Have you ever found yourself under the influence of something you saw on a friend’s social media page? If so, then you’re not alone. Countless people now look at what trusted friends and family members have to say about a product before they make buying decisions. You can reach new social media demographics by appealing to this trend.
Smaller online businesses often struggle to break into the mainstream and have to be content selling to a particular demographic. Some eCommerce companies are connected to a youthful demographic while others might be seen as geared toward those in a particular geographical area. Make a list of adjectives you feel potential customers associate with your brand and then get ready to make changes.
Socially Marketing a Lifestyle Brand
Pundits often say that every brand is a lifestyle brand. The first thing you’ll want to do before trying to reach a new demographic is widen your base on social media. Take the list you made and ask yourself how you can use it to sell solutions to people.
People usually buy products because of a perceived problem, though they don’t necessarily realize this fact. Think of what problems your base might have. Every demographic has its own issues. Health-conscious consumers of all ages might be concerned about food additives. Market your brand as clean and gluten-free if you’re trying to attract them.
Recent retirees might be concerned about their savings. Gamers might be afraid that they’re falling behind on the latest trends. Figuring out what they need is your first step to influencing them.
Consider the idea that you’re not merely selling a product to your clientele. You’re selling them a particular lifestyle. This is also one of the big ways that larger companies have been able to reach massive demographics. Surf and skate companies, for instance, have used this kind of marketing for years.
They promote themselves as offering a slightly edgy rebellious image to customers while also showcasing a laid-back lifestyle full of leisure that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with their products directly. However, this image is every bit as much of a product as any tangible goods that they might be moving. Members of the general population who wouldn’t associate themselves with these sports find the image appealing and buy into the brand.
You might have noticed the same trend when it comes to marketing technology products. Purveyors of consumer electronics have been portraying themselves as offering early access to whatever might become the next big thing at some point in the future and therefore making their clients feel as though they were somehow part of a greater family. They also focus on greatly simplifying the decision making process so customers come to think of their solutions as the only available options.
Reaching Out to New Social Media Demographics Beyond Your Base
Instagram has made a name for itself in the last couple of years by providing marketers with a convenient location to promote themselves in a natural way. Watch what kind of comments you’re attracting. Once you start to see ones from outside of your normal social media demographics, tailor your posts to them.
Content is still king, so don’t spam them. Offer customers from exterior social media demographics solid reasons to keep following you. If your popularity is hurting, there are some that would recommend you buy Instagram likes to help promote your brand on Instagram. The thought is that once your brand has a greater number of likes associated with it, you’ll be able to grow it much more quickly since it will ascend to the top of lists in relevant categories. While this is not an approach I would recommend, you will find this advice on many sites on the Internet.
While it can be easy to forget that Instagram rates things in the same way as almost every other social networking site, you want to remember that you need to soar up those charts if you want people to read your message. There are literally thousands of posts being put up on Instagram and every other social network at any given time. This can shove unpopular ones so far out of sight that they never even get read.
Do Some Extra Marketing Research
Even though you may be focused on building your social media presence, there’s no reason you should put a stop to your traditional efforts. Use automated tools to check where your competitors are running ads and see which keywords they’re targeting. This should give you some idea of where you’re possibly sagging.
Keep in mind that social media posts do get indexed by search engines. If you find that your competitors are targeting some surprising keywords, then you can target them on your social accounts as well as on your traditional blog.
Don’t forget about the fact that sometimes keywords won’t necessarily match up directly with what you’re selling. That’s perfectly fine, and it ties back with the idea that you’re working on holistically developing your brand’s image.
Continue to Build Your Brand
Don’t lose sight of your company’s original image. Find a good set of brand guidelines to follow along with. As long as you don’t make it look like you’re posting spam, you can attract followers to your brand who will then help to market for you.
While social networks don’t play by the same rules that search engines do, a careful consideration of demographic tools can be very helpful. Google released their own tool for AdWords which can give you some idea of what people in your target demographic are searching for. You’re not going to actually attempt to beat your competition on AdWords using these tools, but once you see what people are looking for you can target your posts on Instagram and other social networking sites.
Once again, social media content is the most important aspect of the marketing process. Focus on providing something completely original and don’t neglect the fact that you’re not just stuck with posting text. You can post photos, videos, infographics for social media and even humorous items to keep your potential leads engaged with your brand.
Another great tactic is winning hearts and minds, by taking part in helping the local community, organizing fundraisers for noble causes, and supporting campaigns that resonate with a lot of people. Even though you probably won’t make a net profit while doing this, people will get in touch with your brand and see it as something positive, which can eventually result in a massive boost to your reputation and a bottom line.
Add Social Links Everywhere
Pay attention to any commercial television broadcast or mass-produced business card these days. While eCommerce experts might say that these avenues of reaching people are little more than dinosaurs, they’re able to remain relevant because of the fact that they’ve made sure to include their social links alongside their message.
A business card might have Instagram and Twitter symbols stashed right after the name and address of the person who issued it. You’ll hear TV news hosts inviting you to share photos online. Take a page out of their book and find ways to incorporate your social message with your standard one.
Assuming you’re already running a regular blog, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t have made sure to link to it your social accounts already. Make sure they’re all the way up at the top and feature convenient hyperlink images that resemble those used by UI buttons. This will help users of the increasingly dominant mobile web get to your Instagram and other social pages that much faster.
Don’t forget about RSS and Atom technology. News sources went wild with the fact that several major browsers were terminating support for these vital code bases, but the fact of the matter is few sites ever got traffic from social network posters who used live bookmark apps. Instead of playing to this audience, try adding an extra link to your Instagram account each time you make a post that goes out over a virtual wire. If other sites pick it up, then you’ll earn a little traffic back almost magically.
Nevertheless, you don’t want to get carried away. The object isn’t to spam people with links, but rather to get the word out. Consumers often aren’t completely aware that smaller companies are even socially active, which means their preferred brands loose an important opportunity to engage with them.
Get in the Head of Other Social Media Demographics
Many people struggle to think like others who are very different from them. This is only natural. However, you’ll need to get used to wrapping your mind around complex issues if you want to explore other social media demographics.
Usually, a night spent surfing other people’s Instagram pictures is a night completely wasted. You’ll want to set aside that much time, however, if you want to find out what your new target social media demographics are using social media for. Don’t lie to yourself and say that playing around is work, but make sure you actually take the time to figure out what people’s concerns are in the segment of the market you’re working on targeting.
Pay particular attention to what people fear or what they claim to lack. These are the areas that you’ll want to focus your marketing on. Once you know what to emphasize, you’ll sound more sincere and natural than if you didn’t do your homework.
Eventually, you might start to notice that people have begun asking if you can help them with things. Support via Instagram and other similar sites is in its infancy, but this is a golden opportunity to help early adopters latch onto your company. While it’s doubtful that a few nice comments about you helping them online will go truly viral, those you please could eventually spread the word to those close to them.
Influencing Social Media Demographics Over Time
Nobody can connect with new social media demographics in a few days, but social networks move faster than ever. Focus on winning over a small group of people at first before you start to branch out. Consider hiring an influencer if you’re having trouble building connections. Once you have a following you’ll be able to energize it like your original base and continue to grow your brand.
This is a post written by me on behalf of one of our many marketing partners. All opinions are 100% mine.
@nealschaffer
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