One of the most common questions we get asked is which social media channel we recommend our clients use to market their products or services. Is Facebook really still viable? Is Instagram where it’s at now? Someone told me about Snapchat. What’s Snapchat? What’s TikTok? Do we need to be on TikTok?
But we can’t answer that question until we all know the answer to this question;
Who is my customer?
There’s an old African proverb we love around here. It goes like this; “The man who tries to walk two roads will split his pants.” We don’t mean to embarrass anyone by pointing it out, but we see a lot of business owners and marketers out there with split pants. When we ask clients who their customer is, a lot of times the response is something like, “Well… everyone!” But here’s the thing; you can’t talk to everyone at the same time. And you shouldn’t anyway. You’ll split your pants.
You have a customer.
They are the main character in the story you’re telling – someone with cares and concerns, in a particular season in life, and in a particular income bracket. And they have a problem that you can help them solve. So who is this person for your business? Is it a 30-40 year-old woman with kids? Is it a 62 year-old man approaching retirement? Is it a college student? Once we know who the main character is, we can begin to talk to them where they are, and the really good news is that we don’t have to guess. Demographics data will tell us exactly where they are.
Here are just a few illuminating examples:
- 78% of Snapchat users are under 24 years old.
- Pinterest is a great way to reach women between the ages of 30 and 50.
- LinkedIn users are highly educated and make $75k or more a year.
- There are more men on Twitter than women.
- And Facebook. Is it still viable? Yes. Most definitely. Facebook represents, by far, the largest market penetration among all demographics, but it is skewing a little older lately. Over half of Facebook users are 35 and older.
Bottom line? We don’t want you to split your pants. We want you to walk right up to your target audience, pants intact and looking good, to confidently introduce yourself and your products and services.
But you have to know who they are and which road they’re most likely to be on. Unless your customer is a 19 year-old college student, you may not need to worry about that Snapchat thing just yet.