Make your social media audience convert

social media audience

 

Do you ever wonder if your business and social media target are not the same? Do you struggle with converting your social media followers into customers?

If you answered “yes” to those questions it is very likely that you are not sure about your social media target and need to define the right one. From my experience, this confusion is quite common and this is why I decided to talk about it to make your social media audience convert.

Your goal is to increase revenue

For some businesses, social media is more a communication channel to raise awareness around a topic or product than a sales tool. In this case, it is ok if the audience is broader than the target clients. However, it is important to keep in mind that what you ultimately want is a successful and sustainable business, which comes with an optimal revenue.

You can have 100k followers on Facebook, but if no one converts, they won’t help you. I once saw a startup having a huge success on social media, but no paying clients at all. There was an obvious gap between the shared content and the products.

If this is also your case, you might have created awareness around a certain field or topic, but you haven’t created it around your brand. If your company is new, it could be worthy considering to pivot the business model and find a way to make revenue out of social media.

The metrics you should care about don’t relate to the quantity of followers but the quality of them:

  • Comments on each post
  • Number of people actively interacting
  • Number of shares
  • Subscribers to your mailing list
  • Leads
  • Sales

If you are not satisfied with them, you have to fill the gap between social media and your target. To do so, you work on both, the content and the target.

Work on your target

Define the target
First of all, you need to define the target. A good start is creating demographic profiles for your actual customers and for your ideal ones. Find out the age, gender, income, location, profession, likes and dislikes etc. If your product appeals to different groups, create a specific profile for each of them. This will help you adapting the content to the specific category you are targeting each time.

Find out where they hang out
The second step is to find out where they hang out, on what social media channels do they spend most time. We can briefly see the major ones:

Facebook
With its over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is definitely the most popular social media platform. It seems to be equally spread out between genders and age groups and that people with higher education and medium to high income use it.

social media audience

Source OmniCore Agency

YouTube
With its 1.3 billion users per month, YouTube is the second largest network. Men have a preference for YouTube compared to women and that it’s a great platform if you’re targeting younger users, but you have to create a good video with a catchy introduction:

social media audience

Source Fortune Lords

Instagram
Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform, but it has “only” 800 million monthly active users. It is a good channel if you’re targeting a rather young group and especially female:

social media audience

Source OmniCore 

Twitter
Twitter is losing some ground, however it is still a popular tool that, as of January 1 2018, has 330 million users. If you are targeting middle class from US, Brazil, and Japan.

social media audience

Source OmniCore

Snapchat
Snapchat is another very fast growing social media, reaching over 300 million active users per month. You can’t miss it if you’re targeting a younger and mostly female audience.

social media audience

Source OmniCore  

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the “most serious” and “professional” social media, the one that fosters professional connections to its over 250 million monthly active users: It is the place to go if your target is educated and has a medium to high salary.

Source OmniCore

Work on the content

Now that you know who and where your target is, you can adapt your content to it. Share something that appeals to them and in a way that is appropriate for the channel. You are among millions of brands on social media, so, you want to deliver value, make your audience happy to see your content because it is great and you don’t spam them with too many posts.

It is usually best to create specific content for each social media platform and not just share the same on multiple platforms.

Facebook
Facebook allows you to write longer posts. Try to write in a compelling way because people like reading informative content. But to grab their attention while they scroll down their feed, it’s best to add a picture or video.

YouTube
Well, YouTube is for videos only. What really is key is the introduction, as people would leave a video they don’t find interesting after 10 seconds. Ads on YouTube are quite annoying; however, they are a great opportunity for marketers because viewers are forced to see them and if they are good, they’ll remember the brand.
Having a good YouTube channel is probably the costliest social media of all, but it is worthy if one is marketing a product whose target is young, predominantly male and a video lover.

Instagram
Instagram is the picture social media par excellence. I think it is really important to think if one’s product or service is suitable for taking many images or not. Keep in mind that if your profile is mostly raising awareness around a topic and not your brand, the best thing that can happen to you is to become an influencer in the field, but it won’t bring you more sales!
If your product or service is suitable for pictures, then it is best to have a plan and use the same filters every time to create a more homogenous and visually appealing profile.
Captions are important to describe the product you are promoting. Make them compelling and explicative, make followers feel the value you are selling. Hashtags are also very important to make more people find you. It’s worthy to do a research and find the best one for your field.

Twitter
With the restriction of only 140 characters, Tweets have to be concise, compelling and straight to the point. To grab more attention, you can share a picture.
You can direct to articles or posts through links. Since also the characters in the link count, it is best to use a tool to shorten it such as bit.ly.
Many Twitter users go there for news, so it is best if your content is informative.

Snapchat
Teenagers on Snapchat post their “stories”, so to target them, you will take pictures, use funny filters, and upload your daily business’ story.
You can also create branded filters, which will only appear in specific locations you define. This makes them great when you are having an event. You only need to design and upload it, while people will be able to add this extra spice to their story at your event.

LinkedIn
The content you share on LinkedIn is more professional, but this doesn’t mean it has to be boring. You can upload pictures, infographics and even videos. So, you can be creative here as well!
People would mainly go on LinkedIn to look for business opportunities or expand their networks. What you can provide them is interesting facts about your company and products or your field. You can show how innovative your brand is and its deep knowledge of the industry.

Social media can boost your sales, but you have to use it in the right way, in order to engage with the right people and make your social media audience convert.

Do you know your target market?

Know your target market

 

The first question I ask when someone wants to start a marketing project with me is “do you know your target market”? It is one of the vital aspects to consider when you found a startup because it allows you to create the product accordingly. However, from my experience, some founders do not have a very clear idea about it.

This is why I’m sharing my tips on how to find your target audience.

1. Know the problem you are solving

First of all, think at the problem your product is solving. Does it address a specific group of people? Or is it something more generic that could apply to many categories?

In both cases, in the beginning you have to create an as specific and segmented audience as possible. Focus on just 1 or maximum 2 groups. You will tailor your product and communication to them.

The trick is to always start from small and then scale.

2. Segment your target market

How to segment your market? Make it simple.

If you’re a B2C start from location and demographics such as age and gender. Then also look into some other information such as interests, buying habits and income.

If you’re a B2B, you will want to know what is the type and size of business you are targeting, who is the person you are going to talk to, what is their role and experience.

I think it’s really important to have a very clear idea of that.

3. Get data with surveys

Now that you know which groups you are going to focus on, try to get data about them. What do they like? What is their consumer behaviour? Would they be interested in your product? How can you best approach them?

This is the time for you to create a survey. I would recommend to start with the easiest resource you have: your own network. If your friends are in the target market, send it to them on social media. Reach out to all the people you know and that can be relevant for you. Don’t be afraid to ask to put you in touch with the ones they know. If you are a B2B, send it to your email list of relevant people in the industry.

It might not be the most professional way, but it can always give you an insight on what people need and in a very simple way. You might be very surprised and completely change some aspects of your business.

You can also send out the survey via email if you have a database or do it through LinkedIn. Just look for people in the industry and contact them. This might even help you find new potential customers. In any case, trying does not hurt!

4. Use data from existing products

Are you offering something that is similar or correlated to an already existing product or service? Lucky, you: investigate this market and use its data! It is very likely that their clients will be yours as well.

You can start with a very basic and easy market research: go around and observe people’s behaviour with products that are related to yours. For instance, let’s say you are creating a line of natural organic cosmetics. Go to health shops and spend a lot of time there. Observe the customers, who they are, their behaviours and preferences. Also, look at how they buy, how many items etc. Are they mostly male or females? How old are they? Do they seem to be coming from a specific ethnic group? There is a lot you can find out just by being there, paying attention and taking careful notes.

Once you have those data, apply them to your own business strategy.

5. Find out where they “hang out”

Your market analysis does not only apply for physical places, like in the above example. Since we live in a digital world, to know more about your target you should also find out where they “hang out” virtually. Visit the forums, websites, join the social media communities and groups. Again, observe the people, who are they? How do they behave? Are there specific influencers they follow?  Is your target actually there? Or is there another “place” you can look into?

This is very useful information as it will also help you to tailor your message to the communication channel, once you are ready to promote your product.

 

In general, don’t base anything on assumptions but test as much as possible. And this will also lead us to the next point.

6. Release your MVP and test

Currently, one of the most successful business strategies for startups is the Lean Startup Model. It comes from Eric Ries’ best seller “The Lean Startup”.

The idea is to create a Minimum Viable Product or MVP as soon as possible, in order to test it with real users. This will allow you to get information on what the market needs and wants, from which you will adapt your product. There is no need for you to wait to have something perfect, just get out the roughest idea of your product.

You might realize that some features are not perceived as useful as you thought or, vice-versa, your testers might make you aware of something you didn’t consider and that would be a deal breaker for them. You might even find out that the target you individuated is not as effective as another one.

With all these insights, you will be able to further develop your product according to the market and make sure it is something they want. If you had spent most of your resources to come out with a “perfect” product with all the features, it would be a real pain if you needed to pivot.

 

These are my tips on how to know your target audience. How did you do with yours? Please leave a comment below, would love to hear from you.

For more information on my marketing strategy service for startup please visit the specific section. If you have questions, please contact me at mail@annafranchi.com

 

8 reasons why you should care about having a mobile friendly website

 

A mobile friendly website will benefit you in many ways. You’ve heard it before. However, when you run a startup you and your developing team might be very focused on launching the product, engaging new customers and building up a brand, that you forget about it. Also, when you have a small business that has been running for years, your daily activities are so overwhelming that you don’t think about it.

This is why I wanted to share the 8 reasons why you should optimise your website for mobile.

1. More people access the internet on mobile

In 2016 mobile became the primary internet access device, overtaking the desktop. Google Webmasters say that 94% of people in the USA use their smartphones to search for local information. And the statistics are not much different in the rest of the world. In many developing countries people have a mobile phone before they have a computer.

This means, it’s very likely that your existing customers will go on your website from their smartphones. Also, if you want to attract more visitors, you better offer them a mobile friendly website.

2. People behave differently on mobile

The same people have different behaviours when accessing the internet from their phones than from desktop.

First of all, the reduced size of their screens make them feel more attracted to short videos and images as opposed to text. Think at Instagram, which has based its success on people accessing and sharing images on mobile.

This means that if you care about mobile optimization, you should design a website that prioritizes this type of content.

3. Your sales will increase

Research shows that people tend to spend more money on mobile. Especially on smaller and more frequent purchases. So, if you sell small goodies on your website, it’s really worthy for you to give your users a smooth experience.

Check your website’s speed because people get frustrated and are 5 times more likely to leave a page if it loads in more than 3 seconds. They would also abandon the purchase when the shopping cart is not optimized for mobile.

But even if you don’t sell anything on your website, by giving your users a better experience, they will know you better and be more likely to buy your product or service. For instance, if you are a beauty salon and want people to book their appointments online, make sure you make it easy for them.

mobile friendly website

4. Your SEO ranking will improve

Google has started rewarding mobile optimized websites already a couple of years ago. Its algorithm is able to check mobile responsiveness and penalize the websites that perform poorly.

There is also a very simple reason why a mobile friendly website will help you in your ranking: if you give all those people accessing on mobile a smooth and pleasant experience, they might spend more time on your website. This means that your bouncing rate will decrease. Google will see it as if people were more engaged on your site and, therefore, reward you.

5. People often switch devices

Nowadays, 90% of the customer journeys happen on multiple screens. People might find out about something on their phones, maybe when they are bored on their way to work. They would then go back to complete the purchase or action on another device later. So, it is very likely that your customers will access your website from their phones at a certain point.

Make sure you give them the best possible experience regardless from where they navigate your content.

mobile friendly website

6. Mobile landing pages work differently

A landing page is the first content people access when visiting your website. It’s your one shot to providing a good experience that will make people convert and return to you.

As we said, people behave differently when on mobile and this applies also to your landing page. First of all, phone screens are smaller and require a different design, where users don’t need to zoom or pinch the page. They want to be able to read the entire content smoothly.

Remember to design all the call to action buttons and links with the right size and margins to avoid errors. Also, make sure that your phone numbers are text and not image to allow people making calls directly.

7. Social media traffic happens mostly on mobile

Nowadays, people use their social media mostly on their phones. Certain very popular networks such as Instagram and Snapchat are almost for mobile use only.

So, if you are active on social media, your content will very likely refer to your website. This means that most of your site visitors coming from social media are on their phones.

If your website is not responsive for mobile, you are wasting your money and time on social media. But if you make the effort, you will take full advantage of this incredible tool.

8. A good and optimised mobile website will differentiate your brand

If you didn’t focus all your efforts on creating a mobile website don’t worry, you are not alone. According to a recent survey by Yodle, 52% of small businesses websites are mobile-friendly. In addition, only half of them are actually efficient and good.

This means that statistically some of your competitors might not have thought about it yet. If this is the case, you might have found a new incredible competitive advantage. You can be the one giving a better experience.

I think this is especially true for startups. You are creating a new product that you are introducing to the market, so you have to show the value and create your customer base. With a poor mobile website, you might miss some great opportunities. The effort it took you until now is probably very big, so why wasting it in such small details?

mobile friendly website

So, what can you do now to get a mobile friendly website?

Now that you know why you should care about a mobile responsive website, what can you do?

First of all, run a test to see how your website is performing. Google offers the Mobile Friendly test for free here. They would also give you some tips on how to improve.

After that, if the performance is poor, go and talk to your developer. Do whatever it takes and optimise your website. It’s worth the investment and the effort!

How to create a successful social media strategy focusing on content

social media strategy

 

In the previous articles of the content is king series we talked about writing a good about us page and blogging. Now it’s time to focus on your social media strategy. After all, if you don’t spread the word, how are your customers finding your great content?

So, let’s see the why and what content to share on social media. I think one of the most important thing that you have to keep in mind is to experiment and see what is best for you and your audience. And then just repeat what works. You can also share content that had great engagement multiple times, as you already know your audience likes it.

Why content matters in your social media strategy

What brands usually want to achieve from their social media strategy is more awareness, more website visits and, ultimately, more conversions in general and sales. But sharing something regularly is not enough: it has to be compelling, in order to have people engage with it.

The social media algorithms tend to reward posts that have already some interactions by showing them to more people. So, the more interesting your content is, the more followers will give some sort of feedback on it. The more engagement the post has, the broader the audience who sees it. And, ultimately, the broader the audience, the greater the chance of conversions.

This is why it’s also important to have conversations with fans on social media. So, involve them in your business life, tell stories, ask questions, ask for comments and to answer to surveys. Try to have a dialogue with them and encourage their interaction with you and within the community of followers. This is good not only for your analytics, but also for your image, as it shows the human side of your brand and that you care about you customers’ opinion. It also helps growing your content.

Having a good, informative and useful content is also a sign that you value your fans’ time. They will appreciate your posts and be more likely to share them with their friends. This will make them ultimately respect your business and brand more.

Social media content: some ideas on what you can share

When it comes to what social media content to share you might think that your options are very limited. Well, they are not. There’s a lot you can post to create a page people will interact with. Here are some ideas:

social media strategy

Visuals are more eye-catching and less intimidating than full text posts. Try to capture your followers’ attention when scrolling down the feed with some images, GIFs or videos. Remember, people check their social media when they are bored and are looking for something interesting. This an amazing opportunity for you to provide them with something that entertains them.

To engage your customers and show the human side of your brand, share images or videos related to your routines as well as special occasions. They might be from team building activities, your Christmas party, to introduce new hires, as well as new products. But don’t focus on selling: as we have already discussed for blogging, you are trying to provide value.

Your fans won’t spend too much time reading very long articles. However, if a catchy visual gives them a quick understanding of what the text is about, they might be keener to read or at least skim through it. Their time is limited and they will appreciate you taking it into consideration. An image or video is also a great way to break long paragraphs, making them easier to digest for online readers.

social media strategy

Announce your new blog posts or any other content. But try to be creative, with visuals and compelling descriptions. I also recommend to add a call to action, maybe a question for your fans on how they deal with the subject of your article or ask to comment on it. This helps keeping them engaged and drives traffic to your blog.

social media strategy

Re-sharing your users’ content is a great thing you can do for many reasons. First of all, it shows that you care about them and that you are grateful for their engagement. Secondly, it’s content that is already there without you needing to create it. It’s also free advertising you get and it’s of the most genuine kind, since you didn’t even look for it. Always remember to thank and credit the follower.

social media strategy

Ask your fans to answer a survey on your services/products or a poll on something related to them. As we previously said, it’s a great way to show how much you care about them and your opinion and how much you want them to be part of your decisions. A nice and funny poll is also something your followers might share themselves with their friends, giving you more visibility.

social media strategy

Create a contest. For instance, you can ask people to share a picture of them using your product and to tag you. Whoever gets more likes will win a prize. People can become competitive and you’ll be surprised to see how much engagement it can get. However, this works best if you already have an audience.

social media strategy

Share compelling third party content related to your field. It gives credibility to your business, as you show that you know the big players in your industry. You also want your page to be interesting, informative and useful for your audience. Content that comes from somebody else is great to add value. You are welcome to use it but always credit your source.

social media strategy

You can also post inspirational quotes to make people think and too improve your image. Think about it, when you’re having a bad day, this kind of content can help you feeling better. And if you helped a customer feeling a little better, there are more likely to remember you and visit you page again. For some people, your quote can become a daily or weekly boost.

 

And now to you, what is your social media strategy? What do you like to share? I’m sure I missed some type of social media content… Please leave a comment below to let me know if you know something I didn’t include! Thanks.