How to identify the target audience on social networks in 30 minutes: a ready-made brief

What happens if you offer a good product to the wrong people? In 9 out of 10 cases, they won't buy anything. As you have already understood, it's not about the product but about the target audience, which is not always obvious. It is at this stage that entrepreneurs and specialists often make mistakes. 

Lacking insight into your target audience means you won't effectively establish advertising, devise a content strategy, or promote a product. While success may occur sporadically, it's unlikely to be impactful without this crucial understanding. This underscores its paramount importance.

And now let's find out what questions are necessary to identify the target audience on social networks. Let's do it.

Gender, age, and geolocation of your future clients

Determining the gender, age, and location of your prospective clients is essential, especially in niches where the target audience may not be immediately evident. Here's how you can gather this crucial information:

1. Consult with the client directly, especially if you're a specialist in the field.
2. Take a pen and a notebook and think about whether you are a business owner.
3. Use the statistical and analytical services provided by social media platforms.

If you don't have a community yet or only a few members in it, you can analyze the nearest direct competitor with a similar product.

Understanding Direct and Indirect Competition: Navigating Niches for Market Success

Identifying competitors holds significant importance. For instance, if you operate a pizza delivery service, your closest competitors are those offering a similar service—namely, other pizza delivery establishments.

In the realm of competition, we encounter both direct and indirect competitors.

Take, for instance, donut delivery versus pizza delivery—they vie for the attention of individuals yet to settle on a specific dish. If someone has already set their sights on pizza, they represent a direct target for your business.

In niches with few goods and services, the focus is primarily on direct competitors. Conversely, in crowded markets, the scope extends to encompass both direct and indirect competitors.

What other products or services is the client interested in?

This question reveals only indirect competitors if the previous one suddenly did not help. By the way, you can ask representatives of the target audience. Some potential answers to the survey question, "In addition to pizza, what other dishes do you typically order when getting delivery?" could include:

• Pasta dishes
• Salads
• Sandwiches or subs
• Chicken wings or other appetizers
• Desserts, such as cake or ice cream
• Beverages, like soda or juice
• Other types of pizza (e.g., different toppings or styles)

Identifying Non-Target Audience

It is important to pinpoint a non-target audience. This holds particular significance when promoting a widely-consumed product tailored to specific requirements.

Which audience should be excluded?

1. Possible negatives. Vegans may not be satisfied with burger offerings, and feminists may find "How to please a man if he is the King" training unsuitable.
2. Bots and individuals seeking freebies.
3. Competitors, their friends, family members, and employees.
4. Individuals outside the target audience due to objective reasons.

Which areas of interest do your audience members display regarding your activities?

This question gives an understanding of how to configure advertising since the customization options are quite wide. For instance, you can target individuals who have indicated preferences in their status, engaged with thematic videos, posted about specific topics, or saved audiobooks.

There are a lot of targeting opportunities, so it is also important to know the client profile. However, not in every niche does the audience openly demonstrate an interest in the product and indicate this in the profile.

Who or what might your prospective client be a fan of?

This inquiry serves to identify key influencers in your industry or potential collaborative avenues. However, in some cases, it helps to build a promotion strategy on social networks. If there are opinion leaders in your niche, you can establish cooperation with them.
"Who can the pizza delivery audience be a fan of?" you ask. Well, as an option:

• The series "Game of Thrones"
• Marvel movies
• Followers of a cartoon about teenage mutant ninja turtles

Following this, conducting tests targeting these audiences can provide valuable insights. While advertisements featuring movie characters may not always resonate, incorporating them into community content could yield more favorable results.

In what situation will the client use your services?

This question is suitable for niches where most people are your potential customers. A flower shop, a barber shop, a cafe, and, of course, our favorite food delivery.

By addressing this question, you'll approach your advertising campaign from a fresh perspective and may uncover unexpected insights.

What hobbies will the client use the services for?

This question splits the audience into segments in niches where the audience has different hobbies. For example, if you sell sportswear, what hobbies of your customers encourage you to buy clothes?

Running, football, fitness, martial arts, swimming, cycling, and triathlon. From here, you get the advertising message, "Are you playing football? Choose a uniform from us!" and all in that spirit.

What should a person have in order to be your client?

This inquiry is essential primarily in B2B niches, as well as in the realms of repair or enhancement of existing items. For instance:

1. What should a person have in order to order SMM services? Operating business. The audience can be segmented by business type.
2. What should a person have in order to contact a car service? Car. The audience can be segmented by car brands.

What problems or tasks does your service solve?

This question divides the audience into segments in niches where one product solves several tasks. For example, a gym is about:

• Weight loss
• Weight gain
• Stamina pumping
• Preparation for competitions
• Circular training
• Martial arts training

Based on the answers, you find an audience for advertising a gym.

With these questions, you'll be able to pinpoint your project's audience on social networks, enabling you to delve deeper into the nuances and refine your targeting strategy for optimal results. If you encounter difficulty with this task, don't hesitate to post a Task on Insolvo to find a Freelancer who can assist you.