Don't Let Social Media Determine Your Audience!

The world of advertising has changed so much in the past 15 years.  We have gone from a world of print, radio and TV, all vehicles that require significant investment and planning, to an arena that seems to be driven by Social Media.  We are no longer handcuffed by long lead times and expensive media rates.  The ability to reach customers is literally at our finger tips. 

With this ease of access and flexibility I find that basic marketing principles seem to be flying out the window.  There are so many Social Media sites and the competition on these sites is so fierce it is easy to become overwhelmed and forget who you are trying to reach.  Everywhere you look businesses have a long list of social media buttons.  It seems as though the more sites you are on the more people you can reach.  If you are Applebee’s and your target audience is everyone then yes this is true.    

   

For most small to medium sized businesses that can benefit the most from social media it is not.  Even if your target audience is everyone it is unlikely that you have the bandwidth to effectively manage more then 3 or 4 social media sites.  You shouldn’t be on Facebook because it is the most popular social networking site; you should be on Facebook because your target audience is on Facebook. 

The first step in managing Social Media is creating a plan.  Your plan doesn’t have to be long or complicated but it should begin with identifying your target audience and end with analyzing your results.  The meat of your plan should include social media sites, GOALS (ding, ding, ding), content creation and scheduling.  If you don’t include these basic elements you are just wasting a lot of time on Social Media and not engaging your target audience. 

Don’t let the popularity of Social Media sites dictate your audience.  Take the time to understand your customers and what sites they are using.  Then decide how much time you can dedicate to Social Media marketing and create a plan!  Good Social Media Marketing is all about engaging your audience and this requires some planning.