It’s probably no surprise that Wayward Kind is really big on creating personal connections with people and the world around us, and we’re committed to bringing those connections into digital spaces. That’s why any conversation about how to personalize your digital marketing is so important to us.
We’re talking about audience segmentation.
It sounds kind of clinical, right? But it’s really just a fancy way of saying that because you understand your audience (who they are, how they search, what they purchase, what they like, they emotions they have), you know how to approach them—you know how to divide them into meaningful groups. Mastering audience segmentation makes it so much easier to connect with the right people at the right time.
We’re going to demystify this fancy term and give you a few ways to parlay your audience information into some pretty amazing nurturing tools. Let’s get segmenting!
Beyond Demographics
Before we launch any further into audience segmentation, we’ve go to have a good understanding of what goes into creating audience personas. Certainly, demographics are a piece of the pie—it can help to know where people are from, age, gender, etc.
But even more important, are their behaviors and attitudes. Why do clients or customers choose a particular product or service? What was it that finally sparked that moment of action? Susan Baier of Audience Audit calls this attitudinal segmentation and says that it “gives you everything you need to build accurate, easy-to-understand personas driven by motivations.”
Asking the right questions and doing good research goes beyond just knowing their demographic stats and helps you mine for the real audience gold. When you know the why behind the who, you can develop well-targeted digital strategies that are authentic, purposeful, and useful. And authenticity goes a long way when it comes to marketing.
Focusing simply on demographics can feel a bit more like someone is just talking at you, not creating content specifically for you. It limits your digital marketing strategy to, well, one avenue. That means that if someone doesn’t fit into your targeted marketing to 18-35 year old females, they’ll likely bounce.
Why? Because your audience, whether they know it or not, wants to have a conversation. They want to feel like you’re asking them questions, listening to them, and getting something valuable from your services.
Audience segmentation maximizes your business’ potential, whether that be lead generation, lead nurturing, or sales. It goes outside the box of age, gender, and geography to make your audience first. And this isn’t just good for your audience—it’s good for your business. You spend less time trying to chase down clients, and more time cultivating meaningful relationships. That’s where the gold truly is.
How Do I Use Audience Segmentation?
Let’s say you’ve got all the info, entered it into you CRM tools, and you’re ready for launch—now what? How do you apply all this valuable information to your digital presence? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Email Marketing
As fervent believers in a fun, personalized email marketing strategy, this is a great place to start implementing audience segmentation. These days, email marketing platforms like Mailchimp offer tons of ways to easily segment your audience. You can categorize by what they bought, where and when they signed up, what they’ve clicked, and more. Remember, this is about the why behind their behavior, not just who they are.
You can take a step further by personalizing emails with recipients’ names, or offers that are tailored to a specific group. You may also consider developing newsletter campaigns that target your different audience segments. This is a way to show your audience you know them by integrating videos, images, and offers that speak directly to that group’s needs. Basically, you can make it as personal as you want.
Social Media
With all the platforms out there today, there are plenty of options to use audience segmentation in a social media strategy. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Targeting: Paid ads are always an option on social media platforms, but you can also opt for a more budget-friendly, organic targeting by creating filters that you can tailor content towards.
- Create groups: Having specific groups allows you to target posts to relevant audiences, engage in discussion, and connect with your audience. This is also a great way to receive feedback.
- Lists: Some social media platforms allow you to create lists so that you can send quality content to the people who you want to receive it. You can even try posting to groups at different times of day to track engagement.
Blogging
You probably won’t have separate blogs for each of your audience personas. But, employing some of your audience segmentation skills to your blog strategy can help you create better digital conversations with your audience. Combined with smart long-tail keyword research, you can develop a regular blog schedule that addresses common questions, concerns, and interests that different audience segments may have. This is also a great way to build up your digital content to include in forthcoming emails and social media posts.
Here’s the bottom line about audience segmentation: CONNECT. Understanding why your audience does what they do gives you the ability to tap into their needs before they even know they have them. You can accurately anticipate what they need, when they need it, and why. You’re basically a digital psychologist.
Ultimately, the more you know your audience, and show that you know them, the more credibility you have. We want to help you build that credibility. If you’re curious about how to use audience segmentation in your digital marketing, contact Wayward Kind. We love to get to know you and your audience!
