Lecture 16 Introduction to Social Media Marketing PDF

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Dr Shoaib Yousaf Lecture 16.  Learning Objectives 1. What is a target audience? 2. How to find your target audience?  What is a Target Audience? Target audience refers to a specific group of pe...

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Dr Shoaib Yousaf Lecture 16.  Learning Objectives 1. What is a target audience? 2. How to find your target audience?  What is a Target Audience? Target audience refers to a specific group of people most likely to buy from you. You should ideally target these people during each marketing campaign. They’re your ideal prospect or, simply put – the intended audience. These people are most likely to show interest in your product, service, or business and become your customers in the future. That’s the simple version — your target audience is who you target with your marketing efforts.  Continue The intention here is to target a group of people with the education, goals, interests, and problems as your ideal customer. Basically, you want to target people who will buy your stuff. If you target people who don’t want to buy your stuff or don’t have the means to buy your stuff, you might get more site traffic, but it won’t do much for you. You’ll be pulling out your hair trying to figure out why none of your visitors are buying from you.  Examples Netflix is a prime example of subculture-based audience targeting. Vans-The online video game Fortnite has masterfully tapped into the overlap between gaming and other entertainment interests, such as those of anime fans. By introducing content and collaborations, like the Dragon Ball Z and Avatar franchise,  How to find your Target Audience? 1. Find out where your audience is most active-Once you have an understanding of who your audience is, figure out where they're hanging out online. You have to identify if your community is even on each separate social media platform. For example, older generations have increased their Facebook use in the past four years. In fact, the share of the Silent generation using Facebook has nearly doubled. On the other hand, Twitter appeals to younger audiences. In fact, 38% of Twitter users are between the ages of 18-29, and 26% of users a re 30-49. Instagram also appeals to younger generations, with 35% of users being ages 25-34 and 30% being 18-24.  Continue 2. Look at your competitors- When you're trying to flesh out your target audience on social media, look to your competitors. What kind of voice are they using? Who are they appealing to? You can figure this out by looking at who's responding to their posts and engaging with them. Also, take note of what social networks they're active on, who their top followers are, what their engagement rate is, and what hashtags they use.  Continue 3. Survey your customers- Although you'll have plenty of statistics available, it's always a good idea to talk to your current customers. Surveys help you figure out who your real customers are and what social media networks they prefer. You can ask what type of content they consume, what social media sites they like, or who they follow. 4. Search Facebook Groups- If your audience is mostly using Facebook, it's a good idea to find them in Facebook groups. Facebook groups are becoming more popular amongst social media users and they're a good place to learn more about your audience.  Continue 5. Social listening is the practice of tracking conversations your target audience is having about your brand and related topics. This requires looking beyond posts your brand is tagged in, and reading between the lines to analyze what’s really being said. Use the information to refine your target audience into sub-groups and adjust as you go. 6. Know the problem your product solves for your target audience- When you know what problem your product or service solves, you can market it more effectively to the right audience.  Continue For example, if you sell a water filtration system, you remove toxins from tap water. Therefore, you want to appeal to homeowners who are environmentally aware and conscious of what they put into their bodies. You can further segment your target audience to focus on parents of young children who want clean, filtered water for their families. 7. Check social media to understand your target audience- Social media is a valuable tool for small businesses that want to pinpoint their target audience. Social media sites offer analytics that reveal who is interacting with your brand’s accounts and which posts they find interesting.  Continue These social media metrics will help you understand the people who are paying attention to your company and products so you can identify your niche. You’ll also discover which posts were most effective in getting a reaction. 8. Automate your actions to identify your target audience- After checking your social media analytics, go a step further by using social media automation. For example, some tools allow you to automate lead generation from your LinkedIn business profile, directing you to the people on that platform who might want to purchase your product. You could do the same with your Facebook marketing strategies and Google business profile.  Continue 9. Know your value to your target audience-Before selling to your target customers, you must know why they’ll buy your product. You must be confident about your product’s value and convey that information to your ideal client. 10. Test your theory to ensure you have the right target audience-After completing these steps, you must ensure you have the right target audience. To do this, develop a sample ad and market it to your target customer group. On social media, you can create an ad that appeals specifically to your target audience and see how many of these users click through to your website. ANY QUESTION? Thank You.