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The first step in any marketing campaign, be it through traditional media or digital, is to know your target audience. As Zig Ziglar once said,
“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.”
Social media campaigns take knowing your audience to a new level. Social media communication is not traditional top-down messaging. The community, or target audience, is spoken to in a more personal or one-to-one format. This communication is two-way, and a successful campaign can lead to communication between the community members.
There are benefits and risks to businesses with this strategy. Businesses can benefit by learning more about their target audience, mine innovations from the feedback of the community, and be more efficient and attentive to customer service issues. The biggest risk to businesses is the loss of control of the messaging. Intuitively this sounds problematic for a business, but through transparency and authenticity in messaging, the community members can become brand ambassadors and maintain a positive brand sentiment.
Weixin (WeChat) is a Chinese social media platform developed by Tencent. As of 2023 Weixin has 1.671 monthly active users. According to Mahoney & Tang, Weixin’s success in China comes from its attention to detail regarding the wants and needs of its target audience. Weixin has become one-stop shopping for its users. The app allows messaging, photo and video sharing, and internet searching with results displayed within the app. With continued monitoring of its users’ needs, Weixin adds new features yearly. New features include linking bank accounts, taxi finding service, and the ability to open an online shop within the platform. Weixin’s continued responsiveness to its users’ needs keeps it relevant and an integral part of the daily lives of its audience.
Where should you start to define your target audience? The advice from Armstrong & Kotler is to start with the basics:
- Demographics – your target’s age range, life-cycle stage, gender, income, education level, religion, and occupation.
- Psychographics – lifestyle characteristics, and personality characteristics, such as need for travel, thrilled by adventure, frugal, weekend warriors.
- Behavioral characteristics – how your audience uses your product, their response to it, and their attitudes. What benefits do they seek from your product?
Social media interaction with your audience helps to fine tune your customer’s persona. Using interactive polls and surveys can give companies a closer understanding of who’s buying their products and better define their needs.
Word of Mouth 