Transcript:

The key to your success online is having a clear understanding of who your target market is. Not “everyone” is going to be your target market, and there is a reason why you want to hone in on a certain segment of people. You want to focus on a specific topic and grow a following of people who are interested in exactly that topic. This is how you can become an expert in your area, and grow that “know, like, and trust factor”, that is so important, whether you’re trying to get more readers, more subscribers, or more clients!

Knowing your target market is an essential part of your social media marketing strategy. There are lots of different exercises that help you find your target market, but I think the easiest way to do so is to think about one person. It could be someone you know, or you can make this person up in your head. What’s this person like? How old are they, where are they from? What do they do for a living? What do they like? What things do they struggle with? How can YOU help them?

The reason you want to ask yourself these questions is because by thinking of your ideal follower as a person rather than the term “target audience” it’ll be much easier for you to create posts with them in mind, and it will be much easier for you to find relevant accounts to follow and to grow your account.

Now, don’t worry if you’re not feeling super confident with who your target audience is right now. It’s perfectly normal that your idea of your target market develops and changes as you’re growing your account. I’m just going to take you through the steps and will use my account as an example.

So for example, my ideal follower is called Lisa. Lisa is 30 years old, she lives in the US, she’s a professional who works full time for a PR company. She likes her job, she’s fun, she loves to travel and to experience other cultures, but her real passion is food. Lisa is a vegan and conscious of what she eats, but she definitely also really loves to indulge in little sweet treats (especially cupcakes!). Lisa loves to cook and try new recipes and products, but she also loves going out to try new restaurants and cafes.

Lisa has a food blog on the side. She’s had it for a few years, and secretly she hopes that one day her blog might turn into something bigger, a side hustle or mayyyybe one day she might be able to turn it into a business. Because Lisa works full-time she sometimes struggles to find enough time to dedicate to her blog, let alone the blog’s social media accounts. She knows that social media could really help her grow her blog, but she just doesn’t quite know how to make it all work.

So how does this all transfer to my Instagram account? Well, seeing that I now know what Lisa is like, what her interests are, and what she’s passionate about, I create all my posts with Lisa in mind. My images, my captions, my bio, the posts I share on my Instagram stories. I use hashtags that Lisa might use. So when Lisa (or someone like Lisa) somehow finds me on Instagram and clicks through to my profile, they’ll feel a connection, they’ll feel like they can identify with me. And that’s why they’ll decide to follow me.

Now obviously that’s only the start, because I then have to engage with them and actually focus on creating relationships with them. But for now we just want to focus on defining your ideal follower.

So I want you to download the workbook below and go through it. Try and get specific, try and really imagine this ideal follower as a person. Create your own Lisa.

Lastly, you should also be aware of who your competition is in your industry or niche, what are some similar accounts in your niche? Accounts that share your ideal follower? Who are some of the big players? The influencers? What’s their style, what do you like about it? What don’t you like about them? It’s important, though, that you don’t get too obsessed with your competition. The idea is to see who else is out there, but without constantly comparing yourself to them. Everyone is at a different stage with their blog or business, everyone has different skills and also different struggles, and that’s perfectly fine. You need to understand that YOU are unique and stay true to yourself. There’s no point in copying someone else. Be authentic, and that’s how you will grow your tribe!

And once you’ve done that and feel confident about identifying your ideal follower, here’s how you can find them on Instagram. See you in the next video.