3 Audiences on Social Media You Are Marketing To

What audiences on social media are you targeting with your marketing?

We are all familiar with demographics when it comes to social media. We might be looking to target middle-aged women, or college-aged men, but these criteria are pretty superficial. We need to ask ourselves what audiences on social media we are really looking to target when it comes to social marketing.

There are three very specific types of audiences that we aim to engage with on social networks. Each of these groups engage with brands in very different ways, and our marketing efforts need to reflect that.

In order to simplify the explanation of these audiences, we’ll stick to one, easy example: a health research institute.

Direct Affect

When it comes to health, wellness and research, there is a small group that consistently has one aspect of the field or another on their mind. These are people who have been directly affected by the illness or condition that the research is looking to cure.

For the health research institute, the goal in using social media is to keep this highly and inherently engaged audience up-to-date with the work that is being done and breakthroughs in the field.

While sharing content every second of every day is not necessarily going to be the best course of action for most brands, there should be an attempt to keep this audience active on social channels by sharing content relatively consistently.

First-Degree Separation

Now a much larger population when it comes to this health research institute is going to be the one made up primarily of people who have not experienced the condition that the research is hoping to cure, but who can relate personally to it due to the fact that someone they know or are related to someone who has.

This is a group that does not consistently think of this ailment, but when it is brought to their attention, it certainly resonates. For the health research institute, there needs to be an effort every so often to remind this second audience on social media as to why they exist.

This audience does not follow the activity of the health research brand as closely as the first group, but calls to action will certainly resonate, often profoundly.

Societal Connection

The third and final audience on social networks is the one least aware or affected by the brand. This group is not thinking about the activity of a brand consistently, if ever, and will likely not pay attention to the content unless it is relevant within society.

One example of this is the month of October for breast cancer awareness. During this month, the cause is seen almost everywhere, from community fundraisers to the NFL. It is during this period that research institutes can generate new awareness within this third audience. From there, during the rest of the year, the content shared to the first degree audience may seem a little more relevant to this somewhat removed group, and calls to action may generate more success.

Of course, there are other audiences we may find on social networks. But these three categories need to be front of mind when creating content. Understand what types of audiences will be looking at your content, and diversify your content strategy in order to appeal to every one of those audiences.

How do you appeal to all three of these audiences on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!