Do You Know Your Target Audience?

When it comes to connecting companies with their ideal customers, social media platforms are some of the most effective digital marketing mediums. Plus, it's no secret that these platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube have sophisticated, targeted advertising tools.   So, how do you reach your audience? Who exactly is your target? And, what is a target audience? A target audience is a group of people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service, no matter the medium - print, broadcast, or social. They can be defined by buying behavior, geography, demographics, and more.  With this knowledge, you can produce both free and paid social content that benefits your audience, satisfies their needs, and fosters brand loyalty. Also, consider the platform and then create content that works best for that medium and your audience as this audience is made up of current and future customers.    Strategically implementing social media marketing initiatives into your marketing plan will assist you in reaching clients and building a loyal client base. In addition to defining your audience and building content that they want, you also want to take advantage of the various ad options that many social media platforms have created to acquire new potential customers.     Finding Your Target Audience On Social Media While you may want to sell to every person on social media, concentrate your efforts on a particular audience, as this is significantly more strategic and cost-effective. Discovering and putting into practice the following process can help:  

1. Develop Customer Personas

The first step in developing your targeting strategy is to analyze your audience. Develop a social media persona based on an existing buyers.    You may update your social media target market persona using the most recent information you might already know. Look at demographic information such as geography, age, gender, income, and education. Describe their priorities and pain areas. Be sure to evaluate your current customer list as well.  

2. Utilize DIgital Tools

Insight-gathering tools like Google Analytics and native services like the Facebook or Instagram insights are used in the second phase of your analysis.    Via Google Analytics, you may investigate the preferred social media sites of current clients and the path they take once they arrive on your website. In terms of native platform tools, you may import information to generate lookalike audiences. This strategy is useful for growing your followers and attracting new customers.   

3. Become a Social Listener

It's time to use social media to learn about your audience. Pay attention to what your target audience and followers are talking about on social media. This will help you develop a more robust identity.    Remember that each social network has its own way of listenting. Brand interactions around hashtags and popular subjects, for instance, are part of social listening with a Twitter target audience whereas comments and likes may be more focused on Instagram and Facebook. Subscribing to a particular channel is a gauge for YouTube. If you're interested in collaborating with a social media marketing business, look for one that can guide you through the complexities of your target platforms.  

4. Research the Competition

Investigate the social media activity of your competitors. Can you pinpoint their target demographic for social media or their buyer persona? What types of content do they utilize, and what is effective for them?    Competitor research helps you understand the market and your position within it. You can also get inspired! This research provides you with the opportunity and time to discover when and how your competitors are successfully reaching their social media target audience.    Why Work With Social Media Marketing Experts Social media is an important part of the broader digital strategy. Building the target audience(s) is only a small portion an the overall strategy. You may also want to understand when or how trends fit in with your initiatives.  You want to also build a cohesive library of assets and content that speaks seamlessly to your brand.    Building this digital and social strategy takes time and research which is why hiring a social media marketing company might be the right next step. If this is the right move for you, look for an agency that:   

• Understands your needs
• Conducts in-depth research to fill in any knowledge gaps
• Develops a plan with defined goals 
• Uses creativity and efficiency to manage your money and time

  Reach out to WitMark if you want to know more about social media strategy and identifying target audiences.