{"id":218,"date":"2016-07-28T09:17:41","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T09:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/?page_id=218"},"modified":"2019-06-20T17:15:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T17:15:20","slug":"audience","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/audience\/","title":{"rendered":"Audience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Audience<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the time, you will need to think about content that isn&#8217;t just &#8216;promotional&#8217; (although there is a time, place and right way to do so &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/promotional-posts\/\">check out our guidance<\/a>). You&#8217;ll need to think about content that your audiences will be searching for themselves.<\/p>\n<p>So, what do you know about the intended audience? Who are they? Remember that reaching &#8216;everyone&#8217; is not realistic. Try to distill it down a bit using some questions \u2013 and maybe even some basic demographics.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Which platforms do your audience use most?<\/li>\n<li>Which platforms are they comfortable engaging with you on?<\/li>\n<li>What kind of things do they talk about on those platforms?<\/li>\n<li>Are they content creators, critics, conversationalists, lurkers?<\/li>\n<li>What do they want from you?<\/li>\n<li>How can you deliver it on social media?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Having a clear picture of who you&#8217;re trying to reach will help you plan the best approach to things like\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/tone-of-voice\/\">tone of voice<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/customer-service\/\">customer service<\/a>. It will also help you start to plan your content and, if you&#8217;re serious about social, <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/evaluation-and-reporting\/\">measure the effectiveness of what you&#8217;re doing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;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&#8217;s what audiences are used to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Further reading:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.socialmediamodels.net\/social-media-overview-models-category\/social-technographics-profile-or-ladder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Technographics Ladder<\/a> [Social Media Models], <a href=\"http:\/\/sproutsocial.com\/insights\/new-social-media-demographics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media Demographics<\/a> [Sprout Social]<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/goals\/\">Next:\u00a0goals<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8217;t just &#8216;promotional&#8217; (although there is a time, place and right way to do so &#8211; check out our<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316,"featured_media":0,"parent":42,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-218","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7mXc8-3w","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":227,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/platforms\/","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":0},"title":"Platforms","author":"Joseph Field","date":"July 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Platforms There are loads of social media platforms to choose from. By now, you'll hopefully have a really clear idea of the one that's right for you and your audience. Whichever it is, familiarise yourself with it. Dig around, watch what other people are doing with it, look for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/files\/2019\/06\/New-social-300x288.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/getting-started\/","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":1},"title":"Getting started","author":"Joseph Field","date":"July 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"'Social media' describes an ever-increasing number of digital platforms, which are used in different ways by different people. Each platform has its own strengths and uses. It can be time-consuming to learn the ins and outs of a social media platform, and even more time-consuming to grow an engaged network\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":2},"title":"Social media guidelines","author":"Joseph Field","date":"March 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"These guidelines are for use by Sheffield Hallam\u00a0University\u00a0staff. If you want to reproduce them, please ask permission. These guidelines outline best practice in the use of\u00a0social media to engage audiences, and promote the work of the University on social channels. They are intended to be enabling, and they set out\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":191,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/socialmedia\/social-media-guidelines\/thought-leadership\/","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":3},"title":"Thought leadership","author":"Joseph Field","date":"July 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Social media can be really effective in raising your profile, demonstrating your expertise and building a network of people and organisations who share your interests. From commenting on current events to lifting the lid on research, many scientists, political experts and business leaders use social tools for thought leadership. 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