We all have our services or products ready to put out into the world, but half the battle can be deciding WHO we want to sell to.

Customers don’t just magically show up on our door step, even when we’re using social media to promote ourselves. That is why in this series, we’re starting with the most important aspect of selling: defining your target market.

Now, what IS a target market?

Defined, a target market is a specific group of people you aim to reach with your marketing and messaging. 

On social media, these are the people that you want to become your followers, website visitors, and customers. You have something that is valuable to them, but they don’t know who you are… yet.

It’s crucial to understand everything about them so you can know where they are and how to reach them. This is done through research.

Conduct Audience Research

You can’t be vague. Understanding every little bit of your target markets life will let you know where they are, what they like, and what they struggle with. This way, you swoop in to save the day.

1. Start by examining your current customers. How old are they? What is their gender? Where do they live? Then, go deeper: How much money do they make? What are their interests? In what stage of life are they in?

2. Study your competition: Examine which keywords and hashtags your competition is using in their content, whether or not they’re investing in advertising, and how they communicate with customers on their channels. Are they engaging in conversation, or leaving it up to the audience? Dig deep into their followers list and gather even more insight. 

Once your research is complete, write out a target market statement. It will look something like this:

My target market consists of [gender] aged [age range]. They live in [place or type of place], and like to [activities or interests].

Feel free to incorporate as much detail as necessary. Maybe your audience has a particular hobby or belief in common - use this to your advantage.

While all of this information and your statement is super helpful, it can be hard to think of this as a real, live person. How do you humanize a statement? This is where a buyer persona can really come in handy.

What is a buyer persona?

This is your ideal customer defined as a fictional person. Their interests, beliefs, challenges, education level, and much more are outlined, allowing your social media strategy to remain aligned. Your buyer persona will play a huge role in targeting your social advertisements as well.

When you understand your buyer persona, your marketing messaging will reflect this. They will attract to the content you’re sharing, or investing in your products or services. In the end, you are solving their pain points and helping to achieve their goals.

How do I create a buyer persona?

Pretend you’re having a conversation with your ideal buyer.

What do they do? Where do they live? How much experience in their industry do they have? Do they have a family? What does a day in the life look like for them?

This is where your customer research will be key. You can write out these details in sentences, or draw a picture. Even better, Hubspot offers an amazing tool, Make My Persona, that you can download and print out. Keep this in a spot you can see everyday to remind you not only why you need to produce well-researched, specific content, but WHO you do it for.

Thanks for reading! Check back next week when we go over part two of building a social media strategy: Setting S.M.A.R.T. Objectives!