Determining the target group is always the first step for every marketer. Or at least it should be. Logical you might think, but still too many online marketers skip this crucial step. Don't lump your online audience together just because you can't see them. When trying to sell products or services online, it is just as important to determine your target audience. Your online target group deserves to get a face as well.
Moreover, the online target group research helps in the preparation of the online content. In this way, the online campaigns and the site can be attuned to the target group. Defining a target group provides guidance and ensures that there is a logical plan behind the development of future online expressions. Today, we will discuss how you can map out your online target group. So that you can start shooting with focus from now on.
Competitive analysis
Why do it the hard way when you can do it the easy way? Sometimes it is not that difficult to determine your target group. Grab your cI would like to remind you of this. You are competitors for a reason, which means that you are both at least partly preying on the same target group. Therefore, take a look at how your competitors are doing online and what niche they are targeting. For you, these findings can mean two things: either you focus on exactly the same target group with your activities, or you focus on a slightly different niche. In any case, during an online competition analysis you look mainly at the strategy, tactics and results of the competition. Ask yourself a lot of questions: via which channels does your competitor try to reach your target group? And what does their website look like, for example? To find out more about your competitors, you can do a number of things: you can ask insiders, you can search Google yourself, and you can use different SEO tools. Tools such as SEOMoz and Majestic SEO show exactly the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors. And that gives you new insights.
Facebook statistics
Facebook is not only a fun platform for increasing interaction, but it also shows exactly what the results of your posts are. Let's assume for the sake of argument that you already have a Facebook page. Open it. If you then take a look at your latest posts, you can also see the statistics for each publication. Some of them are already shown directly under the publication itself, but for detailed information you can take a look at the posts individually. Engagement is important here. Assess which publications generate a lot of likes and which generate a lot of reactions. Of course, this is a goal in itself, but it is also these kinds of statistics that will give you more insight into your target group.
Make sure to create a Facebook business page and not a private page. Also for Facebook, you can use the social media management of your competitors as an example. Do realise that social media takes time and effort. To really get to know your target group, you will have to invest time. So don't just jump in, but read, respond and participate in discussions every day. Only then will you be doing thorough online target group research.
Google Analytics
For most online marketers, it is one of the very first tools studied from top to bottom: Google Analytics. And of course, it provides a lot of useful information. The number of visitors per year, month or day, the conversions and goals and via which page they entered your site: you can analyse just about all visitor behaviour with this free tool. Think about interests, demographics or usage behaviour. All these data together form a very important source of information for your online target group research. You can also look at:
Webmaster Tools
This is also a free tool that mainly shows how the search engine looks at your website and to a lesser extent how your customers see it. In terms of SEO, the Google Webmaster Tool is a very useful tool for improving the performance of your website in search results.
Keyword planner
This tool, which is also free, is used to optimise Google Ads. The main focus is to get as much as possible out of each keyword. What can the tool tell you about your target group? For example, which keywords they use the most or which keywords do or do not catch on. The keyword planner shows you exactly which keywords match your company and website. Not to be missed during your online target group research.
Shooting with focus: your online target group
Once you have gone through the above sources of information, you need to map them against each other. By looking at the information from competitors, your Facebook performance and your Google Analytics results, you should already know a lot more about your target group. Based on that online research, your target group should already be taking shape. And that, of course, gives you something to work with. It is important to assess your online target group in the same way as your offline visitors: you must have a good idea of who you are doing it all for. This also means that you have to define your online target group accurately. Do not hesitate to be specific. And don't be afraid to be sharp. Because that is SEO.
