Target an audience (second part in your social media plan)

Having specific objectives, a content strategy and a strong handle on the tactics is important to your social media plan.

 But, recognizing your audience is critical to your social media plan.

 Your audience will ultimately dictate the success of your business – you can’t make a buck without enticing people to buy your products or services. Even more importantly, you need to target the RIGHT people and know where to invest your time and resources.

 What I’m trying to say is that making $1000 via social media is great, but if it cost you $900 in resources to find those deals, you haven’t done that well. 

 So make sure you know who to target and speak with from the start. Don’t waste time and resources trying to find your audience while your plan is being executed. Sure, you can alter the ‘audience focus’ down the road, but ensure you know who you are targeting before you get started.

 How do you define audience?

 There are a few ways to segment and target your audience. It’s not enough to just say I want to reach “customers” or “the public” or “men.” After all, you aren’t defined as just “human” and neither are your audience members.

 Demographics

- Age?

- Gender?

- Income?

- Race?

- Education?

 Psychographics

- How does they think?

- Do they care about form or function?

 Geographics

- Where are they located?

 Great, but how do I find this stuff out?

Monitoring! This is where you really need to make use of your ‘listening’ tools. By listening to the online conversations you will start to understand where your best consumers (and thus audiences) are hanging out.

 Sure, you won’t be able to answer all the above questions in the Demographics and Psychographics sections, but that’s okay.

 As long as you start to see trends and patterns in your target audience, then you’re golden.

 Once you figure out your target, continue developing your plan with your audience in mind.

 We’ll talk about objectives next week! Stay tuned!