With the number of social network users worldwide at 2.34 Billion today, I am going to show you how you can leverage these statistics at your advantage to reach your target audience.

You’ve got to determine who your target audience is in order to engage with them effectively. Who will benefit your product or service ? What problem are you solving? Does it meet a specific need? Is your brand unique? You need to ask all this questions before you send your information and reach out the best audience. Once you have done that, draw your followers to a funnel to start getting your list.

1- Finding Your Ideal Customer

Imagine the perfect customer and ask these questions:

• age group you want to target
• specific demographic
• if they have children
• career
• interests and hobbies
• income level
• specific geographical area

The better you get to know your customers, the more accurately you can serve them, help them to their needs. That way you will get free marketing because they will be your recurring customers that will share their stories. Gather enough information about them through your records; where they live, what quantity they usually purchase, what time of the day they are online, etc…

If you start a new business and don’t know who you are helping, go to Think With Google – source for insights, trends and research in digital marketing –  where you’ll get a lot of information.

2- Target the Right Media

When you have a clear picture of your ideal customer, it is easier to determine where you’ll find your prospects. Do some research to know which platform your audience would be using. For example, if you target women, 76% of women use Facebook versus 66% of men – among top 50 brands’ followers on Instagram, 53% are women. Click on the link above to see very interesting statistics that will help you gather enough information to choose the right platform for your ideal customer. The millennials now are using a lot Snapchat, consider it if you want to reach out to them. 280 Million active YouTube accounts with 54% users are men. If you are selling life insurance, twitter would be the best platform to use because it reaches an older audience .. so do your homework before you send information online because it might be a waste of time and might discourage you to stick with your business.

Consider also the way you are going to send your information, even if your customers are on social media, they use their mobile phone most of the time which means they can’t jump from one application to another one. Avoid to put links which require a different app, they might have it on their desktop but not on their android or iPhone. Use mobile-friendly platform to send your information to make sure your audience will get it.

3- Determine what your customers needs and engage with them

How your product or service can provide a solution to your audience? Is your customer a tech savvy? Is your ideal customer love traveling? Again, ask yourself all this questions to know what type of information you need to send on social media.

If your audience need to build their business online and need to get more leads, the best way to help them is to create an offer with free download in exchange of their email address or subscription on your website. You can also do a blog, a pillar content, an eBook, always ask for an email address that will help you build your list… As you know your list is your income.

Coupons and deals also attract people, so if you have a product, create a post with a price giving or “buy 2 get 1 free”. If you are targeting retired people, sell them in little quantity as they are in low-budget.

Your goal is to get your audience to stay with you, you want to convert your prospect into long-term paying customers. Engage with them all the time and make them feel special !

These are all examples but the basic idea remain:

• find whom you want to target and serve
• find the best ways to help them
• engage with them and make them feel special

Got some value, reach out to me and let me know

Kathy