Social Media Marketing

Nowadays, a targeted approach to online social media marketing is a must. You cannot simply post social media messages with little consideration for your target audience and what appeals to them. But, how do you put a targeted social media campaign together? What data is required to make it work?

Identify your target

If you haven’t done so already, now would be the perfect time to identify your ideal customer. Put together a profile, i.e. a fictional persona, of your perfect customer. This should contain everything from what they do the weekends to how many kids they have. This will give you the basis to gather the necessary data and target your social media approach.

Find them….

Before you can target your consumer base, you first need to find it. So, the first piece of data you need to unearth is where your customers spend their time. What social media networking sites do they use? How long do they spend on there? What do they do when they are on such websites?

….and then take aim…

You then need to find content that will resonate with your audience. You can do this by discovering what your target consumer base does when they are on social media. Do they watch videos? Do they look at the most tweeted topics? Do they browse the news section? By knowing what activity your target audience engages in, you will be able to make sure you a present when they are browsing on social media websites.

You also need to conduct research to discover hot topics in your industry. What does everyone care about at the moment? What type of things are they searching for online? By engaging in conversations about hot topics amongst your desired audience, you will catch their attention and start to gain momentum online.

Next, find out what devices your target audience is using to access social networking websites. Do they use their mobile phone? Perhaps they mainly use a computer or iPad? Or, maybe they access the Internet via their gaming console? This information will enable you to tweak your strategy based on the platform used.

By understanding your customers’ behaviour, you will be able to put together a targeted campaign that is completely tailored to them. You can ensure your efforts are suited to the devices they use, that you are engaging in relevant discussions and that you are present where they are typically found –allowing them to ‘get to know you’ before you make that pitch.