In business, getting to know your customers is necessary to make effective business decisions. Below are three key pieces of information that can help you learn about your audience and develop better communication practices by using social media platforms such as Facebook, forums, Twitter, etc.

1.Find out who your audience is

How old is your audience, do they have children, married, internet expertise and what are their spending habits? Does the majority of your audience spend their time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.?  This information can be found by looking at secondary sources for information from market research sites such as www.nielsen.com, www.pewresearch.org or sites specialized in your industry. For example Nielsen research shows a  growing trend of baby boomers participating on Facebook, this would be a good social media platform for a life insurance company.[1] A specialized industry site such as theknot.com shows that future brides have a 95% participation rate on Facebook,89% on Pinterest and 33% with Twitter.[2] Given this information, it would be best for the wedding industry to focus their efforts on these platforms. Don’t waste time and resources on social media platforms that your audience has no interest in, do the research and get the attention your company deserves. Go where the people are!!

2.Listen to them

Look for your audiences existing conversations on different social media platforms. From your readings get to know people’s opinions, activities, beliefs, interests, concerns, etc.Learn from other business social media communication to see what is working for them. This information is important because it gives you insights in the industry, customers preferences, snapshots of how the competitors are doing and many other factors. Also, not only what your audience is saying is important but how they are saying it. Different jargon and words are used to describe the things they like to talk about, pick up on the language so that you can use it in your future social media dialogue. People in society often adapt to a social environment by mimicking each other, which helps them relate to one another. In marketing it is vital to develop these relationships with consumers to create effective messages and gather information.

3.Talk to them, share knowledge

Converse with your audience on blogs, Facebook, forums, etc. to see what the key issues are. In conversing, it is important to build a positive relationship by being honest and not pushing a personal agenda. Give helpful information and be resourceful on social sites to increase interaction with the audience. One way communication to obtain information fails to engage participation, after all why would your audience want to provide information if you didn't have anything to offer. Sites like Quora.com are built upon the promotion of two-way communication. The company helps people get answers to their questions from users in the community. They make this information available to everybody with the intention of expanding the knowledge for all. The company’s success is built upon the basic fact that people like to share in an environment where information is being shared. Sharing is caring, and it gets you the information you need to be successful.

In conclusion whether you’re trying to build brand awareness, improve brand perception or other social media goals, knowing the audience is key to your success.

As a student I plan to increase my knowledge of new ways to monitor social media trends.As the information becomes available I will make it accessible on my blog.


1) Baby boomers http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/millennials-much-deeper-than-their-facebook-pages.html
2)  Future brides  http://www.xoedge.com/xogroupinc/pdfs/2013%20Real%20Weddings%20Presentation%20FINAL_SALES.pdf


#social media marketing #market research #advertising #social media