Before you start to think about creating a social media marketing strategy, your first step should be to gain an understanding of your audience. The more you know about your target audience, you can begin to create an audience profile and the more powerful your marketing efforts will become.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at how you can start getting to know your audience, from finding out the social media platforms they prefer, to creating an audience persona to gain a deeper understanding of your target market.
Why You Should Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience helps you figure out what content people actually care about and will listen to. When you know your audience, you can take the words right out of your customers’ mouths, using them in your marketing. You can talk about their pain points, challenges, wants, needs and goals, making them feel seen and understood. When your audience feels understood, they’re more likely to engage with your content, talk about your brand, and become customers.
Where Are Your Audience?
Every social media platform has a different demographic, format, user interface and best practices. When identifying your target audience, it’s valuable to determine which social media platforms they tend to favour. These platforms should be your focus, as there is little point in posting content on a platform that your audience isn’t present on.
For instance, if you are targeting a more mature, business-minded audience, LinkedIn may be your primary channel of communication. If you’re hoping to appeal to Gen-Z, you may be best focusing on TikTok and Instagram. There is no need to be present on every social media platform, especially if your target market isn’t on certain apps. It’s best to channel your energy and creativity into a few choice platforms, rather than spreading yourself too thin and casting your net too wide.
Creating an Audience Profile
Before crafting your strategy and starting to create content for social media, you need to decide who you’re aiming to attract. All content being posted on your brand’s social media platforms should be tailored towards this audience. What are their beliefs and values? What are their interests? Where are they from? To help gain a better understanding of your audience, we would recommend creating audience profiles.
An audience profile is more than just a simple buyer profile; it’s a representation of your ideal consumer, based on market research and data about your existing customer base. Creating one will help you gain an understanding of the needs and wants of your audience. They are fictional profiles that represent groups of people within a target audience. So, how do you create an audience profile?
Audience Profile Template
Think of an audience segment you’d like to target on social media, then ask yourself the following questions…
We always recommend giving your audience profile a name, as it helps you to visualise them as a real person and makes life a little easier when discussing marketing plans. It’s simpler to refer to “Paul”, for example, rather than “Profile A”.
If you’re looking for some guidance on how to make the most of social media for your marketing strategy, get in touch with us today. Book a free consultation with a member of our team to have a chat, and see how we can help you.
