5 Essentials for Building the Right Audience on Social Media

Social media gives you a direct way to reach your target audience. You can use it to increase awareness of your business, interact personally with potential customers, share your expertise, and learn more about the people you want to serve.
But simply gaining followers should not be the goal.
A large following can look impressive, but it will not necessarily help your business. What matters is building an audience of people who are interested in what you have to say and who may eventually want what your business offers.
Are you ready to start building the right social media audience? Here are five essentials to help you get started.
1. Start With the Right Social Media Mindset
​There is a certain mindset you need if you want to build an audience on social media.
Social media is social.
People generally do not log onto their favorite platform hoping someone will sell them something. They come to learn, discover, connect, be entertained, exchange ideas, and find information that interests them.
Approach social media ready to interact, contribute, and be helpful rather than constantly promoting your business or expecting something in return.
Think about how you behave when you walk into a networking event. You probably would not immediately start handing everyone a sales pitch. You would introduce yourself, listen, participate in conversations, and get to know people.
Social media works much the same way.
When you consistently show up as a helpful and credible presence, people have an opportunity to get to know you and your business.
2. Identify Your Goals
What are your goals for building an audience on social media?
"Because everybody is doing it" is not a good enough reason.
Decide what you want social media to accomplish and how it fits into your overall business strategy.
For example, you may want to:

• Increase awareness of your business
• Establish your expertise
• Drive people to your website or blog
• Grow your email list
• Build relationships with potential customers
• Send people to your videos, podcast, or other content
• Learn more about what your audience needs

Your goal will help determine what you post, which platforms you use, and what results you should pay attention to.
If your goal is to drive people to your website, for example, 5,000 likes that produce very few website visits may not be as valuable as 50 people who click through and explore what you offer.
Know what you are trying to accomplish before you start measuring whether social media is working.
3. Know the Audience You Want to Build
You should have a good idea of the type of audience you want to attract.
Learn as much as you reasonably can about your ideal customers, including their interests, concerns, goals, challenges, behaviors, and the questions they are asking.
Then pay attention to what happens once you start posting.
Which topics generate comments?
What questions do people ask?
What gets saved or shared?
Which posts bring people to your website?
What language does your audience use when discussing their problems?
Social media gives you an opportunity not only to speak to your audience, but also to listen to them.
The more you understand what matters to your audience, the easier it becomes to create content they find useful.
4. Take Consistent Action
Social media is a long game. You probably will not see significant results from posting a few times and disappearing.
What gets results is regular, consistent action.
However, consistency does not mean you have to post every day.
It means creating a schedule you can realistically maintain.
For one business owner, that may mean posting three times a week. Someone else may publish one helpful video each week and interact with their audience between videos.
Choose a schedule that fits your time, your platform, and your ability to create worthwhile content.
It is better to consistently publish two useful posts each week than to post twice a day for two weeks, become exhausted, and disappear for two months.
Consistency also includes responding to comments, answering appropriate messages, interacting with other people's content, and paying attention to what your audience is talking about.
Do what you can maintain.
5. Engage Your Audience
The key to social media is not simply publishing content. It is creating opportunities for interaction.
Your content should give people a reason to stop, think, respond, save something for later, share it with someone else, or take another step.
You can encourage engagement by:

• Asking thoughtful questions
• Sharing practical tips
• Creating polls
• Discussing common challenges
• Sharing useful videos
• Responding to comments
• Asking for opinions or experiences
• Teaching something your audience can immediately use

And remember that engagement is a two way street.
If someone takes the time to leave a thoughtful comment, respond when appropriate. If your audience repeatedly asks the same question, consider creating content that answers it.
You are not simply accumulating followers. You are building relationships.
Focus on the Right Audience, Not Just a Bigger One
​Social media can put your business in front of thousands of people, but thousands of people are not necessarily what your business needs.
You need the right people.
An engaged audience of people who value your expertise, visit your website, read your content, recommend you to others, and consider your business when they need help can be far more valuable than a large audience that rarely pays attention.
Build your audience intentionally. Give people a reason to follow you, and then continue giving them reasons to stay.

Are you currently trying to attract more followers, or are you intentionally building an audience of people who are likely to value what your business offers?

Ready to Build Your Audience?
Knowing what to do is easier when you have a plan.
Download the Audience Building Checklist to identify the steps you can take to begin building and engaging the right audience for your business.
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