A pipette rather than a watering can: targeted communication on social media

For many companies, associations and organisations, a social media presence has long been a standard part of their communication strategy. No wonder: in mid-June 2018, Instagram reached the milestone of one billion active users and, despite all the data scandals, the number of monthly active Facebook users rose to around 2.38 billion in the first quarter of 2019 (source: Statista.com and AllFacebook.de).  However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the vast amount of content and secure one of the highly coveted spots in users’ feeds and timelines. To engage the target audience with relevant content, tailored topics and formats are the key to success.

Dialogue rather than a one-way street

Twitter, Instagram and the like are ideal for sharing your own content with the world. But that alone is not the purpose of social media. Rather, it is about engaging with others’ posts and comments and focusing on genuine, dialogue-oriented interactions. Companies must respond to their followers’ individual comments, ask questions and draw inspiration for their next content from their target audience’s comments. Interactive formats such as polls help to engage users. Through targeted campaigns, such as product tests, companies can also encourage the creation of user-generated content and connect with other accounts via shared hashtags.

Staying close to the target audience through social listening

Monitoring keywords, emojis and punctuation provides valuable insights into what moves your audience, which topics are currently relevant and how sentiment is evolving. The better companies keep track of users’ posts and comments, the more effectively they can tailor their communication to the wishes and needs of their target audience. If you frequently receive service enquiries about a specific product, a video tutorial, for example, can provide real added value for your followers.

Organic reach combined with social media advertising

Social advertising (social ads) enables companies across all industries and sectors to significantly increase their reach on social networks and the internet. The target audience can be precisely defined using demographic and psychographic data, and sponsored content is often noticed more on social media than on traditional channels. The better the content displayed suits the individual user, the higher the success rate – measurable as click-through rate, watch time or conversion. The target audience can be expanded using data twins. It is therefore worth investing the necessary effort and care into defining the target audience, selecting the formats and developing the content.

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