How to Effectively Target Your Audience on Social Media

Social media is one of the most effective digital marketing tools available. It has transformed the way in which we communicate and is a driving force behind the technological revolution. Social media gives us unprecedented access to a global audience and fosters engagement that transcends beyond geographical borders. For businesses, social media functions as a valuable way to directly communicate with their customer base in a casual, conversational tone.

It’s also emerged as a valuable advertising tool that has proved to be more effective than traditional marketing. To give you an idea of the scope, 79% of Australians use social media. Your brand’s presence on social media is crucial in conveying a brand voice and message. In fact, 64% of consumers are more likely to trust a brand if it interacts positively on social media. Whether you’re a business big or small, you’re bound to be using some form of social media marketing. However, being active on social media is different from having a successful SM strategy. Coming at social media from a digital marketing perspective means tracking engagement levels from the content you post and sharing and monitoring how many leads are generated from these platforms. Part of incorporating social media into your digital marketing strategy is identifying and honing in on your target audience. Here are our top tips to take your social media strategy to the next level:

Identify your audience: 

This is an important exercise and one that should be done regularly as your business and customer base evolves. Identifying your audience means envisioning them and quite literally bringing them to life. You probably already have a fairly good idea about who is engaging with your brand, but fine-tuning this understanding is essential in targeting them. Start this process by making generalized assumptions and continue to narrow it down.

Audience identification is essential in determining which social media platform your audience frequents most. This will save you time and money investing in other platforms. It will also give you an idea of where to spend most of your time and resources. Although it’s important to have a presence on multiple social media platforms, the most cost-effective approach is to do market research and invest heavily in one or two. Identifying an audience will also give you valuable insights into their social media habits, allowing you to know when the optimum time to post is. To give you an idea of social media audiences;

• 25 to 39-year-olds are the biggest social media users with 61K in Australia
• 1 in 2 Australians use Facebook daily
• 1 in 2 Australians use YouTube
• 1 in 3 Australians use Instagram
• 68% of Australians read online reviews and blogs before making a purchase

Understanding how, when and why your audience accesses certain social media platforms is integral to the development of a successful SM (social media) strategy. Predicting consumer behavior and habits is essential in building brand awareness and curating engaging content. If you’re a business targeting other businesses then your LinkedIn presence should be strong. Not only is LinkedIn the fastest growing social network, but it’s also the top lead generation tool for businesses.

If you already know your target audience and are working to expand it try https://audiense.com; asocial intelligence tool that will help you to understand and build relationships with a broad range of audience groups.

Understand Each Platform:

Before you can start creating content, you need to have a clear understanding of the platforms you’re going to be using as each has its own distinctive mechanisms. There is a significant difference between text and video-based platforms. Video is exploding at the moment and is probably the reason why platforms like Instagram and YouTube continue to grow exponentially. If you’re appealing to a younger audience, a video marketing campaign is sure to grab their attention. Try https://buzzsumo.com for optimum content creation and analytics.

Social media platforms are extending the capabilities of video (Instagram TV, Facebook Live), giving businesses more opportunities to market and engage with their audience. Facebook remains the biggest social media platform with an audience of 2.7B people active monthly. Although Facebook has text capabilities, video accounts for a large amount of overall activity. It’s estimated that 100M hours of video are watched every day on Facebook. That’s a metric that is too big to ignore, so if you’ve been deliberating over whether or not to start video marketing, now is the time!

Understanding why people use different social media platforms should inform your strategy. Utilizing each platform’s individual tools and creating different content for each one will garner much more success than treating each platform in the same way. For example, Instagram is a platform that is esteemed by users for its discovery ethos. Users are able to go on a visually stimulating journey that differs from other text-based platforms. Adhering to the ethos of this platform as a brand means creating visually creative content like photo and video.

Get To Know Your Competition:

It may sound cliché but you’re only as good as your competition. Monitoring companies with a similar product, service, or business model will keep you in the loop of what others in your industry are doing. Following the activity of businesses you admire or those that are executing social media marketing success will give you an idea of what content audiences are engaging with.

The most valuable thing to observe on competitor social media platforms is their audience. Chances are it’s a spitting image of the audience you’re targeting. Take note of hashtags or accounts that their audience is following and make an effort to engage in these. To improve your SM performance based on your competition https://www.socialbakers.com is a great monitoring tool.

Use Influencers:

Influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly popular way for brands to engage with niche online communities. Influencers have insider knowledge about their audience and platform and can use their social power to influence the consumer behavior of their followers. Consumers have long been wary of the promotional tools used by businesses. Influencers present a new way to create brand awareness and product endorsement.

Implementing a successful influencer strategy means doing careful market research and selecting someone who embodies your brand values. Relevancy is key, invest in influencers who are pertinent to your product and brand and whose audiences are primed to listen to. Influencers are great sales vehicles to drive engagement and conversions. Special deals and promotions (eg promo codes) are a useful way to drive direct action whilst also building brand awareness. 86% of brands used influencer marketing in 2018 so it’s definitely a trend that’s not going anywhere. If you’re new to the influencer game tools like https://influential.co help to match your brand with relevant influencers.

Social media is an innovative communications tool that will continue to change the world. It’s one of the most successful digital marketing tools and will continue to overtake traditional marketing in its outreach and scope. The battle of social media remains coming up with ways to grab the attention of your audience.

The sheer saturation of the social media landscape means it’s becoming harder and harder to engage with customers. Having a clear idea of who your audience is (or needs to be) will enable you to formulate digital strategies that generate real results.