In a recent post from the Harvard Business Review, author Greg Satell discusses the conundrum that digital marketers face: the catch 22 of crafting their message versus having it crafted for them.
While consumers certainly have their place in brand storytelling, it is a brand’s job to lead the conversation. Whether the function falls under digital marketing- at the executive level or with a community manager- brand voice owners have more tools at their disposal than ever before and it is their responsibility to gain, and utilize, audience intelligence.
Here are three tips for creating the the conversations that your brand should lead:
1. Understand the Who
Not to be confused with the band. Audience intelligence enables you to intimately understand who is forming conversations around your brand. This goes far beyond listening analysis – it means understanding in-depth demographic profiles, interests, common words and phrases used in social conversations and it can go as granular as detecting how they feel about subjects such as “education.” No longer is a simple email address or zip code enough information for marketers to use to broadcast their message – this is a new age where deep knowledge of our customers and prospects is imperative.
2. Identify the Need
The ‘what’ has to be carefully considered in order to draw results from the ‘who’ that you’ve so carefully identified. Applying audience intelligence analysis to understand the needs of your audience segments is a key component in formulating a successful conversation that will draw that audience in. The most important part of this process is understanding where each audience segment falls on the need spectrum for your product or service. This element will help inform the creation of the conversation that will engage them.
3. Use Audience Vernacular
The application of audience intelligence should not stop at the strategic level – it should penetrate into the execution of each and every campaign. People Pattern looks at topics of conversation within segments and analyzes the specific words that a segment is using to discuss that topic, allowing marketers to mimic that language in content creation. By communicating with your audience using their language, the opportunity to draw them into the conversation you are creating will increase significantly.
These steps to tailoring to your audience may seem simple, but Satell and the Harvard Business Review remind us that even seasoned pros can miss the mark when it comes to content efforts. Your audience is a constantly changing target that must be continuously revisited and re-evaluated in order to achieve maximum content success, and customization is critical.
To learn more about how People Pattern can help your brand create customized content, contact us for a demo.
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