Is Your Social Media Strategy Reaching Your Target Audience?
Social media is a great way to reach your target audience without spending a lot of money. Unfortunately, you can also throw a lot of money at advertising on sites like Facebook and not see any results. Measuring your campaigns’ results is vital if you want to reach the right customers and grow your business.
In a press release put out by SCORE — a network of volunteer business mentors — researchers discovered 77% of small businesses used social media for marketing. It’s essential to stand out from all the other marketing efforts on any given platform. At the same time, you need to make sure your message gets in front of the right people.
How can you know if you are reaching the right prospects? Here are five clear ways to ensure your campaign reaches people who’re interested in what you sell:
1. Create Suitable Audiences
Before you take your advertising to social media, you must know who your people are and where they hang out. If your target buyer is a 30-something mom who loves to crochet, then targeting men with golfing interests isn’t the best choice. Spend time studying your typical customer and their habits and interests. You may need to send out surveys or do some behind-the-scenes research before heading to social media.
Create a buyer persona that includes habits, hobbies and interests. Spend a little time on Facebook or Twitter researching groups and hashtags related to those interests. Make a list of keywords that tie into the groups. If you were the client, what types of phrases might you search?
Your final step is creating audiences that match those interests. You now know the names of groups and keywords you can use to narrow the selection. Remember you can change your settings at any point in a campaign if you aren’t getting a good response.
2. Tap Into User Emotions
You now know your users well, so think about their emotions. What drives them to look for your product? If they are searching for learning aids for their child, their reasons might be fear that their child is falling behind or excitement that their kid is smart. Figure out what compels them to seek what you offer, and you’ll be better able to tie your campaign into your target group’s feelings.
Try the World shows beautiful images of their boxes on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, and they also have a presence on Instagram and Pinterest. Their photographs and the wording of their content create excitement in the user. They understand that those looking for a subscription box are also yearning for a new experience. This business has successfully tapped into its target audience’s emotions through visual media and language.
3. Interact With the Right People
Want to get some buzz going about your product? You can tap into offline events and suggest people post online. For example, add a photo opportunity at your trade show booth and encourage people to upload their visuals along with a specific hashtag. Doing this can enter them for a chance to win a prize. The most organic way of reaching your target audience can come from new and seasoned customers posting about your brand on social media.
4. Hire the Proper Influencers
Most marketers today use influencers to spread the word about their brands. There are many different advantages to using influencers, including the fact that this avenue appears less spammy than an ad. However, you need to choose the right influencers if you want to reach people interested in purchasing your product.
Pay attention to who shares and likes the influencer’s posts, and research a few of these individuals. Go to their profiles and see if their interests align with your target buyers’ concerns. Ask the influencer about their followers. Who do they think their average fan is? How can they help you reach the people you most want to access?
Lulus employs various brand ambassadors who wear their latest products and post about them. The example above is from ambassador @mintymomentss and shows a pair of shoes she plans to wear out. She even taps into the current COVID-19 pandemic by commenting she’ll wear them to her weekly shopping trip.
If you visit the @lulus Instagram page, you’ll see there are dozens of ambassadors tagging the brand and showing off their fashions. This business has carefully chosen their representatives to reach different marketing demographics around the world.
5. Track Clickthrough Rates
Still aren’t sure if your efforts are having any impact? Your first step should be to track your clickthrough rates. Create a separate landing page for each of your social media campaigns. Employ internal tracking and analyze the reports from whichever social media site you’re on. Are the clicks resulting in new leads?
Study how many times people share your posts, who likes your posts and what the engagement rates are. Are people commenting? You may need to tweak the tone of your ads or change your focus a bit.
Finding Your People on Social Media
Social media is the perfect place to find a particular target audience, depending on your marketing goals. This process takes some foresight, research and a bit of trial and error when you begin. However, if you put forth a continued effort, you’ll find your ads serve you well and bring new traffic to your page — which results in conversions and sales.
