How to Capture and Keep an Audience

Starting or owning a business is exciting and comes with a lot of work. You must manage your employees, bring in new customers, and ensure your existing customers are satisfied.

One of the best and easiest ways to engage with current and new customers is through social media. Many platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn are great ways to get to know your demographic and learn what they're interested in.

The platforms your business is on should correlate with your target market. Each social media platform is tailored to different types of audiences.

Instagram:

• Mainly used to share photos and videos
• Millennial or Gen Z users between the ages of 16-24.
• A balance of male to female.
• The largest audiences are in India, the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia

Facebook:

• Mainly used to connect with friends, family, and co-workers, share pictures/videos, and shop
• More women than men, accounting for 54% of the platform's users.
• Ages ranges: 18-24 years, 35 - 44 years, 13-17 years
• The largest audiences are in India, the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico

Twitter:

• 52% of users are Gen Z between the ages of 25-34
• Mainly on there to get news and entertainment
• The largest audiences are in the U.S., Japan, India, Brazil, and the UK
• Mostly male-dominated (70.4% - male; 29.6% - Female)

LinkedIn:

• Mainly used to find jobs, and internships, connect/strengthen professional relationships, and learn new skills
• Users between the ages of 25-34
• More males than females (56.4% - male; 43.6% - Female)
• Largest audiences in the U.S., India, China, Brazil, and the UK

Now that you know what platform(s) you want your business to be on, it's time to make sure you have valuable content to share. Many consumers don't want to be overwhelmed with product marketing. It's highly recommended to mix in personal content, for example, pictures of the team volunteering in the community or birthday posts. You want your content to be value-oriented rather than self-promoting.

Lastly, establish a strategy and goal. What is your business looking to achieve? Do you want more sales or engagement? Knowing these criteria will help you know when you should post and what content you should post more. Throughout the years, Instagram has gone from posting pictures to posting reels. We see many people on there dancing to top songs, sharing their favorite recipes, or even unboxing a new product, but we don't understand why? Why don't they post a picture of the finished recipe with the directions in the caption? What benefits do they get from posting a reel versus a picture?