It’s normal to want to try each and every marketing trend you read online. The marketing industry is constantly evolving to make it easier to reach your target audience, but it never ends up being so easy.

I’m sharing why your marketing efforts could be going down the drain if you’re overseeing this key step, your target audience. 

Which Generation Should You Be Talking To? 

When crafting social posts and drafting email blasts, the language you use and scenarios you throw-in should be relatable to your demographic. Otherwise, the information is going to go right over their heads, which will result in little to no engagement. 

When I first started working here, my instinct was to assume that our clients’ target audiences were mostly Millennials. I was a Millennial and I knew how to speak to Millennials, so naturally, I wrote content that appealed to Millennials. It wasn’t until the first month of reports where I learned that my gauge was way off.

Each month, we assemble reports using Moz, Google Analytics, Buffer Analyze and other programs that give us insight into how our clients are doing analytically. Through those programs, we’re able to learn who our target audience is, their age range, where they’re located, which social posts they interacted with the most, which pages they look at most frequently and so on. 

Knowing which demographic you’re appealing to can give you a solid base for crafting content. If your audience is homeowners, you’ll know to throw in more home-related concepts, or maybe it’s commercial property owners and they are more likely to engage with office-related scenarios. The key is speaking the language of your audience, always. 

What Are Their Social Media Habits?

After you have a clear understanding of the demographic you’re appealing to, the next step is determining their social media habits. It would do your business a disservice to use Instagram as your main marketing medium when your target audience is mostly on Facebook. That’s why utilizing these analytics programs is vital for future marketing efforts. 

If your target audience is a younger Millennial/Gen Z crowd, you can use last month’s analytics to determine the type of content they engage with. This generation is much more likely to interact with contest and ‘tag a friend’ posts, so take advantage of this marketing tactic to spread brand awareness.

If your target audience consists of Baby Boomers or older, you’ll know that Facebook will be your best resource for reaching consumers. I’ve found that for this demographic, asking questions and including pictures in social posts usually do the best engagement-wise. It’s also never a bad idea to include an anecdote– everyone loves a relatable brand! 

Doing strategic research to determine the best marketing tactics for your brand is vital for appealing to your target audience. If the thought of crunching these numbers makes you want to run in the opposite direction, allow us to handle it for you. Fill out the form below or contact us today to take care of all your marketing needs!