7 Ways to Use Social Media to Learn about Your Customers

Here are 7 ways to use these platforms to learn more about your audience.

1. Customer Profiles

Look at your customers’ social media profiles. You can find a great deal of demographic information such as age and location. You can also get insights about what they like or don’t like and their core values.

2. Look at Content

See what content your audience posts and shares. They’ll often start discussions or ask questions that can give you a great deal of information about their interests and concerns. Read all the comments other than just the original post to see what others are saying as well.

3. See Who They Follow

Look at which other businesses and content creators your customers follow. This serves two purposes: you can see what other companies they buy from and what they like, and you can get an idea of how to set yourself apart. You can see who your direct competitors are and make your offerings unique. If you’re lucky, you can find a gap in the market that you can fill.

4. Create Opportunities to Engage

Create opportunities for your audience to engage with you. Post opinions, tips, and questions, and encourage your customers to reply. Create social media groups and encourage your audience to discuss there. Look for features on each platform such as surveys or contests where you can get people involved. Give them challenges such as taking a picture with a certain theme. Whenever you have a point of contact with your customers, you can use this to learn more about them.

5. Promote Other Content

Whenever you publish a blog post or YouTube video, tell people about it on social media. Experiment with a mix of topics and see which your audience goes for. Your analytics will tell you which pieces of content are getting the most interest. Look for engagement as well, such as likes and shares, to see what people enjoy.

6. Make Yourself Available

Make sure your customers know they can contact you on social media and you’ll reply to them quickly. They’ll private message you with questions or concerns that you can then address. Social media offers another way to be in contact and offer two-way communication.

7. Use Social Media Tools for Insights

There are social media tools available that can give you insights on your followers. Tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Zoho Social offer a wide range of analytics. They can get the above data for you and analyze it, and can also reveal insights you can’t find on your own.

You can never know too much about your customers since they are the foundation of everything your business does. It is no exaggeration to say that knowing your customers is the key to your business’s success.