Using Social Media to Reach Niche Audiences

October, 2009

If new to the world of tweets, pokes, blogs and posts, consider the following strategies to help navigate social media's segmented markets.

1. Observe the Conversations

Before starting an online campaign, it is important to complete a "social media audit" and study how your target audiences live in this space. Identify which services they use and how they interact. Social media also requires that you understand the service/site you plan to leverage. Dedicate time to learn how participants interact and how to create content that stands out. This research stage can also offer a valuable opportunity to learn more about your audience. What do they blog about? Where do they get their news? What are they saying about your company, product or cause? With this information, you can develop an effective strategy for crafting messages that resonate.

2. Identify Key Players

As you examine the social media landscape, identify the key influencers who are discussing your topic. Who are the most popular bloggers or twitter users with the most followers? Which users frequently comment on other people's posts? After you have identified the online communities and influential bloggers that may be interested in your product, news content or Web site, reach out to them and start an online conversation. If you build a relationship with these users, they can serve as ambassadors to help spread your message.

3. Focus and Commit

A successful social media campaign is not measured by having as many online networking accounts as possible; it is about building relationships and having authentic conversations with your target audience. Choose a few sites or services, such as Facebook and Twitter, to focus your efforts on and commit the time and resources necessary to sustain an extended online presence. Focusing your efforts will help you be timely and responsive, which is critical for staying relevant in the instant-news, instant-post, instant-feedback environment of social media.

Once you make contact, remember that social media is not a one-way interaction and it is not the place for self-promotion. Online users won't engage with individuals or organizations that only want to sell a product or get a donation. It's all about engaging in the dialogue that already exists. If you've done your homework, you should able to provide information that users will want to tag, tweet, comment and share.

4. Leverage Online Resources

By making it easier for social media users to add your content to their social network page, you make it easier for your message to go "viral" and spread through social networks. Social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious and Digg, and services such as ShareThis, allow users to save and quickly share the links to Web pages and articles that interest them. Consider adding a "sharing tool" to your Web site or blog. It can boost traffic, and more importantly, put your messages in front of the people interested in your issue.