Social Media Marketing Strategy - Your Target Market is Question #2:

On the last post we covered the first of the 3 important questions to ask yourself (and answer) when beginning your social media strategy.

Today is about Question #2 -Who do you have to reach in order to meet your objective? (btw, your objective was the answer to Question #1)

Again, social media marketing efforts aren't isolated. They should be part of your broader marketing strategy. The people you're trying to reach via social media SHOULD be a targeted group of your business in general.

Just as in traditional marketing, social media marketing requires that you know as much about your targeted audience as possible. I read a post somewhere comparing the process of targeting your market to handicapping horses at a racetrack. You want to know as much as possible about them so you can make a wise "investment" (a.k.a. bet). Sometimes marketing does seem like a gamble and the more you know, the better decisions you can make.

• WHO are you going after?
• What do they know about you / your business already?
• What do you know about them?
• What will resonate with them?
• How are you already communicating with them? 
• What social media tools are they already using and how?

You want to know your market's demographics. Are they male/female/young/old/married/single/ apartment dweller/home owner/ etc.

What are their pshychographics? What do they think / How do they feel about issues / Are they animal lovers / etc.

If you want to reach people via social media, it's equally important to understand your market's technographics; how and where they interact online. (Technographics originally coined and used to market VCRs in the 80's. Companies needed to understand and target those customers who were not afraid of a 'more complicated' appliance. After all, there was a clock to set on the thing.) 

Forrester Research has a helpful "technographics tool" you can use to get a broad generalization of the technographic landscape of your targeted market.

So to recap, Question #2 is WHO are you trying to reach?

• What social media tools are they currently using?
• Is this a target group identified in your organization’s communications plan?
• How are you already communicating with them?
• What do you already know about them?
• What do they know or believe about your organization or issue? What will resonate with them?
• What additional research do you need to do to learn about your target audience’s online social behavior or understanding/perceptions about your organization or issues?