Posting for the People: 7 Tips to Reach Your Ideal Audience on Social Media

Your digital marketing is going to stick better if you think about WHO you are speaking to - and then customize your content to fit that specific audience. Kelsey shares 7 steps to dial in your content strategy to reach the audiences you want.  

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Transcript

Do you ever feel like you’re just posting and hoping? Are your social media posts really effective? Try focusing your content on the specific audience groups you want to reach.

Your digital marketing is going to stick better if you think about WHO you are speaking to. 

If a child yells “Hey” in the middle of a crowd, you might turn and look. If you hear “Mom” you are more likely to glance up. If you hear your name? You are definitely paying attention, right? 

Now think about the thousands of impressions your customers are getting as they scroll through social media. A general post may or may not catch their eye. A post that speaks directly to them? Way more effective. Follow these steps to dial in your content and get more engagement - and conversions - out of your social media posts.  

1) Determine your audience. 

Write down your different customer groups/audiences. Examples may be brides, plant lovers, gift givers, flower buyers or decor shoppers. Write them down, and then make note of key characteristics that each group shares. This can even be seasonal - maybe you noticed that all your brides are wanting a certain color scheme. Make sure you include some posts featuring that color scheme in your future social media strategy. 

2) Pinpoint their pain points. 

Write out some common problems or desires that they have. What questions do you get from these groups? Your flower buyers may want to know what’s in season, or how to get more life out of their purchase. Your decor shoppers may wonder what the current trends are. Online forums about these topics or scrolling Pinerest are good resources for research. 

3) Be the solution. 

How does your product/service solve that problem or fill that desire? See if you can write down 1-3 specific things down for each question.

-> For example, my "Plant Parents" want to know what pot their plant needs. I can answer that by explaining how plants are sized, by explaining different drainage needs, and by talking about how to know when to repot. I could talk with them about how to choose pots that complement their current home decor, or adding drainage trays or pads if needed to prevent floor damage. Five posts just from that one question. (Feel free to steal these, by the way!)  

4) Use Keywords. 

How would you talk to someone from that customer group if they were in your store? Would you use different keywords or language to speak to a bride than you would to someone buying a birthday gift or funeral flowers? Write out some keywords that those customers may be using or looking for. Sprinkle those into your social media posts and use them as hashtags. If you’re posting a video, use those keywords as part of your script.  

(P.S. Use this list of words in your website copy - in your product descriptions, Google products and blog posts. Want to learn more? I talk keywords in this post about SEO)  

5) Set the Hook. 

Start your post by talking directly to that audience group.  "Hey fellow plant lovers!" - is going to grab the attention of the person that post is meant for. If a person isn't a plant lover, they are going to either keep scrolling or be intrigued enough to read on. Pose a question, tell a story or make a bold statement… for example, you could say “Purple is the best color to decorate with in the fall” and people that love fall decorating are going to stop and read what you have to say - even if they disagree with you. 

6) Lead them. 

Everything you post needs a call to action - the specific route you want you readers to take. Say what you want them to do. Ask them to do it. Examples are liking a post, leaving a comment, or following a link. So what would be the best call to action for each group? This will depend on the content of your post, but keep the end goal in mind. You want your bridal audience to book a consultation with you, so you need to include a link to your wedding page or “contact us” page of your website. You want your plant lovers to see you as the go-to place for plants, so you share an email marketing lead magnet that is a plant care sheet. Your call to action needs to make sense for the route you want that audience to take. 

7) Cycle your posts. 

Set up a rotation of posts geared toward each audience group, touching on a variety of topics. This doesn't need to be every day, it could be two posts a week or two posts a month. But having this system in place will make sure that you are reaching the people that matter most - with intention! 

Your action task this week is to write down your top 5 audiences, and make a list of 3 questions you can answer for each audience. Not only will this help you focus your posts better, you’ve now just outlined 15 social media posts!