Social networks are an effective way to promote a product or service online. They give brands access to an active audience and allow them to interact with it in a convenient way. One of the main tasks in advertising is to identify the target audience, potential customers for whom the product or service is intended. For quality promotion it is necessary to analyze the social network chosen for advertising. Knowing the interests and needs of the target audience, you can properly develop an advertising campaign and profitably sell a product or service.
Vkontakte and Facebook: how to identify the target audience
One of the most popular social networks, Vkontakte, has more than 190 million daily visits. This social network is used mainly for socializing and sharing entertainment content. The age category of users is from 9 to 30 years old, which should be taken into account when making a plan to promote the product. The platform itself provides an opportunity to set up targeting and specify the target audience by different characteristics. For example: the city of Kiev, 22-34 years old, men.
Special groups are created for communication of a narrow circle of people united by common interests, many of which have more than 200 thousand regular visitors. VK is a fairly universal platform that requires constant contact with the audience for promotion. It is live communication in this social network that plays an important role. It is worth asking, telling, showing and constantly sharing information.
Facebook is the world’s most popular social network, which is also quite successful in Ukraine, with 1.65 billion users. Developing an advertising campaign for this social network, it is necessary to remember that the main age category of users – 25-35 years old, of which a large number of businessmen, entrepreneurs, developers, bloggers and other users with creative potential, which have a fairly high solvency. Nevertheless, even these serious people are fond of quizzes, flash games and other entertainment that social networks offer. Unlike Vkontakte, Facebook provides tools to promote business pages. The diversity of the public provides ample opportunities for creativity and originality in advertising campaigns.
And while the audiences on the social networks listed above are different, the methods of engaging the target audience are much the same.
Target audience: criteria for definition
To qualitatively determine the target audience, first of all, it is necessary to accurately present a portrait of the future consumer.
CA is allocated according to the following criteria:
- product type;
- age and gender (male or female, child, adolescent or adult);
- Motivation (daily need, special offer or auction item);
- the intended purpose of the purchase (as a gift, for yourself, for work);
- place of purchase (store, hand-to-hand, online store).
The characteristics of the target audience are also important:
- geographic characteristics (where you live, study or work);
- Demographic indicators (age, gender, marital status);
- psychological characteristics (character type, social status);
- behavioral characteristics (frequency of product use, preferences).
CA needs
To determine the needs of the target audience, an unobtrusive survey is used, after completing which the consumer can receive a certain reward, for example, a purchase. A survey on the page itself can also encourage the visitor to explore the offer in more detail and stay on the page longer.
By analyzing and knowing the needs of the target audience, you can significantly improve the demand for the products needed in the market.
Needs differ in their forms:
- new – a new offering that didn’t exist yet, a startup;
- complex – so, solves several problems at once (cell phone);
- rigid – cannot be replaced by another product;
- flexible – can be replaced by another product;
- broad – mass consumption goods;
- narrow need – products for a narrow range of consumers.
You need to keep an eye on what attracts visitors the most:
- dry information (facts, texts, infographics);
- interesting themed pictures and photos;
- humorous articles;
- communication with visitors via video (video message, video blog, video conference).
How to attract the target audience
The main way of attracting CA is advertising. Thanks to contextual advertising, it is easier to identify potential consumers. It works like this: ads are shown to those users who have already been interested in topics related to your products. Among such users is much higher percentage of those who will make a purchase. Advertising in themed publishers should be used in groups with similar or interesting content.
The next option for engagement is inviting people to join a company or store group. Inviting is a rather labor-intensive process that requires finding and then inviting people who may be interested in the advertised product. The problem with this method of promotion is the limitation on sending invitations per day. (no more than 40 pieces for VK and an unlimited number of Facebook, the main thing that it was friends or friends of friends). You can use flash mobs, contests, raffles, webinars, polls, sharing thematic publications to attract an audience.
Daily challenges – daily posting of content (videos, photos, stories, comments) by the administrator has become popular in social networks. This increases traffic to the page and helps to promote the company’s goods and services.
Advertising in social networks: peculiarities of ad writing
When composing an advertisement, it is necessary to take into account such features of the target audience:
- positive – desires and dreams, for example, a girl wants to be slim, a teenager wants to be less pimply, a man wants to be more pumped up, and an old man wants to be younger;
- Negative – something that is annoying or that one is tired of, such as an angry boss at work, a loan, naughty children, or a jealous husband;
- hobbies – to understand the needs of CA, you need to know what potential consumers are interested in, for example, if you need housewives, you should pay attention to thematic groups devoted to needlework, cooking, interior;
- The social status of a person changes throughout his/her life and so do his/her preferences. For example, the target audience – young people under 25 with problem skin – are potential future graduates. An advertisement for them would sound something like this: “Clear your skin for graduation!”;
- fear – not the best option, but quite effective, an example is students who are afraid of expulsion;
- dream – a person does not want to work at a job for a long time, he wants now this car and that apartment, so you do not need to say “Earn”, you should say “A new car in just six months”.
Vkontakte and Facebook have become platforms that can not only entertain the audience, but also attract real visitors. The audience is interested in live contact, so companies should communicate with their users and answer their questions.
Advertising created in KOLORO branding agency is the key to future success.
