Social media can sometimes feel like you are standing on a soapbox in the park shouting but everybody is ignoring you. Or worse! Only the lunatics are engaging with you. The question I want to answer today:
How do you turn social media effort in a way to really connect with your target audience?
If your social media efforts don’t generate engagement with your target audience — resulting in an increase in sales — you are doing something wrong. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and figure out your positioning. It’s time for market research!
Market research
Market research helps you figure out the market. Sometimes it’s easy to think we have it all figured out. We think we know what our ideal client is thinking. But do we really? By performing objective market research we dive in with an open mind, fully willing to learn from our clients. This openness creates space for new perspectives and new opportunities.
What are the gaps in the market? And how can you bridge that gap? You will find out how you can position yourself to best showcase your unique value, meanwhile making your competition irrelevant. When you figure out what your market truly wants, you can adjust your messaging, so you speak their language. No more guessing or creating something that you think they need. You speak to their truth, to their soul, and you won’t be ignored anymore.
How do you do market research?
Start with an open mind. First, you do a braindump; write down all the keywords connected to what you do. Pick twenty of those to move forward to the first part of market research. How popular are the different keywords? Carefully analyze the search volumes and the trends of each keyword. This indicates the market interest.
After analyzing the market interest, pick a list of the five best performing keywords. Now you will continue with competitor analysis. Are people already selling stuff using those keywords? If there is no competition at all or if people are selling something totally different, beware. When something hasn’t been done yet, you can see that as a sign that it’s not a profitable avenue to pursue. This is, of course, a general rule. But when you find something that hasn’t been done yet; you are either a genius or a fool, pick which one’s more probable in your case.
You should end up with 1-3 keywords that have your interest. This is the market that’s really interested in what you have to say. Now you know there’s a group of people expressing a desire. Pick one keyword; this will be the market segment where you dive deeper.
The deep dive
For the deep dive, find the people and start talking with them. Where can you find them? Everywhere. Use enthusiast groups, Facebook groups, your network, or even networking events to connect with people that belong to this market. Make an effort to really get to know 5-10 people that belong to your market. What drives them? What holds them back? What bothers them? What do they need?
Now you can start creating a specific ideal client snapshot. This will help you get clear on what you are creating and for whom. Create one specific ideal client based on the research you did.
In the end, this is about making sure you have a perfect message-to-market match. How are you different from competitors? And who is waiting for you to knock on their metaphorical door? Now you are ready to position yourself in the market.
This process has taken you through the steps of intensive market research. When you send out your message from this angle – either a blog, advertisement or video – your ideal client will finally stop and listen.
BONUS: My favorite tools for market research
Keywords Everywhere – A great plugin to brainstorm and research keywords.
Google – Search volume and competitor analysis
Google Trends – Perfect to use for viewing trends going as far back as 2004
Amazon – Use it to find the worth of your market
SEM Rush – Competitor analysis and keyword research
SimilarWeb – Similar to SEM Rush
Have fun and prepare to be surprised.
Let me know in the comments have you done market research? What surprised you? And as always, let me know in the comments if this was helpful!