Your brand has created your own Instagram account, Facebook profile, and Twitter page. Your posts are fun and informative, but you can’t seem to gain any followers, or worse, you are unable to turn your fans into paying customers. One of the biggest keys to Social Media Marketing is understanding your audience.

 

Finding your Current Audience

Luckily for us, each social media platform makes it relatively easy to track your audience and learn more about them. There are a few key data points that are critical for marketing towards your audience

Age → How old your audience is can help you determine what platforms you should be using most, what kind of content you should be posting, and how you interact with your followers.

Location → Where your followers live is key to understanding when to post online. Ensuring that the majority of your audience is online (or awake) when you post is key.

Language → Finding out what language the majority of your audience speaks is huge in providing inclusivity within your brand. Offering posts with translations for larger audiences is a big help!

 

Understanding your Target Audience

Now that you’ve analyzed your current following, the next step is to dive deeper into your target audience. Your “target audience” is defined as the specific group of people you want to be able to reach with your social media posts. Understanding your “target” audience is key for developing and planning an effective social media marketing strategy. A few examples of target audiences and key marketing strategies are:

 

Finding How to “Reach” a New Audience

You’ve identified your “target audience”, now how do you actually reach them? A great starting point is testing out paid Ads. While it is not ideal to have to pay for a social media advertisement, Facebook or Instagram Ads are relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Creating these Ads will allow you to mark your target audience, and reach a new level of followers by placing your image on their Homepage. Another way is to use geo-stream or geo-tags to check your nearby location and interact with users or other businesses! Lastly, a great way to get kick-started is with a simple “share to win” giveaway, in which users must repost an image of yours to be entered to win a free item, it is a free and surefire way of gaining new followers!

 

Implementing a New Marketing Strategy

Now that you have a greater understanding of your current audience, as well as your target audience, you are ready to create a new social media marketing strategy. While taking into consideration your followers’ likes/dislikes is very important, it is crucial for you to keep your “brand identity” as well. Rather than allowing your business page to be taken over by trending topics and funny pictures try: posting one meme occasionally, interacting often with followers, curating funny captions, or posting eye-catching pictures. Always remember quality over quantity with posts.