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Defining Your Target Audience

by | May 9, 2022 | Social Media

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To convert people into customers for your business, you need to reach the target markets, but this means you need to be focusing on getting your target market first! In this article, we will give you some tips on defining your social media target audience!

What is the Target Audience?

We are talking about social media specifically here when discussing target audiences. A target audience refers to a specific group of people (potential customers) your business wants to reach through your social media platforms through your marketing campaign. By getting people who are likely to be interested in your service or products, you are more likely to gain target groups through social media as you are reaching your target market. Your target audience should be drawn in by the content you produce. They often all have common interests, behaviours and demographics.

Tip: get super specific when defining your target audience! Dig deeper and get down to the nitty-gritty details; no question is too small when thinking of your target audience and trying to define them.

 

target audience definition

How Do You Identify Your Target Audience?

It isn’t too complicated to research target audiences. In fact, you might have a lot in common with them if you are passionate about your products or services.
The most crucial thing to remember when starting your research on target audiences is to narrow it down as you go. It might seem counterproductive to narrow down your target audience as you want to reach as many people as possible. However, this isn’t quite the case. By being hyper-specific, you are expanding your reach to the right people!
We will look at some fundamental target marketing to identify your target audience later in the article.

What is a Potential Customer?

Isn’t a potential customer and target audience the same thing? Not quite.
A target audience is a group of people your organisation wants to reach, but the potential customer is the individual. A potential customer is a person who wants a product or service that can be satisfied by an existing business (maybe yours!). Still, they have not yet made a purchase.

Some reasons for a potential customer not buying from your business could be:

  • They can’t reach your point of sale (POS is where a customer makes payments for your goods or services).
  • They do not believe in the quality of your product or service.
  • They don’t know your organisation exists in the first place!
  • They chose the service or product of one of your competitors.
potential customer in target audience

What are the 4 Main Customer Needs?

 
Customer needs are what people require when purchasing your product or service. Without this, why would they buy? You must find out their needs and purchase intention to be successful, and this can be accomplished by knowing your target market. 
 
However, looking at the basics, there are four everyday needs of a customer that should always be fulfilled no matter what; price, quality, choice, and convenience.
correct price to reach target audience - woman online shopping

Price

It is vital to price your product or service correctly to match the quality you are providing. More often than not with purchase decisions, young people (among others) are drawn to low prices, but in the end, everyone wants the best value for money, whether it is cheap or expensive.
As long as you’re fulfilling consumer needs and providing a reasonable price for what you are offering, you should be fine.
Colorpeak can help you in marketing your business – if your prices are high, we can explain why!

Get a quote today.

Quality 

 
Leading on from the last point, quality is related to the standard of product or service your organisation is offering to your target market. No matter how much they are paying, they will always want a certain amount of quality. 
target audience quality control

Choice

 
This is also an essential factor to consider, especially as your business grows. Many companies expand by adding more products or services because they offer their target market more choices. If you have limited options, you have to market them carefully and perhaps approach them as ‘one-of-a-kind’.
 
This need is instrumental if you are an e-commerce business, as there might not be a physical shop to be restricted by!

Convenience

 
This is always the big one! Let’s be honest, with online shopping, we have become very lazy. We want the simplest way of getting what we want. Your organisation needs to incorporate this when thinking about your target market. 
 
It is also likely that consumers will be impatient; express delivery is so popular. Your target market is simply willing to pay more for convenience, meaning you could harness this after defining your target audience. 
 
Convenience doesn’t just include deliveries, but also less hassle in general. Having an easily navigable website and checkout is also great. 

If you need help with web design, you should call us today!

convenient express delivery for target audience

How Do You Target Customers?

 
Now you know some of the critical factors about customers’ wants and needs, let’s talk about methods of defining your target audience. 

Compiling Data of Your Target Audience

Firstly, look at the audience and customers you have already gained to focus on more data.
  1. Who is buying from you?
  2. Who is engaging with your content on social media?
  3. Who follows you?
marketing-target-audience-concept-with-focus-customer-group_1

Once you have a strong understanding of consumer behaviour and who already is interested in your product or service, you can begin to expand on the questions you need to ask for more demographic information:

  • What is their specific age? Try to find out the general age of people who want what you are offering, whether the decade or generation they are a part of.
  • Where do they live? This can help you understand the geographic areas to target. It can also help you know when you should be posting on social media. The algorithm might pick you up and show you in your target audience to more people. You can also find out when your customer services are needed the most; you’re not going to answer your customers if you are sleeping!
  • What language do they speak? Never assume it is your own language that your target audience speaks daily. People might also speak other languages, so do not think their location is tied to the language they speak.
  • How much money do they spend? Figuring out their spending power and patterns can be beneficial for targeting them to purchase your products or services.
  • What are their interests? What your organisation does isn’t their only interest, your audience has a whole life, and you need to figure out what else they enjoy, such as television shows as an example. Take a look at other businesses they interact with to begin the process.
  • What challenges are they facing? It’s a brutal world out there, and everyone has problems. Knowing the challenges your target audience faces can help you engage with them and gain their trust. It can make your business more relatable if you speak out about challenges people might be facing, and it can boost your interaction with potential consumers.

These can help with any different market segments, but it is particularly good for targeting audiences and getting an example group to look at a purchase decision.

hand-pressing-remote-smart-tv target audience demographics

Competition

 
We always have to mention competition for social media and businesses. Every organisation has competitors that they need to get ahead of to gain a larger audience and more patrons. Use them as an example! If you keep an eye on them, you can monitor what is working or not working for them and then adjust your future plans accordingly to ensure your store is heading in the right direction.

Top tip: Google Analytics is a great example of a tool to use for online whole audience insights.

target audience business competitors

Social Listening

You can uncover plenty of online conversations about your industry and maybe even your own organisation. Monitor example keywords and hashtags that apply to your organisation to see what people are saying what you and your competitors. You don’t have to be tagged in these posts, but you can still see them if you spend time investigating. We understand you might not have enough free time for this, and that’s why we can help!
social listening for target audience

What if my Target Audience is Another Business? 

 
Business to business companies (B2B) have to consider other things outside of the questions above to define their target market, which can include: 
  • What is the size of their business? You should look at the businesses that follow or engage with you. See whether they are a start-up or an enterprise-level company, indicating their needs.
  • Who makes the buying decisions? Find out who you would need to target within a company; maybe it is the CEO, CTO, or social marketing managers!
If you need help with your online marketing for audiences, never hesitate to contact us!
b2b companies business deals for target audience

Other Factors for Company Plans

To find your target audience and conduct market research, you need to know the target markets out there. Gaining a specific target audience rather than a wide audience means your marketing strategies and targeting need to be spot on with relevant campaigns with a clear brand message for your organisation. Your marketing strategy to gain the right target audience means marketing efforts need to be high and your need to communicate effectively and create content that your target consumers want to interact with to give you that competitive advantage. Marketing messages can be difficult to get across sometimes, especially when you don’t have time to focus on it, but a social media marketer can help (like us!)

Particular audience research is an essential step and can help your small business develop a clear idea of consumer behavior and pain points allowing you to develop messaging and respond positively to any customer through relevant content on your communication channels. This can aid with your marketing message toward a specific audience and holds significant potential when it comes to future marketing activities and content strategy.

If you need social marketers, contact us now!

About Author

Megan H.

Megan is aDigital Copywriter. She came to Colorpeak only send with her passion to write and be creative. Now, she writes articles based on keyword research for SEO optimisation purposes. She is also responsible for Social Media content creation to build brand's trust, increase engagement and community growth.