Information for this blog was found on hubspot.com, hootsuite.com and socialmediaexaminer.com.
Finding your target market is one of the most important things you will do when marketing your products or services. In order for your content to connect with your customers, you need to define your target audience. This will help you create content that is relevant, improves conversion rates, and has social media ROI. The clearer you define your ideal customer, the easier it is to find them on social media. Doing that takes a little research. Here are 3 steps for defining your target audience.
Create a Buyer Persona for Each Ideal Customer
Start with a day in the life scenario and list the key characteristics of your ideal customer. This can include demographics and psychographics like age, gender, job title, family size, goals, geographical location, income, and motivation. Most of the information you need to get started can be found in your own customer database or in your social media analytics. The more specific you are the easier you can define your product's benefits and how they meet your persona's needs. You will be able to determine where they are in the purchase funnel. Then you can tailor your social media message to have the most effect.
Find a Persona That You Want to Engage
Create a sample group of about 10 people. Select people that have had recent interactions with you. Select people that made a purchase from you, people that were considering your product but made a purchase from your competitor, and people that made no purchase at all. This way you can explore customers in each stage of the buying phase. Find your research group with your CRM, with the help of social media, and by leveraging your contacts. Then select an incentive -- after all, time is precious so reward the people that are helping you.
Prepare Questions for Your Research Participants
Start with questions about their background and move through each stage of the buying process. Hubspot provides a great sample 30-minute survey here. From your survey results, you can tailor your marketing message to meet the wants and needs of your ideal customer. You can use social listening to find information about your brand. Follow hashtags to see what people are saying about you and your competitors. Join the conversation and interact with your customers! Remember the only way to get the answers to your questions about a target market is to ask.
Once you have created a clearly defined buyer persona, and fully understand the problems that need to be solved with the help of your research, you can tailor every aspect of the product and your marketing to meet their wants and needs. You will be able to create a message that meets them in the buyer stage they are in. From there you can target your message based on how they consume social media and find what marketing has the most effect based on your research. Identifying and understanding customer needs not only creates solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customer, but they also deliver profits for your firm.
Resources
Farese, D. (2022, February 24) How to do Market Research: A Guide and Template. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/market-research-buyers-journey-guide
Newberry, C. (2020, July 8) How to Find and Target Your Social Media Audience. Retrieved
Brooks, R. (2016, August 5) How to Research and Locate Your Audience Using Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-research-and-locate-your-audience-using-social-media/
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