Once you’ve defined your target audience, you need to start talking to them. This is possibly the one thing that really trips business people and affiliate marketers up – just where and how do you talk to your target audience and get them to visit your site?
The answer is quite simple really – but it does take dedication and time to achieve.
You need to interact in the places that your Target Audience is. I’m going to talk in the sense of an online business for this article, but the principles are the same for an offline business as well.
Using my example from my last article – Know Your Target Audience – let’s look at speaking directly to your target audience who want to teach their bird to sing. Think about where these people may be looking for the ‘answer to their question’.
In this article, I am going to discuss places where you can find your Target Audience and help them get to ‘Know You, Like You and Trust You’.
Forums
One place that your target audience may be looking for the answer is a Forum relating to Pets. What better place for you to ‘meet’ them, than in the place that they are looking for answers. Locate a Forum, join up and start participating.
When I say, start participating – I mean participate. Don’t just join and market your product. Actually get involved with the discussions, provide your input, ask questions yourself. Allow your target audience to get to Know You, Like You and Trust You.
As you develop that relationship with your Target Audience, you will find that they are more likely to take an interest in your products and services.
When participating in a forum, you are generally permitted to put a signature on your profile. That signature will show with every post you make on the forum. Used properly this can be a great marketing tool. I fully recommend creating a keyword rich signature that links back to your website. Not only do get the chance to credential yourself within the forum, if your forum is open to the search engines, you also get a valuable backlink to your site.
A word of warning! Please review the Terms of Service for your chosen forum and make sure you are familiar with their requirements for signatures and such – some Forums will not allow you to use a signature or may impose limitations around linking to your site.
One way to find suitable Forums is to use the site: https://www.big-boards.com/
Yahoo Groups
Yahoo Groups are an excellent, if a little painful, way to interact with your chosen target audience.
Yahoo Groups operates in much the same way as Forums do, except that they utilize email to communicate with their members.
As Yahoo Groups has been around for a long time, there are a lot of members. Personally, I don’t like Yahoo Groups although I am a member of a couple of groups.
I provide the same advice for using Yahoo Groups – participate, don’t just market. Give your Target Audience the chance to get to Know You, Like You and Trust You. Use your signature block to credential yourself – as long as your chosen group allows the use.
To find an appropriate Yahoo Group, visit: https://groups.yahoo.com/
Facebook allows its members to run Groups or set up Fan pages for their topics. These operate similarly to Forums and Yahoo Groups, within the Facebook framework.
Search Facebook groups and Fan pages to find suitable places to interact.
Consider creating your own Facebook Page for your chosen niche where you can share information with your followers and friend.
This is a great way to increase the reach you have with your target market.
Twitter is certainly a great place to interact with your Target Audience. You need to create an identity that is in keeping with your chosen product or niche and then start following people who suit your Target Audience.
Places to find people to follow include Twellow.com and WeFollow.com. The Twitter search function is very effective as well.
You will see a number of products that will guarantee you a number of followers in any number of days. Please consider these products incredibly carefully – you may end up with a large number of followers – but are they really interested in what you are saying?
With Twitter, I strongly recommend that you tweet hints and tips regularly and allow your followers to get to know you. Resist the urge to continually tweet about your product / services and encourage people to visit your site. Once your followers know you, they will start looking for more information and by ensuring that your Twitter profile is setup correctly – they will find your site.
Using a service like Tweetlater.com – very carefully – will help with scheduling your hints and tips on a regular basis.
Please! Don’t add to the Twitter Spam! Add to the discussion, don’t use Twitter as an a big electronic billboard.
For more information about using Twitter – pick up your free copy of Twitter Blog Magic.
Linked In
Linked In is really a professional social networking site.
However by creating your profile on Linked In appropriately, becoming a member of Linked In groups and participating in the Linked In Questions and Answers forum – you will develop your credibility and give your Target Audience a way to find you more easily.
Yahoo Answers
I don’t use Yahoo Answers a lot however, I have seem how effective it can be. Yahoo Answers is a place where people ask questions and receive answers to their questions.
Spend some time looking at Yahoo Answers and the questions people in your Target Audience are asking and see how you can contribute to the discussion. Set up your signature to profile yourself – make sure you review the Yahoo Terms of Service when you do.
NING.com
Ning is a collection of Social Networks. Anyone can create a Social Network on Ning and there are some great and very active networks already there.
The best place to start with Ning is to get yourself a Ning ID and then to search for your keywords or your niche within the Ning Search function.
Spend time getting to know the way your chosen Ning networks work, the way people interact on them and the general rules of conduct. some networks have strong rules about marketing and advertising….
In Conclusion:
Be gracious in your interactions. Whilst you are trying to sell a product, you don’t need to be the foot in the door Salesperson.
The aim is to demonstrate to your Target Audience that you know your stuff and are willing to give before you receive – forget about what’s in it for you and focus on What In It For Them…
Where have you been most successful in connecting with your Target Audience? Share your thoughts below.
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