How to tailor your social media content to your target audience

Getting a comprehensive idea of who your audience is on social media (in other words, their interests, goals as well as personas) is only helpful if this information is utilised in order to inform the manner in which you will communicate with them. Tailoring your social media content specific to your customers as well as prospects will increase engagement which is the beginning of a connection.

Asking for the sale every now and then is not the end of the world, but constantly asking people to check out your company, product or service can end up being annoying. This means they might end up unfollowing you. That’s the last thing you want, especially if you worked so hard to get them to follow you in the first place. So, what type of content should you post on social media that can help strengthen awareness around your brand?

Here are steps to customising your social media content to fit your audience:

Find out the place at which your customers are

Even if you comprehend your audience’s pain-points in addition to their behaviours, it is possible for you to create the finest social media content, it won’t ever get you far if nobody finds and reads it. Research where your audience is spending most of their time online and focus your social media marketing efforts there.

Equally significant as analysing the channels which your target audience adopts is taking into account the social media accounts that your competitors are managing. This will offer a baseline relative to which it is possible for you to gauge industry activity as well as determine what actions you should be taking.

Perform thorough competitor research

When conducting your competitor research, ask yourself the following questions:

• What kind of content do your competitors put up?
• How often do they post it?
• How many likes or shares (in other words, engagement) do their posts get?

Verifying how actively engaged your competitors are on social media, in addition to how well their followers are engaging with what they post, will give you valuable insights that you can then replicate in order to guarantee success for your own social media strategy.

It is possible for you to make use of social listening tools in order to ascertain which brands in your industry have the most-extensive reach in addition to the largest influence on social media. Buzzsumo, for example, will allow you to analyse your competitors’ top-performing content according to social shares and which content formats as well as  lengths best engage users.

Answer questions

One of the best sources of ideas for content is your audience. As part of getting to know them you should have gained a deep understanding of their pain points, challenges as well as the questions they have.  The content you create should address this information which you uncover.

Present content in the correct format

Depending on the make-up your buyer personas, your audience may choose to consume content in different ways. Do experiments with blogs, images, videos, infographics, SlideShare presentations and other content formats. Measure which receives the most engagement.  Also remember that 71% of users access social media from mobile devices. Be sure your content is optimised for smaller screens.

Tone

As you watch conversations that your customers and prospects are involved in, pay close attention to the tone and vocabulary they use. In order for your content to relate to them, it should use a  similar tone. Know your social media goals – every post that you publish and share on your social networks must have a goal, an intention. Does your goal involve driving traffic to your site? Do you want to increase engagement (in other words, likes, shares, and comments)? Alternatively, do you want to build your leads list?

Content creators readily admit that devising ideas for any topic is challenging. Unfortunately, ideas don’t come easily despite the wealth of information which is available offline as well as online.

What Type of Content to Post on Which Social Media Channels

Each social media network is different, which is something you’d learn on a digital marketing course. With that said, it’s important to understand your audience. Below are some guidelines that can help you tailor your content for the different platforms:

1. Facebook

Facebook is seen as the new talk show channel of the world. People are constantly voicing their opinions and they are always engaging with other people when it comes to news articles, videos, and other content.

Knowing this, tailor your content in such a way where you are opening yourself up for a discussion. If people want to talk, let them. Ask for people’s opinion and ask questions. Maybe this can help get a conversation going around your brand.

2. Instagram and Snapchat

These two social media channels are seen as the reality TV shows of the world. Fans usually love behind-the-scene shots not to mention that stories make it so easy for people and brands to highlight what’s happening in their business during the day.

3. YouTube

If there was a series channel it would most probably be YouTube. YouTube is the second-most popular search engine in the world and it’s is where people go to binge-watch videos.  This is why influencers and brands are creating playlists and long-from video content that can help further boost the emotional and personal connection with potential customers.  Knowing this, think about how you can incorporate this into your own social media marketing and digital marketing strategies.

4. Twitter

Twitter is not so much about sharing content as it is about discussing it. Here people find the news and have conversations around a specific topic. Its search feature makes it very easy for you to quickly search a topic and join in an existing conversation.

Love social media?

Our Social Media Marketing Certification is a must for those who love interacting with people online and want to pursue a digital marketing certification to help them create a solid brand for themselves or their companies online. Digital School of Marketing’s social media marketing course is conducted online over a 12-week period and is considered to be the benchmark in social media marketing in SA. Follow this link for more information.

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If you want to get an increased insight into the word of content creation, we really recommend that you do our Digital Copywriting and Content Marketing Course. Follow this link for more information.