I’m often surprised when my dad says that he found one of my posts really interesting because I forget that although he’s not my target audience, he might still see some of my posts. Creating posts for a small business can give a weird feeling that nobody and everybody is watching – so who are you really talking to?
Don’t talk to everybody
Although it can feel like you’re putting your posts out there for the whole world to see, the truth is, only a limited number of people will actually see it. In social media terms, that number is called your reach or your impressions. Of course, growing your reach is an essential thing to do, but you also need to make sure each person you reach feels special. You want to try and write your posts like you’re talking to one specific person: the reader.
Sometimes, that’s easier said than done. For example, writing posts about your own personal wins can be difficult to address to just one person. That’s when you need to think “How does this affect my target audience?”. I recently had a post about a workshop I led alongside Easy PC Tuition. The workshop was great but the reader had already missed it, and so about half the post was actually about the next workshops we’ve got coming up and how the reader can benefit from those.
Who is your target audience?
As I said, my dad isn’t my target audience and yet he is sometimes the reader. The trick is to forget about the people like my dad and assume that the reader is always your target audience – but who is that? For me, it’s a small business owner who is struggling with their social media. And that’s actually slightly different to my “Ideal Client”. My ideal clients are small business owners who need support with their social media. That might sound like the same thing, but let me explain.
The point of social media marketing is to be at the front of your Ideal Client’s mind as soon as they realise that they need your products or services. If my posts target small business owners looking for a social media marketer, I’ll reach them too late. It’s like when you buy something online and then get adds for similar products for weeks, it’s not helpful.
It can take a little while to figure out who your target audience is and it’s not always obvious. For example, if you’re an artist who paints beautiful landscapes, your target audience isn’t actually art lovers but nature enthusiasts. You’re talking to the people who love going out and seeing those landscapes, and then you’re showing them that your work can bring those landscapes into their homes.
How to talk to your target audience
There’s not one right way of your talking to your target audience. It’s going to be different for everyone. If you went to a networking event, got chatting with someone and realised that you could actually help them, how would you talk to them? Would you give them some tips? Would you show them your work? Would you ask them questions?
I would personally try to find out more about why their struggling, answer some of their questions, share some tips and do my best to make them feel like there is a way out of that struggle. Now, if you have a look at my posts across LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, you’ll see that actually that’s what most of my posts are about as well.
It’s also worth remembering that your target audience isn’t going to be exactly the same person all the time. Some are going to be right at the start of the journey and others are going to be very close to becoming your ideal client.
Author’s Note
Hi, I’m Tesni at Ace of Media. I help small businesses across the UK with their social media whether they need someone to take it off their to-do list, someone to work with them, or they need pointing in the right direction.
If you believe your experience with social media could help or motivate fellow small businesses, please get in touch. You could be my next Featured Guest!
