Analyzing Target Market Helps Determine What Works
By Bernard Perrine, CEO, SocialCentiv
We oftentimes categorize separate social media platforms under a giant umbrella and call it digital communication or social networking. Though these get lumped together regularly, they couldn’t be more different. Facebook caters to a certain audience that differs from Twitter, which differs from Instagram, and so on and so forth. While they are all interconnected at some level, each platform has different users, different kinds of content being shared, different audiences, etc. Because no two social media platforms are alike, not all platforms are right for all types of information.
There are a number of ways to determine which social media network is right for your company.
One thing to note with any social media campaign is flexibility: as you go along with your campaign, it’s important to make note of the things that are working and discard the tactics that aren’t working. By doing so, you can gain an even deeper understanding of what content works best and where, and what audiences respond at what times.
Bernard Perrine, CEO, SocialCentiv
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram may be best for company X but not company Y. Company Y may need to stay on Pinterest and Instagram because that’s where their target markets spend most of their time and respond best to messaging.
For example, a furniture or fashion company would be smart to establish a presence on networks such as Instagram and Pinterest because of the heavy visual element. Users would be able to directly see the product without even having to visit the company’s website.
Business to business and enterprise technology companies would be smart to spend time on their LinkedIn presence where the business leaders live. Question and answer platforms such as Quora and Yahoo Answers are also helpful to delve into the complexities of the industries and allow company leaders to be visible to the public while offering understanding and solutions to issues.
Yelp, Google Pages, Facebook and Twitter are gold mines for restaurants. Instagram can also be helpful for sharing images of food.
Observing and analyzing the habits of a brand’s target market is the best way to determine on what social networks to establish a presence. If a company’s key market is heavily engaged on Twitter and Instagram, that’s where it needs to establish itself. Many social networks like Twitter can be used as business tools. By utilizing intent-based marketing, Twitter can be used as a lead generation tool. By tapping into users’ expressed interests, businesses can further amplify messaging to reflect those timely intents.
However, social media is also a great tool to help discover and foster relationships with new target markets. Brands are frequently too afraid to branch out to new social networks because they’re different or seem daunting. Taking a leap and looking into these new networks can often yield great results. A new market may be living on a network and the brand never would have discovered it if it hadn’t explored the possibility of establishing a presence.
Social media can sometimes be a mystery, but it’s necessary to put in the work to discover where a company’s messaging works best. This will foster relationships with target audiences and even allow companies to discover new audiences.
Bernard Perrine is co-founder and CEO of SocialCentiv, an intent-based Twitter marketing firm that drives an average of 34 percent click-through rates for its clients in a variety of sectors, including restaurants, events, food and beverage, and online retailers. For more information, visit http://socialcentiv.com or email info@socialcentiv.com.
