Yes, all the different social media networks are filled with noise. We’ve all gotten sucked into the abyss and killed hours unintentionally on social media. That’s why most marketers fear that their social media marketing campaign will never reach their target audience. But, somewhere out there, your target audience is hiding in all that noise.
But there’s a way to make sure your message reaches your target audience.
Research!
All the information you need to find and reach your target audience is available, you just have to sift through all the noise. Take the time to find this information and develop a social media marketing strategy that won’t only reach your target audience, but get them to engage with your brand.
Steps to Finding Your Social Media Target Audience
- Identify Your Ideal Customer
Some companies believe their target audience is anyone who breathes, or something as general as, “small businesses”. That is not an ideal customer.
The first step in creating your social media marketing strategy is to create buyer personas. Instead of focusing on large groups of people and companies, creating buyer personas helps tailor your message to an individual person. It also helps make your target audience as specific as possible in order to narrow your scope. Social media reporting tools can also help streamline your business.
Your current customers are a great source of information about your current customers. Send them surveys asking why they chose you and what are the biggest business problems your products or services have solved. And don’t forget about communicating with the departments that interact with your customers, such as customer service and your sales department, as they’re constantly in contact with your buyers. Also, use social analytics tools to measure your engagement rates!
- Identify Platforms Your Target Audience Uses
This means researching the online behavior of your social media target audience. Pew Research performs many valuable studies, one of which breaks down the demographics of the different social media networks, which showed:
- All demographics use Facebook
- Twitter has a younger and educated audience
- Instagram is younger still, and probably still in high school or college
- LinkedIn users have a higher income and more education
By researching your social media target audience you’ll know where to find them and how to tailor your message directly to them. Don’t discount the value of paid advertising either! On most of the platforms you can target specific interests, demographics, time zones, country, and more. That means you can ensure your message reaches your target audience. You should also use social media posting planner tools to make posting easy!
- Tailor Content for Your Target Audience
Always keep an eye on your competitors and how they use social media. What are they doing that drives engagement? What are their shortcomings that you can exploit? What types of content are they promoting? Using a social media search engine can make things easier!
Again, use the tools and information available to you such as Buzzsumo. This site allows you to enter a specific URL or topic and the results show the articles receiving the most shares across the different social media platforms. There are many social media marketing tools available to make your life easier. eClincher, for instance, provides content curation, Auto Posts, and Unified Social Inbox. You can also use the Best Social Media Finder Tools to make things easy!
Your social media marketing strategy can’t simply be promoting your own content! Share posts from thought leaders and industry experts. Social media is about providing resources to develop trust. Use the tools to find and share articles and content relevant and helpful to your target audience.
Importance Of Finding Social Media Target Market
Social media has become an invaluable tool for businesses of all sizes. Knowing your target market on social media is essential, as it allows you to spend your marketing budget more efficiently.
Otherwise, a business will be spending their money trying to market to a demographic which is not interested in their product.
Identifying who your potential customers are and what they want to see can help you create engaging content that will reach the right people and grab their attention. Taking the time to identify a target market correctly can pay dividends for years to come! Also, read out post on is email considered social media to learn how to get even more engagement!
Reaching Your Target Audience Through Social Media Marketing
Without a targeted audience and a targeted approach, your social media marketing strategy will fall on deaf ears. Make sure your audience hears your message by spending the time necessary researching how and where they spend their time. Social media engagement is the best way to convert followers to leads and eventually to sales. That means you can’t just post and walk away. Become an active member of your community and engage your social media target audience.
Setting goals is the only way to track ROI of your social media marketing strategy. None of that is possible without determining your target audience. Once your target audience is defined, you can set S.M.A.R.T. Goals to track the success of your social media marketing strategy.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a social media target?
A social media target, also referred to as a “target audience” is the intended group of people who you would like to interact with your content and/or services. Depending on the type of business or service you offer, this could be people from various demographics who hold different interests and needs.
