You might be wondering; how can I maximize the impact my marketing makes? Well, the key is in targeting different cultures. Knowing how to target different niches and cultures can put you ahead of your competitors and allows you to specifically target different people. Done well, your posts can increase your brand awareness and engagement. But just how do you do it?
Before we dive into how to target cultures, let’s look at exactly what a culture is. A culture can be defined as the collective mental programming of the human mind, which distinguishes one group of people from another. This programming can influence patterns of thinking, which are reflected in the meaning people attach to various aspects of life and can become crystallised in the institutions of society.
With tools like social media, it has become easier than ever to understand the different cultures that exist online. If you were to create a Facebook ad, for example, you can use Facebook Audience Insights to gain a better understanding of where people are most looking and engaging with on the platform. These insights allow you to understand what types of careers, interests, locations, page likes, devices, time they are active, and demographics, are most relevant to your target audience. Using these insights as layers to your target audience creation in advertising will also help you achieve better results from your ads. The more layers you use, the smaller your audience gets, which is a great thing in reaching the right people.
So, if the insights provided showed you that a large chunk of your ideal audience likes a certain TV show on Facebook or blog site, use this to your advantage. Create pop culture references, or repost content from a top-ranking website, and in doing so, increase your post reach and engagement.
A great way to target cultures is through pop culture. Pop culture marketing can be fun and relevant, with things like TV shows, popular events and music constantly trending, as well as the die-hard fandoms creating cultures of their own based on what they watch, read, or listen to.
Using pop culture references within your marketing isn’t as easy as it seems though. Pop culture and content marketing is a balancing act between the popular content and your target audience’s interests. However, it is not enough to simply post status updates about a popular TV show or movie. As a business, you must provide a cultural connection back to your organization.
To start targeting trending cultures based on pop culture, it’s a good idea to look ahead on the social calendar, and start integrating movies, TV shows, music and memes into your content calendar. Understand what your audience likes and what message you are trying to share and find the social events that make the most sense to be promoting your brand. If you’re promoting sports, promote the Superbowl. If you are a fashion boutique, start referring to red carpet events like the Golden Globes and the Oscars, and target your posts there.
Make sure to ask yourself when planning though, will this popular culture reference, or any reference to targeting cultures for that matter, interest my customers AND reinforce our relationship with them? Let’s face it, that epic The Walking Dead blog post will only work if you bridge the gap between the reference the show, your business objectives and the interests of your target audience.
If you’ve never made a pop culture reference before, or have never targeted to a niche audience before, my advice is to start small. Test concepts on a very small sample of your target audience first before you put anything serious or legitimate towards your entire target market. Understand your analytics and where your audience is hanging out on social media, or in the entire world of marketing- there are even cultures for those who prefer email marketing or pamphlets. If you can understand these aspects first, and understand every detail of your target audience, your efforts in targeting cultures will pay off for your business.