For some time, it has been safe to assume that all of your customers are using Google to do searches for your products and companies in your industry. But that is no longer a sure bet as social media is starting to sneak up on search engines as the primary way that people search for information. Does your target audience use Instagram or Facebook? Do you know what separates the various social media platforms? What about video sharing websites? If you want to bring in more customers, you need to understand what digital platforms your consumers are using.
A few years ago, Facebook made a strong move to become an elite outlet for breaking news. The social media platform created its own media outlet, and then it tied hundreds of other popular outlets into its system. Today, Facebook is one of the most popular ways that people get their news. Social media is becoming like the new digital phone book, and it is giving search engines and online directories a run for their money.
If your target audience is under the age of 25 and you are using Facebook as your primary digital outlet, then you are missing your key demographic. The primary deciding factor on whether or not your target consumer is using a social media platform is age. Younger people prefer the short-form social media such as Twitter and Instagram, while the older audience prefers Facebook. When it comes to finding out which digital platform your audience is using, age matters.
If you are a devoted Apple user and use only Apple digital platforms to advertise your business, then you are missing the boat. Google has almost twice as many digital properties as Apple, and Google also owns many of the visual platforms such as YouTube. When you are trying to reach your target audience, using your own digital preference is a bad idea. You want to trust the market research done by experts and use the platforms that are known to be frequented by your target audience.
It is more than likely that your consumer target audience uses more than one digital platform for a variety of reasons. While younger people tend to prefer Instagram, they will also use Twitter to reach a wider audience when they want to say something that really matters to them. Younger people are also more likely to utilize a new digital platform than older users, which is another way to target the right audience. When you are putting your digital marketing plan together, you need to plan on marketing on and across more than one digital platform to reach the largest possible audience.
Determining where to find your consumer target audience takes a lot of research and experience. If you really want to maximize your marketing return on investment, then you should hire a digital marketing company that understands the differences between each platform and knows how to reach your audience effectively.
