Social Media: What is All the Fuss About? Stage 1

The business world is changing fast and at the forefront of the change is technology. One of today’s marketing buzz words is ‘engagement’, which directly links to social media. However, a lot of business owners are wondering what all of the fuss is about and whether it actually delivers solid organisational benefits – particularly sales.

The world of social media is a potential minefield for the uninitiated and most business people have heard mixed reviews about the various channels available. It’s sometimes easy to ‘jump on the bandwagon’ when a marketing tool is free but this isn’t always the best route to take.  In this business article (the first in a series of expert comment pieces) we delve into the social media phenomenon and give a basic overview of where to start and what to think about.

Stage One: Who’s Your Target Audience?

The first stage of any marketing campaign is to consider your target audience. The majority of businesses skip this stage to jump straight into tactics, i.e. “Let’s set up a Facebook Page because all of our competitors have one”. This is a major downfall for most social media campaigns.

A successful way to think about your target audience is by creating a customer persona (or several, depending on your business). This is essentially a summary of the main characteristics of a customer/ client. For example, a Laura Ashley ‘soft furnishing’ customer is:

Likely to be called Dorothy, she lives in the Home Counties and is a housewife.  Her husband has a disposable income of about £60,000 a year.  She is very house proud and socialises mostly through coffee mornings and dinner parties with her neighbours and other mothers from school.  She listens to Radio 2 and watches costume dramas and murder mysteries on the television.

What social media do you think ‘Dorothy’ is likely to use, if any? You might be surprised to learn about the demographics of certain channels…

Social Media: What is all the Fuss About? Stage 2
 

This article has been written by Tanya Hemphill, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Public Relations, based at the Warrington School of Management (University of Chester).