There are many places to market your business online, but where to start? How do you know where your money is best spent? The answer needs to start with your audience.
Who is your best customer?
We begin by looking at who your ideal customers are. The more we can narrow down their demographics, the better we can reel them in. Age, income, hobbies and interests, family and home life, and education level…all factor in. That’s not to say we don’t want you to get a sale from anyone; this is just a starting point.
Once we know who we are talking to, we know their typical online habits. Research shows that 70% of Americans use some social media platform. Our job is to find which platform will best serve your business needs.
Know your options!
Social media can be overwhelming. Not all of us have the time to be active on all the different platforms. But we do know that people are creatures of habit, and we tend to gravitate towards what we know. For example, we know that 18-29-year-olds are the age group that uses social media the most. We also know that 69% of adults have reported using Facebook. 70% of the 18-29-year-old age group uses Facebook, 71% report using Instagram, and only 30% use LinkedIn. From this information, we know that if we target buyers in the 18-29-year-old age group, we will not be as successful on LinkedIn as we would be on Facebook and Instagram.
See how knowing our target audience will make a difference in where we put your marketing dollars?
It also depends on your product or service. Where does it make sense to market for you? If your product is a clothing store, it makes more sense to market it on Facebook, whereas if your product is more professional or B2B in nature, you might want to focus on LinkedIn.
Going Live…
If you are comfortable being in front of a crowd, you likely won’t mind this next bit. Live video offers authenticity and likeability over status images. People want to do business with those they know. Going live allows them to get to know you before meeting you.
All social media platforms are joining the trend of Reels, Shorts, or short clips of videos on your favorite sites. This is like selfies on steroids or live-action selfies. Show your audience what you do in short snippets. Aim for 15 seconds, and put yourself out there. It might be intimidating at first, but when you see the engagement, you’ll soon forget about feeling silly and start to think in terms of dollars.
For more information on how to start your social media efforts, take advantage of our free digital marketing audit. We will tell you loads of valuable information about your online presence!