Audience
Audience
Your social media account will aim to engage a relevant audience, and you will need to do some thinking about them in order to decide what you post.
Most of the time, you will need to think about content that isn’t just ‘promotional’ (although there is a time, place and right way to do so – check out our guidance). You’ll need to think about content that your audiences will be searching for themselves.
So, what do you know about the intended audience? Who are they? Remember that reaching ‘everyone’ is not realistic. Try to distill it down a bit using some questions – and maybe even some basic demographics.
- Which platforms do your audience use most?
- Which platforms are they comfortable engaging with you on?
- What kind of things do they talk about on those platforms?
- Are they content creators, critics, conversationalists, lurkers?
- What do they want from you?
- How can you deliver it on social media?
Having a clear picture of who you’re trying to reach will help you plan the best approach to things like tone of voice and customer service. It will also help you start to plan your content and, if you’re serious about social, measure the effectiveness of what you’re doing.
It’s really important to remember to have conversations with your audiences on social media, and not just broadcast at them. Social media enables two-way dialogue, and that’s what audiences are used to.
Further reading: Social Technographics Ladder [Social Media Models], Social Media Demographics [Sprout Social]