that most closely match your business's target audience.

Then, overlay this and see if those drive the most referral traffic to your site. Regardless of how many likes or comments you get, if your followers aren't becoming customers, it isn't time well spent.

Note: The Pew Research data is among online adults, not all adults.

Facebook

  • Monthly active users: 1.65 billion (Facebook Q1 2016)
  • Daily active users: 1.09 billion, or 66 percent of all Facebook members (Facebook Q1 2016)
  • Mobile-only users: 52 percent of users access Facebook exclusively on mobile (Facebook Q1 2016)
  • Daily active session: 40 minutes (Facebook Q2 2014)
  • Gender: 76 percent of women; 66 percent of men (Pew Research 2014)
  • Age: 87 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds; 73 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds; 63 percent of 50-to-64-year-olds; 65 percent of those older than 65 (Pew Research 2014)
  • Race/Ethnicity: 71 percent of white internet users; 67 percent of black internet users; 73 percent of Hispanic internet users (Pew Research 2014)
  • Income: 77 percent of those earning less than $30,000 annually; 69 percent of those earning between $30,000 and $49,999 annually; 74 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $74,999 annually; 72 percent of those earning more than $75,000 annually (Pew Research 2014)
  • Education: 74 percent of those with a college education; 71 percent of those with some college education; 70 percent of those with a high school degree or less (Pew Research 2014)
  • Locale: 71 percent of those who live in an urban environment; 72 percent of those who live in a suburban environment; 69 percent of those who live in a rural environment (Pew Research 2014)

Twitter

  • Monthly active users: 313 million (Twitter Q2 2016)
  • Daily active users: Not disclosed; about 44 percent of monthly users are active each day in the service's top 20 markets (Twitter Q3 2015)
  • Mobile users: 82 percent of users access Twitter on mobile (Twitter Q2 2016)
  • Daily active session: 18 minutes a day (Quettra Q4 2015)
  • Gender: 21 percent of women; 24 percent of men (Pew Research 2014)
  • Age: 37 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds; 25 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds; 12 percent of 50-to-64-year-olds; 10 percent of those older than 65 (Pew Research 2014)
  • Race/Ethnicity: 21 percent of white internet users; 27 percent of black internet users; 25 percent of Hispanic internet users (Pew Research 2014)
  • Income: 20 percent of those earning less than $30,000 annually; 21 percent of those earning between $30,000 and $49,999 annually; 27 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $74,999 annually; 27 percent of those earning more than $75,000 annually (Pew Research 2014)
  • Education: 30 percent of those with a college education; 24 percent of those with some college education; 16 percent of those with a high school degree or less (Pew Research 2014)
  • Locale: 25 percent of those who live in an urban environment; 23 percent of those who live in a suburban environment; 17 percent of those who live in a rural environment (Pew Research 2014)

Instagram

  • Monthly active users: 500 million (Instagram Q2 2016)
  • Daily active users: 300 million (Instagram Q2 2016)
  • Mobile users: N/A; Since you can only upload on the mobile app, this number is surely over 50 percent — perhaps as high as 75 percent.
  • Daily active session: 21 minutes a day (Instagram Q3 2014)
  • Gender: 29 percent of women; 22 percent of men (Pew Research 2014)
  • Age: 53 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds; 25 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds; 11 percent of 50-to-64-year-olds; 6 percent of those older than 65 (Pew Research 2014)
  • Race/Ethnicity: 21 percent of white internet users; 38 percent of black internet users; 34 percent of Hispanic internet users (Pew Research 2014)
  • Income: 28 percent of those earning less than $30,000 annually; 23 percent of those earning between $30,000 and $49,999 annually; 26 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $74,999 annually; 26 percent of those earning more than $75,000 annually (Pew Research 2014)
  • Education: 24 percent of those with a college education; 31 percent of those with some college education; 23 percent of those with a high school degree or less (Pew Research 2014)
  • Locale: 28 percent of those who live in an urban environment; 26 percent of those who live in a suburban environment; 19 percent of those who live in a rural environment (Pew Research 2014)

Pinterest

  • Monthly active users: 100 million (Instagram Q2 2016)
  • Daily active users; Daily active session: N/A
  • Mobile users: 80 percent of Pinterest traffic comes from mobile (Pinterest 2015)
  • Gender: 42 percent of women; 13 percent of men (Pew Research 2014)
  • Age: 34 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds; 28 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds; 27 percent of 50-to-64-year-olds; 17 percent of those older than 65 (Pew Research 2014)
  • Race/Ethnicity: 32 percent of white internet users; 12 percent of black internet users; 21 percent of Hispanic internet users (Pew Research 2014)
  • Income: 22 percent of those earning less than $30,000 annually; 28 percent of those earning between $30,000 and $49,999 annually; 30 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $74,999 annually; 34 percent of those earning more than $75,000 annually (Pew Research 2014)
  • Education: 32 percent of those with a college education; 30 percent of those with some college education; 22 percent of those with a high school degree or less (Pew Research 2014)
  • Locale: 25 percent of those who live in an urban environment; 29 percent of those who live in a suburban environment; 30 percent of those who live in a rural environment (Pew Research 2014)