People love people. This is an insight I share when I do Social Media training or talk at events. Managing social strategy and clients’ social accounts for over 5 years, I can say posts with real people – your team, your clients, your events –get more engagement than some of the most carefully crafted content. I have come to realise that people love people –people bring a brand to life. When you see the face of the business, or get a sense of what goes on behind the scenes, or in the store – you feel more connected, a sense of knowing and overall more in tune with the experience this brand gives.
As a business owner, trying to maximise your business on social channels and across your whole strategic plan; there is a great benefit to you creating the face of your ideal client. When you feel more connected to your ideal client and more in tune with the experience they want to have with your brand, you are better able to create strategy that resonates with them.
So how do you create an Ideal Client profile? Firstly you need to define your offer and what it means to your client and begin to paint a picture of the type of person this resonates with. We have a template you can download here that walk’s you through the fact finding steps.
When it comes to painting a picture here’s our cheat sheet:
- Who – think demographics. Age / sex / income / employment / life stage
- Where – are they urban or rural, local or global? Where do they eat, shop, socialise. Where do you find them during the week / on the weekend? Where do you find them online?
- Wants – what solutions does your client want. What do they want to feel? What do they want others to think about them?
- Needs – what are the basic needs your client has? Tangible and intangible? What will satisfy them on a deeper level.
We were asked to profile Women that buy a particular piece of outdoor apparel, this is one of the three ideal clients we identified (yes there can be more than 1!)
Your ideal client forms a critical piece of your social media strategy. It helps you identify appropriate channels, develop relevant content and create targeted ad campaigns. As every action you take is evaluated against this profile.
Lastly – once you have your ideal client mapped out, be sure to give them a face and a name. Identify them as a person – because people engage with people.
Mary-Anne
