Too many businesses run social accounts without any real idea about how they should work. Often, they do so simply because somebody “feels” that it’s the right thing to do. It isnt uncommon for businesses to start social accounts with a rush, and then let them fizzle out to just the occasional post, once disillusionment sets in. The biggest problem that these businesses have is that they make no real effort to find their target audience on social media. They either try to follow everybody they come across, relevant or not, or they simply hope that people go to them and make no effort to build a following.
Yet many businesses perform well on social. Why the difference? What do they do, that their competition doesnt? In many cases, it is that they understand the importance of defining a target audience, and then finding and gently marketing to that target audience (and nobody else) on social media.
Another related problem is that too many firms still see social marketing as being solely to sell goods – just like much traditional marketing. Yet modern audiences hate and resist hard selling techniques. Social marketing is an extension of content marketing – the sharing of relevant information to the “right” group of people. If you do this often enough, these people will begin to take notice of you and start to take an interest in your products. There is little point attempting this, however, if you share content with irrelevant people who will never take an interest in you or your products.
Defining your target audience is one of the most important steps in developing an effective marketing strategy. But with so many potential customers out there, how do you identify the specific group of people who are most likely to buy what you’re selling?
There are several key strategies you can use to pinpoint exactly who you should be targeting with your marketing efforts. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore seven proven methods for finding your target audience, so you can create content and campaigns tailored perfectly to their needs.
Use Social Media Analytics
Social media provides a wealth of data about your existing customers and followers. Analyzing the demographics and behaviors of people already engaging with your brand on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can provide useful insights into ideal target audience characteristics.
Look at metrics like age, location, gender, interests, and buying patterns. See what types of content get the most engagement. Check when your followers are most active online. Monitor the hashtags and topics they care about. You can even run polls and surveys right within social channels to gather additional intel.
This information will help you identify patterns and commonalities among your best existing customers. Apply those learnings more broadly to define your target audience and inform future social media marketing.
Leverage Website Analytics
Your website analytics also offer a wealth of visitor data to help determine your target audience Google Analytics and other tools provide user information like location, device type, pages visited, time on site, and more.
See what blog posts and landing pages convert visitors into leads and sales. Find out how people are arriving at your site – are they coming from social media, search engines, or referrals? What keywords are they using? This will tell you a lot about their intent and interests.
Analytics will even give you insight into demographic data. Look at age, gender, income level, browsing patterns, and purchasing history. Again, look for trends and commonalities among your best site visitors to define your target audience.
Check Your CRM Platform
If you have a customer relationship management (CRM) system, this is another great place to learn about your customers. Your CRM stores data like contact details, firmographics, location, purchasing history, communication preferences, and more.
Analyze the information to see if any patterns emerge regarding the types of customers you serve best. Look for common factors like age, industry role company size, interests, or buying motivations. This will help you identify the characteristics of those most likely to become loyal customers.
Your CRM data also helps divide a large target audience into more specific, segmented groups you can market to differently based on their unique needs.
Conduct Surveys
Surveys are a straightforward way to gather target audience data right from the source. Well-designed surveys and questionnaires help you understand customer demographics, psychographics, buying behaviors, pain points, and preferences.
You can survey customers through email campaigns, website pop-ups, social media posts, SMS messages, and more. Offer an incentive to encourage participation. Keep surveys brief, with a mix of multiple choice and short answer questions. Follow up with non-respondents to increase completion rate.
Use survey results to create customer avatars and buyer personas that reflect your target audience. Ask about challenges they face that your product or service could solve. This will help refine messaging to resonate.
Use Lookalike Audiences
Most social media and digital advertising platforms now offer lookalike audience tools. These use algorithms to identify new potential customers who share common qualities with your existing customers.
For example, you can upload a customer email list to Facebook. It will analyze those customers and then find people on Facebook with similar demographics and interests to target with ads.
YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and most programmatic advertising platforms like Google Ads and Outbrain also offer lookalike audience targeting. This makes expanding your reach to new customers with a higher likelihood of converting much easier.
Listen on Social Media
Social listening allows you to monitor conversations happening about your brand, products, competitors, and industry. Set up listening searches for relevant keywords, hashtags, handles, etc.
Analyze what people are saying to gather useful target audience intel. Learn about their pain points, preferences, and perceptions. See what challenges they are looking to solve. Discover which social platforms they are most active on.
You can even search for discussions around your competitors to find people in your target audience. Social listening helps ensure you truly understand audience needs and how to deliver value.
Research the Competition
Speaking of competitors, analyzing their target audiences can provide helpful insights as well. Chances are good that you and rival brands are trying to reach similar customers, at least in some segments.
Do a deep dive on competitor websites and social media. See what their followers and engagement look like. Check who they partner with and sponsor. Learn how they position themselves and market to customers. Sign up for their content to analyze messaging.
This will provide useful context as you develop your own target audience strategy. Just don’t copy exactly – use it as a guide, then maintain your unique brand voice.
Combining These Strategies for Success
There is no single perfect method for identifying your target audience. The best approach is to utilize a combination of these strategies to gain a well-rounded perspective.
Analyze data from your owned channels: website, social media, CRM. Conduct direct customer research through surveys. Tap into third-party audience data resources. Monitor conversations and competitors.
Compiling these insights provides a detailed picture of who you should be targeting and how. Avoid casting too wide a net in hopes of attracting everyone. A focused strategy informed by data will generate the highest return.
Turn Insights into Action
Of course, identifying your target audience is only the first step. The real work comes in applying those learnings to effectively attract, engage and convert the right customers.
Build buyer personas based on target audience data to guide messaging and positioning. Craft tailored content that speaks directly to audience needs and preferences. Choose marketing channels and tactics your audience actively uses.
Testing and optimization are key – start small, measure results, and expand approaches that perform best. Listen, learn, and evolve the strategy continually.
When you truly understand your target audience, you can build authentic relationships and deliver real value. This is the key to growing an audience of loyal brand advocates that will drive business success.
Focusing your marketing on the right target audience is essential, but identifying that audience can seem overwhelming. By following the strategies outlined here and combining data from multiple sources, you will gain clear direction on who you should be targeting to achieve marketing and business goals. Use these insights to craft an effective, audience-focused strategy that will drive results and growth.
Create Content Your Target Audience Will Love
You may well know your target audience, but that will be of little value to you if you dont do anything to make those people want to take notice of you. You need to create and share the types of content that will interest those people. And remember, that does not mean that you just pitch ads at them.
Ideally, you will target a selection of content at them – a mix of curated content and original content on the topics that interest them. You can throw in the occasional promotion, too.
You need your social pages to be inspirational to these people. You want them to come to your page because they value the content you create and share.
You may have established the types of posts that they like from your surveys. Alternatively, you will need to engage in some trial and error, keeping an eye on your analytics to determine the post types that generally work and the types that don’t seem to engage enthusiasm or interest. Some people will prefer to read blog posts. Others are only interested in funny pictures or short videos. A number might religiously share the motivational quotes you offer. It is an excellent idea to share a variety of post types – but more of those which your followers most love.
Don’t forget to include posts that encourage engagement. Ask questions in your posts, and engage when people leave answers in the comments. If you are making Instagram Stories, remember to include some of the more engaging Stickers.
Whatever you do, don’t be too salesy with your posts. Sure, a small percentage can be promotional, but the vast majority of people who follow you do so because they want value from your posts, not because they want to buy your product.
Find and Connect with Your Target Audience
Once you know your target audience, you should make a point of encouraging your existing customers to make contact with you on their preferred social networks. In some cases, such as Facebook Ads Manager, you can upload your current customer database, and Facebook will do its best to find your existing clients on their platform. Quite a few of the social media marketing platforms work with CRMs to help you achieve this.
How To Find Your Target Audience | Target Market Research
FAQ
How do you identify your target audience?
How do you find the target audience of data?
How do I find a target audience?
As you’ve probably guessed, coming up with a target audience involves some research, which goes into fleshing out who you want to reach and how you can get there in a way that stands out from competitors. If you’re ready to find yours, follow these steps below: Use Google Analytics to learn more about your customers.
What is the difference between target audience and target market?
Both target audience and target markets are centered around segmenting customers into groups to make informed business decisions; however, a target market is a specific group of consumers a company’s products target. A target audience defines that group using audience demographics, interests, and buying history.
Why is targeting a specific audience important?
Targeting a specific audience will help your campaigns reach the correct people who will relate most to your company’s message and products. Always make sure to understand the difference between target audience and target market. While similar, their difference is critical for marketers. Can’t Find The Right Audience?
Is finding your target audience worth the effort?
There is a wealth of benefits to finding your marketing target audience, making the process well worth the effort. In marketing, return on investment (ROI) decides everything—from software purchases, to department budgets and your social media advertising plan.
