How to Make Content Marketed Toward Your Target Audience

Information in this blog post was obtained from HubSpot, Sprout Social, and Social Media Examiner.

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Have you ever posted content for your brand and wondered why it has fallen flat? Does it seem like your posts aren't reaching the right people? Looking at how accessible and appealing your content is and how to get it to your target audience will resolve these issues you may be having.

Making Content Accessible to Those With Disabilities

First and foremost, your content should be optimized for accessibility to make your content easily accessed by every individual. According to the Social Media Examiner, the World Health Organization stated that 1 in every 6 people has a disability. That means that your content must be fully optimized to accommodate a variety of disabilities to allow access to all who come across your content.

A few tips to make your content accessible include making your fonts easily legible. Custom fonts do stand out and capture attention, but making sure the lettering is easily readable by others is what is most important. Additionally, simplifying your hashtags is crucial as well. Making your hashtags too long makes them look too complex and jumbled words. Simple hashtags get the job done in a few words, which makes it easier to remember too! Also, using emojis is easy to get carried away with. Make sure you are using emojis to enhance emotions, rather than a substitute for words. Meanings may get confused and misinterpreted, which is something marketers should want to avoid. Using clear and concise language while using emojis for special effects works best.

How to Find Your Target Audience

Finding the right niche of people can be time-consuming and terrifying. A lot of times, marketers don't know where to begin, so they just start making content they would guess their target audience would like. It is important to know what audience the product is intended for and then use that information on social media. HubSpot distinguishes 6 steps to help you find your target audience on social media:

1. Use Google Analytics to learn more about the habits of your target audience.

2. Create a persona to target your content based on the buyer personas.

3. Social media analytics.

4. Facebook Insights.

5. Website performance.

6. Engage with audiences.

Discovering the habits of your consumers on social media will tell you a majority of the information you need to start making content for this audience to enjoy. It is easy to get data on social media because most of the time when you have a business account analytics and insights come free in the app! When using Facebook or Instagram, Meta Business Suite has plenty of tools to help you get started in finding more about your target audience so you can better tailor your content to them.

Discovering What Exactly Your Target Audience is Looking For on Social Media

Social media accounts for businesses can look different depending on what type of business you do, brand styles, and the preferences of consumers. Some consumers go to TikTok to see the next new project their favorite small business is creating and then head over to their online store to shop. Other consumers may want more information on the background and purpose of the brand online. Making sure you are giving the information that your target audience is looking for is crucial to whether your account is going to be beneficial or not.

This is where analytics and insights gathered come in handy. If one paid promotion is popular and another isn't so much, that is an indicator that your audience engaged with the popular one and prefers it more. Maybe your content always gets more clicks in the evenings rather than during the day. So on and so forth, these indicators will tell you the best time and preferences for your audience. Additionally, making your content engaging and on-brand will attract attention and possibly familiarity with those who come across your content more than once.

While creating content that resonates with your audience is important, it's also just as important to not "overdo it". Posting too much of the same content, cross-posting, and over-posting are all boundaries that are easily crossed when trying to gain engagement. Content calendars are a great way to stay organized and plan out posts ahead of time. This can give you an overall vision of the course of your social media activity to make sure there is variety and ample time for posts to run their course. For more information on how to increase engagement on your posts, check out another blog post by Menglin Zhang, "How to Increase Engagement and Capture New Followers on Instagram".

Once you have a strong following and have been engaging with your audience, surveys or questionnaires are a simple and quick way for your audience to give feedback on what else they would like to see from you. This may sprout new content ideas as well! Transparency and showing humanity always is preferred over your audience feeling like cash cows. Give the people what they want!

Resources

Carmicheal, K. (2022, October 5). Target audience: How to find yours [+ 5 campaign examples]. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/target-audience#how-to-find-audience

Sonnenberg, A. (2023, April 4). How to make your social media content more accessible. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-make-your-social-media-content-more-accessible/

Zote, J. (2023, February 10). How to define and reach your target audience on social media. Sprout Social. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/target-audience/