Digital Skills - Understand Audience

Build relationships with your followers Retain your new followers by keeping them interested and engaged. The more you listen to them, the more they will feel valued. Respond to people’s comments on your posts and create your own comments too. This can spark a conversation and engage even more people. For example: Imagine you run a restaurant business. Posting your opening times and prices is not very engaging content. But if you share a new dish, ask for opinions or encourage audience participation through polls, discussions, and competitions, this could lead to a more engaged, and potentially bigger, audience. Make sure to spend time with your online community to gain valuable insights into your audience’s needs and interests. This information can also help you shape your business and the products and services you offer to ensure you remain competitive. Consider your followers as a focus group from which you can gain knowledge that will inform both your business and your soc...

1. Some useful expressions 2. Why is it important to understand your target audience? 3. Making your social media marketing more effective 4. Informing your social media marketing strategy 5. Defining your target audience 6. Key takeouts Quick Links Digital Marketing      Target Audience      Social Media Marketing      Online Presence      Content Marketing Audience Traffic

Defining your target audience Before we look at the specifics of defining your target audience in the next lesson, let’s have a think about your customers. Try to answer the questions below: What do your customers have in common? Are they mainly women, men or is it an equal split? How old are they? Are they of a similar age or is there a variety of age groups? Are they working professionals, students, housewives? Do certain demographics purchase specific products or services? What are their needs – and how does your business help them? Your answers will help you build a clearer picture of your overall target audience. Defining your audience can be a bit tricky and time consuming, but, once done, it’s much easier to know where and how to interact with them on social media. How to define your target audience In the previous lesson “Understanding your target audience”, we asked you to start thinking about your customers (their age, gender, etc.) In this lesson, we ...

Key takeouts A target audience is a group of people most likely to be interested in your product or service Your understanding of your audience should inform your social media activity: what content to post, when to post it and where to post it Align your social media posts to your audience’s interests and they will be inspired to engage with you

Why is it important to understand your target audience? Businesses that clearly define their target audience are able to share more meaningful and relevant content with the right people, at the right time. This helps you build a strong connection with potential customers who are likely to think of your business the next time they need the product or service you offer. A clear understanding of your target audience right from the beginning will save you time and money. Spend time getting this right and you will be rewarded for your efforts.

Understanding your target audience Some useful expressions Demographic This is a specific market identified by the group’s shared traits, including age, income, gender, education and employment. Social media marketing strategy This is an overview of how you plan to use social media to achieve specific business goals. Primary audience This is a company’s most important group of customers, often those who account for the majority of sales for a business. Secondary audience This is the second most important group of customers to a business.