Your Target Audience Is NOT Generic

I just loved the way to describe the role of social media. 

Good points. I've seen him say that too. Flippant.. well, that's just an opinion. You'd be careful. But I wouldn't, in saying the ROI is in you. Fact is, there is no ROI in social media. It's not inherent. That's like saying there's ROI in a baseball bat. There isn't. Unless you're Ryan Howard. I think Vaynerchuk actually does a great job of being real and telling people things that may not want to hear, but are the truth. When you see something so clear, and the masses don't get it, it's quite frustrating. If there is a point I must make, about something I'm passionate about, I'm certainly not going to let the thought of people possibly being offended stop me from saying something important. If you're particularly effective (or right) in anything, you'll have haters and peeps who strongly disagree. People who challenge status quo behavior and beliefs run into this all of time. But I'm sure a guy like you knows that. Right?

@RyanCritchett The one thing I'd be careful of is the "ROI of you" approach, mate. I heard Gary Vee ask "What's the ROI of your mother?" at a conference and I saw that as flippant, when there were very solid answers about the ROI bing asked about. But, yes, we get boiled down with ROI without knowing what it is we want to achieve. You can't get results without setting out the results you want to achieve first. ;-)

@Hajra I like the Freud comparison - after all, even the most successful businesses aren't mind readers. They are, however, excellent listeners. :)

@cirklagirl Hi Amy, For sure - if you're a niche business then the platforms could be limited. On the plus side of that, though, is the opportunity to have 10 fully targeted customers that are yours to lose, as opposed to 1,000 slapshot customers that are yours to battle for against 100 competitors. I know my preference. ;-) And thank you for the kind words!

@cirklagirl The fallacy of finding forums specific to your target market is it only works if you don't have customers today. Because, if you do have customers, you should be where they are.

Hi Danny, It seems that the main social media platforms are just plain saturated. I like the idea I read in a book recently (@garyvee - The Thank You Economy) about finding forums and platforms that are specific to your target market to create the relationship aspect that social media requires. The trick is that some of the very specific sites don't have much traffic but I guess you just have to weigh it out. Thanks again for more fabulous writing, as always!

Hi Danny,

It seems that the main social media platforms are just plain saturated. I like the idea I read in a book recently (@garyvee - The Thank You Economy) about finding forums and platforms that are specific to your target market to create the relationship aspect that social media requires. The trick is that some of the very specific sites don't have much traffic but I guess you just have to weigh it out. Thanks again for more fabulous writing, as always!

Hey Danny, I would so agree. The target audience is there but are you reaching out to them and that's it; it takes work and no matter how many followers you gain, you are going to lose them if your "services" aren't catering to their needs. Does your provision meet their needs.. it's like I sitting with a patient and even though I have the Freud like capability; I can't work with them in solving their issues if I don't know what their problem is! But then, who wouldn't be happy with a million followers on twitter ;)

Hey Danny,

I would so agree. The target audience is there but are you reaching out to them and that's it; it takes work and no matter how many followers you gain, you are going to lose them if your "services" aren't catering to their needs. Does your provision meet their needs.. it's like I sitting with a patient and even though I have the Freud like capability; I can't work with them in solving their issues if I don't know what their problem is!

But then, who wouldn't be happy with a million followers on twitter ;)

Me too, have realized I could narrow down my target audience. I know what my main one is but I can't seem to give up my other blog categories because they are other things I am passionate about as well.... Sigh will have to pare them down eventaully. @Stuart Mills

So, I'll even take it a step further and say there is no ROI in social media both because if you're not researching who you're targeting, you won't catch them and if you're not just... an incredible communicator, with the conscious ability to build trust points with the people that matter, social won't work for you. I can't wait for the next person to ask me what the ROI of social media is, or for some outsider, solidly trained MBA to come and treat social like traditional marketing, so I can proudly say "what's the ROI of you?" Inherently, these channels won't do shit for you! If you're awesome, you'll do awesome. I like your identification of the fact that the numbers, while attractive, don't really matter unless you know what to do with it. Solid post, as usual, MR. Danny!

So, I'll even take it a step further and say there is no ROI in social media both because if you're not researching who you're targeting, you won't catch them and if you're not just... an incredible communicator, with the conscious ability to build trust points with the people that matter, social won't work for you. I can't wait for the next person to ask me what the ROI of social media is, or for some outsider, solidly trained MBA to come and treat social like traditional marketing, so I can proudly say "what's the ROI of you?" Inherently, these channels won't do shit for you! If you're awesome, you'll do awesome.

I like your identification of the fact that the numbers, while attractive, don't really matter unless you know what to do with it. Solid post, as usual, MR. Danny!

@Stuart Mills Exactly, mate. Any one of us could go to someone else and say, "Hey, you need to be selling this product at this time and you'll get these results", based upon what we want those people to hear. But switch it around to them listening as opposed to hearing, and then we start getting somewhere... Cheers, mate, hope you and your good lady are doing well!

@HowieSPM It can't be as simple as that, can it, Howie? Can it? ;-)

Very good Danny, this has hit me in the face a little. I realise that my target audience may be a little more generic than I care to admit.

I've heard loads of different 'Mr. Averages', and 'Mrs. Averages' during my time on this planet. I've read up on marketing surveys and scouting reports where staff get all the stats together based on x questions that they've asked, and then produce a 'target model' where they should be aiming their marketing efforts at.

This doesn't work. Why? Because they're aiming at a fictitious model. Their target model doesn't exist! And how can they expect to sell to something that doesn't exist? What do they expect to be paid in? Monopoly money?

As you said Danny, "be your customer" - figure out who you actually want to sell to, and then actually sell to them. Simple right? :-)

Very good Danny, this has hit me in the face a little. I realise that my target audience may be a little more generic than I care to admit. I've heard loads of different 'Mr. Averages', and 'Mrs. Averages' during my time on this planet. I've read up on marketing surveys and scouting reports where staff get all the stats together based on x questions that they've asked, and then produce a 'target model' where they should be aiming their marketing efforts at. This doesn't work. Why? Because they're aiming at a fictitious model. Their target model doesn't exist! And how can they expect to sell to something that doesn't exist? What do they expect to be paid in? Monopoly money? As you said Danny, "be your customer" - figure out who you actually want to sell to, and then actually sell to them. Simple right? :-)

@DannyBrown LMAO. Probably the same thing everyone else thought when they read that. Now go on-tell the truth-did you write that that way on purpose? ;-)

@DannyBrownpushingsocial Agreed! And, here's the link: http://pushingsocial.com/4-reasons-businesses-shouldn%E2%80%99t-use-social-media Enjoy! :)

love this post Danny

want to know what demographic to choose? how about the one that buys your stuff, could buy your stuff, or would if they knew you existed. That's a total of 3 demographics.

and seriously never think someone can't buy your product.

love this post Danny want to know what demographic to choose? how about the one that buys your stuff, could buy your stuff, or would if they knew you existed. That's a total of 3 demographics. and seriously never think someone can't buy your product.

@Brian Driggs@John Falchetto Exactly, mate. Try and scale delivery of 100,000+ steaks to various airports across the country. Um... right. ;-)

@EugeneFarber It took my mum forever to understand how text messaging worked. The Internet just passed her by completely. :)

@BoomerandBabe "W-O-R-K" - now that's hella better than the KISS and AIDA acronyms, and something we can all understand. PS - Love the BoomerandBabe username. :)

Well that's just it, @DannyBrown, I'm talking 7,000 "ideal" customers. Isn't the ideal customer the one most likely to buy (I prefer benefit from) a certain product? If that's the case, scalability is a function of product offering. For example, allow me to use the always inspirational @John Falchetto as an example. Now, we all know John is the preeminent Expat Life Coach, but based on my relatively limited understanding of his business model, let's say he wants to focus primarily on business and personal development from an expat perspective. So John specializes. He has a couple three products designed to help expats start, build, and grow their own businesses abroad. Then he comes up with a similar number of products to help expats acclimate, integrate, and contribute to their new surroundings. Right there, six products, six ideal customers - each with specific needs he can serve. Back to "one in a million equals 7,000," if John has six different products, he's got six different ideal customers. If those ideal customers are one in a million, statistically speaking, he's potentially got 42,000 one in a million customers. And if John can get $100/month out of 42,000 people, I hope he'll remember me when he starts looking for a chief mechanic to service his stable of Land Rovers, Ferraris and Vintage Citroëns. (Hey, he lives in France.) Scalability, mate. Scalability. :)

I Agree. No secret sauce, no silver bullet no one size fits all. The answer is spelled W-O-R-K. Find your niche, define your niche. You can't be all things to all people.

I Agree. No secret sauce, no silver bullet no one size fits all. The answer is spelled W-O-R-K. Find your niche, define your niche. You can't be all things to all people.

I always bring up the example of my grandma. If she's someone's target audience then they have NO business getting on Facebook. She has never owned a computer and it wouldn't surprise me if she doesn't even know how to turn one on.

I always bring up the example of my grandma. If she's someone's target audience then they have NO business getting on Facebook. She has never owned a computer and it wouldn't surprise me if she doesn't even know how to turn one on.

Yepper @DannyBrown...!...and By the Way, I Owe you a Package...So You Know, I Have *Not* Forgotten About That...Although It May Seem Like It :-|

@DannyBrown My mom's side is scattered across Glasgow and Edinburgh. I lived in Edinburgh for a while, shared a flat with some friends on George St. while working at HMV. Was there last year to introduce our "wee bairn" to the family.

@OpEdMarketing Edinburgh, but lived in Hawick during my teenage years before moving to work in England.

@Narciso17 Hey there mate, Great to see you here, missed you, big guy. And yes, just like kids, we always want something new, so let's not get too attached to the idea that the newest and shiniest is the best... ;-)

@newdaynewlesson Yes, miss - whatever are YOU thinking of??? ;-)

You Could Always Go to the Mexican Peso and Charge 500 Pesos (equivalent to about $40 US Dollars) ;) @DannyBrown @ginidietrich

"But size only matters when it’s appropriate – make sure you’re not getting sucked in by size, when you should be looking at the overall package…" Ummm, we're still social media right? :-)

"But size only matters when it’s appropriate – make sure you’re not getting sucked in by size, when you should be looking at the overall package…"

Ummm, we're still social media right? :-)