I spend more work-time on Facebook than I do personal time, but occasionally I will post something to share with my family and friends. I took note of the engagement on my last post and then looked at a few more. My mom reacted to more of my posts than my sons had. Wait – what? Really? My 72-year-old mom likes more of my posts and pictures than my boys who are in their early twenties. Yeah, and most people who are active on my Facebook feed are my age or older. Of course, I do have younger friends and friends of my sons on Facebook but that’s not really where they’re hanging out. Some of them are more active on Instagram, but they’re actually on Snapchat and Tik Tok.

When you’re planning a marketing strategy for your business, it’s important to know where your customers are spending their time. You can create beautiful on-brand graphics and spend a fair amount on social media advertising, but if you’re not reaching your customers then what should you do? 

A first step in making your marketing efforts more effective is to formulate a “buyer persona.” A buyer persona is a detailed description of your target market. To find your buyer persona you will create an “ideal customer,” a person who embodies the characteristics of your ideal customer. Give this person a name, demographic, hobbies and interests, and behaviors. Know their goals, what they are looking for, how they shop, and where they spend time on social media.

You will have more than one buyer persona. There is more than one type of person who will buy your products or services but not everyone will. Since your products are probably not designed for everyone, it’s important to develop a few buyer personas in order to find your target market. Think of ideal customers in a few areas: men, women, young, older, different income brackets. There are a variety of people in your customer base who will buy your product and by narrowing your buyer persona you can advertise your business to the right people.

Although a list of characteristics does not equal a persona, consider details like:

• Age
• Location
• Language
• Spending Power and Patterns
• Interests
• Challenges
• Behavioral Patterns
• Stage of Life

All of your efforts on maintaining brand standards, consistently posting on social media, and spending your advertising dollars won’t be for naught when you effectively develop and execute a marketing strategy. Defining your buyer persona is one step that will get you closer to a good ROI. If you need help with your social media and marketing plan, reach out to us at The High Road Agency. We are a full-service marketing and advertising agency and really enjoy helping you tell your brand story!