Audience-Based Social Media Tips

A successful social media campaign has many attributes, but it can become easy to get bogged down in fine-tuning one or two specific details and lose sight of the whole picture. It is prudent to pick main areas of focus, while making sure that all of your bases are covered to some extent.

Social media marketing is indispensable in this day and age. But just because it is a widely sought-after platform does not mean that campaigns are always well-executed. Actually, the opposite is often the case. Many people have trouble wielding the power that social media affords them, and can function much like a bull in a china shop.

To do more than avoid this outcome and, hopefully, start or continue a successful campaign of your own, there are a few key characteristics of successful social media campaigns that you will want to keep in mind.

Know your audience

A successful social media campaign is aware of its audience. It also operates under the awareness that this audience is the reason the campaign exists at all. You can and should have concrete goals for yourself and your business, and know how your social media campaign fits into the trajectory of achieving them, but ultimately, you should take your cues from your audience.

First, learn from history. If you already have a consumer following or a client base, think about what it is that attracts those clients to your business and keeps them coming back. How can you do more of what has been working? How can you do it better?

Secondly, anticipate the future. What are your clients most likely to need from you in the coming weeks, months, and years? How is your customer base likely to change? What types of services can you offer that would make your audience more likely to share your business with their peers?

Use your audience

To really be successful, it is not enough to simply know your audience; you need to use it to your advantage and show that audience how what is advantageous for you is also advantageous for them.

One thing you can do to cement your relationship with your customer base is to acknowledge their input and make them feel heard. Be aware of when an explicit or implicit unit of feedback impacts the way you conduct yourself professionally and do business. Whenever possible, mention times when your clients have led you to certain conclusions or caused you to undertake certain initiatives.

By engaging in this way with your audience, you show people who aren’t even members of that audience yet that you are someone who values the input of your clients. Your clients will often help you help them, if you are open to the possibility.

This comes down to more than just saying what your clients want to hear; it amounts to putting your money where your mouth is. The stigma behind “saying what people want to hear” is the assumption that you will not follow through. But when you allow your audience to market to you, you can actually make good on some of their desires.