Exploring Facebook demographics can help you make key decisions.
By Christian Kratsas
It would be pretty tough to start a meaningful conversation if you don’t know whom your audience is. Small talk can get you only so far but once that’s over it’s easy for your customers to lose interest. You’re used to face-to-face interaction so getting past the small talk comes naturally. But what do you do when you’re talking to potential customers online? You can send out general communications blindly to your shoppers, but you’re sure to lose their interest quickly. Keep your customers interested in what you have to say by learning more about your online community
One of the best ways to gain insight into your social community is through Facebook Insights—go figure, right? Because not all of your customers Like your business page and not all of your Likes are necessarily customers (yet), Facebook Insights can tell you a lot about your online audience.
Tailor Posts Based on Gender
The first item you should dive into are your page’s demographics. Once in Facebook Insights for your page, navigate to the “Likes” tab for a graphical representation of the age and gender of your audience. Make a quick analysis of your audience’s gender. Is there an even distribution between men and women? If so, you should adjust your posting schedule to appeal to both. If you’re used to posting women’s clothing but also carry a variety of men’s items, you should split this content 50/50. If your page’s data is telling you that only a miniscule amount of fans are male, then you know that most of your posts should appeal to women, adding in occasional ones prompting men to stop by for a gift for their sweetheart. Continue to watch the gender of your audience and adjust your messaging accordingly.
Age Correlates with Interest
Next up is age. Age should play a large role in your marketing communications and merchandising. After a quick look at the different age groups your customers belong to, you can get an even better idea about the type of content to post. If the majority of your audience is in their early 20s then a variety of nostalgia, pop culture and edgy humor-themed posts will work well. If you are reaching women in their 30s and 40s then family-oriented, enlightening and traditional posts are the way to go.
You can even correlate your store’s merchandise with the age groups of your most frequent shoppers. A pair of shoes, line of bags or piece of furniture popular with a younger crowd may not fit your store based on your clientele. Be careful when making assumptions from a few points of data, but if you have a very low percentage of fans over 40 it’s safe to post merchandise that is on trend, anything chevron, emerald or vintage should pique your audience’s interest.
Location, Location, Location
You can find additional information on the location of your audience right under the age and gender bar graph. If you are located in a highly touristed area, then you may see your customers spread out across the country and even the world. A dispersed audience should impact your posts significantly. In this case, you should refrain from posting heavily about regional sports, weather and local events and more on content that will appeal to everyone. If you see that 90% of your fans are in your area, then the opposite practice works well for your content schedule.
There is a lot of valuable information hidden in your business page’s insights. If you are new to your page’s analytics, we suggest you familiarize yourself with the demographical data of your audience before moving into additional insights. Staying on top of your pages demographics will help you specialize the type of content you present to your fans. The more targeted your posts are, the better reaction you get from your fans. Don’t talk to strangers. Get to know your audience a little bit better for a positive store experience online and off.
Christian Kratsas is SnapRetail’s Social Media Manager. Visit SnapRetail.com to learn more about connecting with your customers through online marketing.
