Facebook currently constitutes the social media platform with the largest number of global users; all of whom engage with its dynamic online interface (using a variety of internet-enabled devices at their disposal) on a daily basis. This large user-base directly affords aspiring and established businesses with a novel mechanism of generating greater lead counts, interacting with existing customers, and launching sophisticated marketing campaigns that may be continually gauged against the framework of a number of probing analytical tools.
Facebook – a marketing resource bar none
Through the services of a suitable high-speed Internet offering (made available through such ISP provisions as the Mediacom Bundles), it becomes easy for businesses to constantly keep track of their minutely-analysed promotional endeavours. This facility, which may be accessed through any simple pocket device, allows commercial enterprises to divert their carefully-deployed adspend budgets in a proper manner; towards avenues that promise greater revenue & profit yields than those that may incur an increased risk of wastage (of essential currency).
The main advantage of Facebook for businesses, in a nutshell, is hinged on the platforms scores of users. But there is another benefit which is not much talked about in intellectual circles; one which has only gotten some attention recently on account of the 2016 U.S Presidential Elections. This feature of the social media application is concerned with the curious way in which Facebook allows all of its account holders with significant fan followings to initiate a drive towards fabricating the demand for a particular product, service or an idea. It is in this latter aspect that the said online program is said to fully demonstrate its political manoeuvring potential.
Fabricating demand – consolidating audiences
By creating demand for their products and services (through portraying them in the manner of necessities – and not luxuries – that need to be gotten hold of), businesses can ‘fabricate’ entire markets for transactional purposes. The process of fabricating demand, in this way, directly translates into cultivating entire audience groupings online that continuously remain susceptible to the marketing outreaches of the said commercial organisations – thereby ensuring that the lead conversion process carries on smoothly.
In this post, I’ll attempt to list 5 custom audience groups that you (if you’re a business owner or a brand marketer) need to start consolidating right away on Facebook – so that you always have a set of willing consumers to rely on for your sales initiatives.
All businesses, as you may already know, intrinsically depend on their customers for their success, and keeping a hold of this vital targeted resource forms the most crucial tenet of their operations.
The Millennial grouping
Millennials, or the individuals born between the 1980s and the turn of the millennium, comprise the target audience of choice for most companies seeking to sell their wares without pause. The reasoning behind this observation is easily understood, and is based on the fact that most people hailing from this demographic faction are currently occupying starting to mid-career level employment positions in various organisational settings around the world; which means that they have active money at their disposal.
Young adults conforming to the said age grouping have also been observed to be big spenders, and not particularly frugal ones at that (when contrasted with their ante-ceding Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers). With their relatively loose cash reserves, they have consistently been identified to be the ideal potential consumer-base for companies to preferentially channel their marketing budgets to.
Gen Xers
Also referred to casually as the MTV generation, Gen Xers are comprised of the people born roughly 20 years (in 1965 according to most demographers) after the end of the 2nd World War; including those born up till the start of the 80’s. This grouping happen to be the pioneers of the pop and rock n’ roll music scene, and their influence on popular culture (in the spheres of fashion, technology, innovation and individual/group dynamics) continues to resound strongly even today. Their experimentation with the different socio-cultural streams that inundate a society’s abstract psychological edifice provided the breeding ground in which Millennials and Gen-Zers continue to grow.
This generational faction currently occupies the senior management and ownership positions in companies, and so they (despite being more careful with their monetary earnings) happen to have large sums of cash for instant spending. After focusing on millennials, companies should customise their Facebook adspend budgets in the favour of those Gen Xers who exhibit even a fleeing and indirect interest in their offered products & services.
‘Comment section’ audiences
Many business marketers on Facebook follow a unique ‘customer grabbing’ strategy that can work out pretty well for you – if you choose to follow through with it. This technique involves getting in touch with those individuals who like to post their comments underneath the product posts published on other business pages.
The reasoning behind conducting this personalised outreach is simple: these ‘commenting’ individuals have already shown an interest in acquiring a particular type of product or service, and for a business engaged in selling the same types of commodities, these people can prove to be de facto leads poised for instantaneous conversion.
Product/service-specific local groupings
If your company happens to be in the business of selling products or services that are tailored for specific demographics groupings, such as men, women, adolescents, infants, or defined socio-cultural communities, then your Facebook ad targeting parameters should be set narrowly to reach these particular categories of consumers. Your marketing budget, as such, would be completely wasted if you chose to target those individuals who do not fall under your primary consumer-demand classifications.
By narrowing your lead outreach criteria in this manner, you would also probably observe a quicker customer response rate – since Facebook increases the frequency of its promotions based on shorter time frames and targeted audience factions.
Seasonal outreach groupings
Some businesses, such as online clothing retailers, sell seasonal product varieties to their customers. Take the case of apparel such as shirts, sweaters, jeans and shoes; all of which can be manufactured in specific monthly time frames, depending on the seasons and their corresponding months of the year.
Setting such custom audience groupings beforehand can save your business precious targeting time, when done in advance.
If you’re interested in learning more effective audience targeting techniques on social media and/or the general web-scape, then you should consider subscribing to a Mediacom TV and Internet service plan – conducting an online search query related to this topic from there.