How well are you connecting with your audience these days? Knowing your audience is important, but if you’re not engaging with them, chances are you have more work to do. Many businesses think they know their audience, but it turns out that they still have a lot to learn. Fortunately, it’s never too late to discover new things about your buyer personas. In fact, this is something that you should be doing all of the time!
Below we share five of our favorite strategies for understanding your audience so that you can better connect with them.
1. Use an Analytics Tool
You must have analytics attached to your website. This is the only way to know who is visiting your site, where they are coming from and what they are interacting with. There are different analytic programs available, but Google Analytics is most popular. Plus, it’s free!
When you have Google Analytics tied to your site, you can discover who is visiting your website. If you don’t know how to read these reports, hire someone who does. It’s important that you make sense of this data.
Some of the most common metrics are:
- Pageviews
- New & returning visitors
- Demographics (e.g., gender, age)
- Interests
- Location
- User behavior
2. Understand Keywords
Keywords are words and phrases that your audience uses to find products and services related to yours. Including the right keywords in your content will send targeted traffic to your site. To ensure you are using the right keywords, you’ll need to do keyword research using Google Keyword Research and WordTracker.
3. Be Active on Social Media
Today’s consumers trust brands that are transparent. One of the easiest ways to show the authenticity of your brand is by having active social media channels. Post pictures from your business, share your blog posts and engage in discussions. You don’t need to be on every channel, but you should be on the ones that your audience is active on. Be sure to check the comments because you can learn a lot of about your customers this way!
4. Focus on a Specific Niche
There is no way to be everything to everybody. If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up spreading your resources too thin. Instead, carefully define your audience and focus on the people who fit your buyer personas. These are the people most likely to buy your product or service, so give them what they want.
5. Survey Your Audience
Surveys are an easy and inexpensive way to reach out to your audience and ask them some questions. You can then use this information to better understand your customers and what they expect from your business. Helpful survey tools include SurveyMonkey and GutCheck.
Getting to know your audience is crucial, as this is what allows you to create content that meets their needs. In turn, this will drive targeted traffic to your website and build trust and credibility.
