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Identifying your target audience onÌýsocial media will give you theÌýability toÌýhone your marketing strategy around your potential customer’s needs, consumer desires, andÌýbehavior patterns. Take your marketing strategies toÌýtheÌýnext level byÌýhyper-personalizing them toÌýsuit specific demographics.

InÌýdoing so, you engage onÌýaÌýmore personal level with theÌýpotential customers, who are most likely toÌýtake action. You know, asÌýinÌýconvert. Aka, make aÌýpurchase. InÌýtheÌýlong run, this will increase your overall sales andÌýincrease theÌýeffectiveness ofÌýyour marketing strategyÌý— saving you time andÌýmoney.

However, finding andÌýtargeting theÌýright audience onÌýsocial media can beÌýaÌýtricky task forÌýanÌýonline seller. InÌýthis guide, I’ll teach you how toÌýfind your ideal audience. Your one step away from producing high-quality, tailored marketing like aÌýpro.

What IsÌýaÌýTarget Audience?

Your ideal audience isÌýaÌýcollection ofÌýpeople who share similar characteristics, needs, andÌýbehaviors that make your product attractive toÌýthem. This includes current customers, past customers, andÌýpotential future customers (i.e., “leads”).

Talking about social media, your ideal audience isÌýoften referred toÌýasÌýyour “target audience”, asÌýyour target audience isÌýtheÌýprimary recipient ofÌýyour marketing.

There are four groups ofÌýaudiences onÌýsocial media:

• Active audiences: people who engage with your brand onÌýsocial media regularly.
• Aware audiences: people who see your social media marketing but only engage occasionally.
• Latent audiences: people who see your social media marketing but doÌýnot engage with it.
• Non-audiences: who fit into your target audience but have not encountered your product orÌýsocial media marketing atÌýall.

Creating aÌýcontent distribution strategy that isÌýeffective forÌýeach ofÌýthese groups can beÌýtrickyÌý— which isÌýwhy it’s soÌýimportant toÌýidentify your target audience andÌýtarget your marketing toÌýthem directly.

Strategies toÌýFind Your Target Audience

AsÌýanÌýonline seller, you’re likely already targeting aÌýparticular niche. But how doÌýyou turn that general niche into aÌýparticular target audience andÌýmarket toÌýthem effectively?

The most effective marketing isÌýevidence-based, soÌýhere’s aÌýlist ofÌýfive actionable game-changing activities toÌýhelp you find your ideal audience.

Create buyer personas

Buyer personas are fictional representations ofÌýyour target audience. These personas are aÌýthought exercise designed toÌýhelp you focus your marketing, sales outreach, andÌýproduct development onÌýtheÌýspecific needs ofÌýpotential customers. Confused? NoÌýworries. Here’s aÌýspecific example ofÌýaÌýbuyer persona:

AÌýgood buyer persona describes aÌýmember ofÌýyour audience along some important lines:

• Who they are andÌýtheir demographic background.
• Why they might beÌýinterested inÌýyour product (i.e., their pain points).
• Why they want your product.
• What challenges might prevent them from purchasing your product.
• How they respond toÌýyour social media marketing andÌýwhich calls toÌýaction might most effectively convert them into aÌýcustomer.

The best buyer personas are created from data you’ve already obtained about your target audience. This data will show you attributes that target audience members might have inÌýcommon, like their age range, geographic location, educational background, profession, interests, andÌýgeneral life stage. These insights can beÌýgleaned from market research, customer surveys, andÌýdata from existing customers.

Learn more: How toÌýCreate Customer Profiles forÌýanÌýE-commerce Store

Once you’ve created aÌýset ofÌýbuyer personas forÌýyour brand, there are many ways you can use them toÌýguide your social media marketing.

Inspiration forÌýposts. When designing each post, use your brand persona toÌýconsider who you’re making theÌýpost for, andÌýwhich you should use.

Segmenting your marketing email list. Create multiple buyer personas toÌýdescribe andÌýsingle out different segments ofÌýyour customer base, especially byÌýtheir pain points. Separate each ofÌýthese segments into aÌýpersona, andÌýtarget each with marketing that emphasizes how your product addresses their specific needs andÌýinterests.

Partnering with brand ambassadors. can help you develop aÌýtrust with your target audience using their social credit. AsÌýcustomers respond better toÌýinfluencers they feel they have things inÌýcommon with, partner with anÌýinfluencer who correlates well toÌýatÌýleast one ofÌýyour buyer personas.

Use insight tools onÌýsocial media platforms

Insight tools can help you understand theÌýbehavior ofÌýyour target audience onÌýsocial media. Some popular tools include Sprout Social, HubSpot andÌýBuzzSumo.

Insight tools are built into social media automation tools, which automate your social media while analyzing your marketing efforts.

Insight tools give you quantitative (data-based) information about theÌýpeople who engage with you onÌýsocial media. This includes:

• The age range ofÌýyour audience.
• The nationalities/localities ofÌýyour audience.
• The gender ofÌýyour audience.
• The interests ofÌýyour audience.
• The key times your audience engages with you.

Insight tools can also help you understand how social media marketing contributes toÌýyour sales funnel, i.e., how your campaigns further your customer along inÌýtheir journey from just prospective buyer toÌýaÌýsale. ByÌýunderstanding theÌýsteps they take along theÌýway toÌýanÌýeventual sale, you can tweak your marketing soÌýthat it’s more inÌýline with your customer’s behavior. This will improve your lead conversion rate.

Certain social media platforms also offer in-built analytics tools. Take Instagram. ItÌýoffers upÌý“Instagram Insights” toÌýprovide intel toÌýInstagram Business Account users onÌýfollower demographics andÌýother performance statistics.

Pro Tip: While it’s understandable toÌýwant instant data about consumer behavior, theÌýmost effective marketing insights are plucked from data that isÌýmeasured over aÌýlong period. This better accounts forÌýseasonal fluctuations inÌýconsumer behavior.

Send surveys andÌýconduct email campaigns

While social media insight tools will allow you toÌýcollect quantitative data onÌýyour customers, customer surveys will allow you toÌýcollect qualitative data.

Qualitative data isÌýdata about theÌýthoughts, feelings, andÌýexperiences ofÌýyour audience. Unlike other data, this data isÌýnon-statistical andÌýfocuses onÌýyour customers asÌýindividuals.

The easiest way toÌýcollect qualitative data isÌýtoÌýsend out asking forÌýfeedback. Great customer feedback surveys are usually structured around two basic sections.

InÌýtheÌýfirst part, you want toÌýask forÌýdemographic information that can beÌýused toÌýsegment your audience. This includes their age, nationality, education level, income level, andÌýprofession. It’s also essential toÌýask whether theÌýperson taking theÌýsurvey isÌýaÌýrepeat customer, new customer, ex-customer, orÌýpotential lead.

InÌýtheÌýsecond section ofÌýtheÌý survey, you should ask open-ended questions about your brand, product, andÌýcustomer needs. Here are some ideas:

• How can weÌýmake our product/service better?
• What drew you toÌýour product/service?
• What are your main concerns about our product/service?
• How does our product/service compare toÌýcompetitor’s products/ services?
• How did you first discover our brand andÌýour products/services?
• DoÌýyou follow usÌýonÌýsocial media. IfÌýnot, why not?

Analyzing this type ofÌýopen-ended data can beÌýtricky, but you can sort responses byÌýkeywords (i.e. price), attitudes (i.e. positive orÌýnegative), andÌýcustomer segment.

Long term, this activity will help you toÌýbetter understand your target audience byÌýtheir demographics, allowing you toÌýtarget your ideal customers andÌýtheir needs.

Use social listening tools

Social listening tools allow marketers toÌýmonitor conversations about their brand, industry, andÌýproducts. These tools work byÌýmonitoring hashtags, news coverage, andÌýrelevant keywords, then compiling links toÌýall this coverage into aÌýdashboard that can beÌýviewed atÌýanyÌýtime. Think ofÌýitÌýlike aÌýproductivity app forÌýmedia monitoring.

Social listening tools allow you toÌýtrack which audiences engage theÌýmost onÌýsocial media, but they also offer other advantages. Social media listening also enables you to:

• Discover new sales leads andÌýuntapped markets.
• Identify good brand ambassadors andÌýinfluencers forÌýpotential partnerships.
• Monitor public opinion onÌýcompetitors.
• Track patterns ofÌýcustomer’s product experience.

This gives you aÌýholistic view ofÌýyour customers, which can improve targeted marketing, help improve your customer service, andÌýbuild more mutually-beneficial customer-brand relationships.

While using social listening tools isÌývital, they doÌýhave limitations, asÌýthey can only analyze publicly available information. Because ofÌýthis, it’s vital toÌýpair social listening with either data-driven forms ofÌýresearch onÌýyour audience.

Check out your competition

While your competitor/s will likely beÌýusing slightly different marketing strategies toÌýyou, they probably share anÌýideal customer base with you. This means you can better understand your ideal audience byÌýanalyzing their marketing.

AsÌýyour competitor/s are not likely toÌýdisclose their marketing data, you can ascertain their ideal audience by:

• Watching how frequently they post onÌýsocial media.
• Analyzing theÌýdemographic information ofÌýpeople who engage with their posts.
• Signing upÌýforÌýtheir mailing list.
• Mapping their customer lifecycle.
• Monitoring when they post, asÌýthis will tell you theÌýtimezone ofÌýtheir audience.
• Identifying what language orÌýtheÌýversion ofÌýEnglish they use (i.e. UKÌýEnglish vs. American English).

After you have aÌýbasic understanding ofÌýyour competitor/s ideal audience, you can use this toÌýmap out their marketing strategy.

Although it’s never aÌýgood idea toÌýcopy your competitors, analyzing where their marketing isÌýeffective andÌýineffective will help you reach your shared audience better.

When analyzing aÌýcompetitor’s overall strategy, you should look atÌýtheir:

• Unique value proposition.
• Current customer base.
• Social media engagement.
• Financial results (if your competitor isÌýpublicly traded orÌýdiscloses this information).
• How they structure their toÌýconvert leads.

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Finding andÌýbetter understanding your target audience isÌýessential forÌýsuccess inÌýonline selling. With in-depth knowledge ofÌýyour social media audience inÌýhand, you’ll beÌýable toÌýdesign aÌýcontent distribution strategy that focuses onÌýyour customers andÌýtheir needsÌý— increasing your lead conversion rate andÌýgiving you more ofÌýthat sweet marketing mileage.

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