Blog post

5 ways to understand your audience online

For every conversation that we have, a compelling story becomes the link between you and your audience. When your stories resonate and relate, the audience will take notice.

To do that, you need to understand the relationship between your brand and its audience and the conversations that grow from that link. Finding those talking points gives you an insight into the types of audiences that follow your brand. 

These conversations and communities allow you to identify and understand your audience on a deeper level. Building on this strong relationship, your brand’s stories remain consistent with your voice and values.

So how do you understand your audience’s conversations?

1. Identify the channels your audience are most active

The channels or mediums are critical in identifying your audiences. This is essential so that you can produce the kind of story they want to hear. The more relevant and updated your content is, the more engaged your audience will be with you.

By analysing your audience, you can create better content that resonates with them. This will help you build a stronger connection with your audience and keep them engaged.

Analyse your audience by:

• Website visitors — Analysing data from your website can help you identify the types of audiences who have already started their discovery journey about your brand.
• Customer data — This audience is already engaging with your brand so it is critical that you identify the personas found within this subset.
• Social media — Driven by conversations around your brand and industry, you can find new personas and demographics to cover trending topics.

For example, by studying the various communities interested in public relations and communications in various sub-Reddit threads, it shows that there is a slightly higher percentage of male Redditors (6.3%) to female users (5.8%). 

There were around 1,500 unique authors in these communities within Reddit. By leveraging these demographic insights on Reddit, you can craft a much compelling narrative based on the channel and the topics and conversations held by your Reddit audience.

2. Identify trending keywords in your industry

In today’s digital realms of search engines and social media, the practice of keyword research is essential for brand storytelling. Finding and researching relevant keywords  ensures the right people see your content. Identifying keywords is crucial to your business because they are related to queries that users in search engines ask.

There were around 1,500 unique authors in these communities within Reddit. By leveraging these demographic insights on Reddit, you can craft a much compelling narrative based on the channel and the topics and conversations held by your Reddit audience.

By understanding the relationship between keywords and queries, brands can better target their marketing efforts and ensure prospective customers see their message. Insights from social media intelligence can also boost this keyword research process and add current topical trends while delivering relevant queries about your audiences.

Keyword research tools such as Pulsar can help your storytelling by listing all the keywords you need to create content for your brand. Better content and engagement with audiences will boost your brand’s ranking in search results.

3. Monitor mainstream media coverage

As media and technology continue to evolve, it is more important than ever for brands to stay on top of media trends. By monitoring media coverage, brands can ensure that their message is being communicated effectively and reach their target audience.  

Using a media monitoring platform can help you quickly identify negative media coverage as well as spot positive opportunities to engage with your audiences. This engagement in return strengthens your relationship with your audience and builds a healthy reputation.

4. Listen to social media conversations

With 4.6 billion users on social media in 2022 (estimated to rise to 5.8 billion by 2027) conversations can revolve around many topics at any given time. People are jumping from one topic to another so quickly and several trending topics can dominate the overarching social media landscape. 

Staying on top of these topics is critical for brand storytelling and engaging audiences. Many brands are harnessing the power of technology and artificial intelligence to identify these conversations. 

5. Discover topics through Pulsar

Almost everyone searches for information online. With Google dominating 83 percent of the search engine market, it is unsurprising that the company’s name has become the new word for searching information. 

Using platforms such as Pulsar, you can discover trending topics that people are looking for on the search engine. These topics can help in your content creation remain current and relevant. These trending topics reflect what people are interested in and what topics are widely discussed at the moment.

What does audience insight mean?

In recent years, there has been a growing debate about the relationship between traditional and social media. There is no doubt that social media has changed the way we consume information. We are now used to getting our news from Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok. 

But traditional media outlets are still important, especially when it comes to storytelling and discovering new audience-led conversations. We believe they can work together to find your best audiences. 

While social media is great for sharing short snippets of information, traditional media is still the best platform for in-depth storytelling and credibility. This is because traditional media outlets have the resources to invest in long-form journalism.

They also have experienced reporters who know how to find and tell a good story. In an industry-scale research, trust among consumers of online news has waned and this puts a strain on the relationship between your brand and your audiences. New tools such as Pulsar have incorporated new technologies to help them rate news outlets that can be trusted.

Finding audiences in your news coverage

There is so much online news content but what is critical is having high standards on the content you consume. Traditional media is still regulated by industry standards while journalists abide by ethical ones – creating a guard against misinformation.

But what is often overlooked is the role that traditional media plays in shaping the stories that we see on social media. Undeniably, social media platforms provide a more immediate and intimate connection to the events and people we care about. 

However, it is the work of traditional media outlets in covering these stories that set the stage for much of the discussion and debate that takes place on social media. In many ways, social media is now the amplifier of your story, not traditional media.

This symbiotic relationship between traditional and social media presents a huge opportunity for brands to amplify their messages to their audiences — raising their forte of storytelling and finding the right audiences for your brand.

Connect with your audience

The next step for your brand is to find that platform. There are a plethora of options to send your message across to your audience. 

3 things to set up

Create a reason for your audience to contact you

Create your call-to-action (CTA) for your audience. As a brand, you must have a strong CTA in your marketing efforts. A CTA is what drives your audience to take the desired action, whether it’s signing up for your email list, making a purchase straight from the point of discovery, or scheduling a demo consultation. 

To create an effective CTA, start by clearly defining what you want your audience to do. Then, create a sense of urgency and make it easy for them to take action by providing a clear and concise path.

Select your platform

Find out which platform best serves your brand. Do you have thousands of followers on Instagram? Website visitors are actively engaging with your blogs? People are commenting on your Facebook profile? The options below are usually the main platforms that most brands use to tell their story.

• Website
• Microsite
• Blogs
• Advertising
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Instagram

Tell your story and share as much as you can

The final step would be to share that story with your audience and the general public. There are many ways to share your brand story with your audience. You can use social media, your website, email marketing, and even face-to-face interactions to get your story out there. 

The most important thing is to be clear about who your audience is and what you want to communicate to them. Once you know that, you can tailor your story to fit their needs and interests. If you can tell a compelling story that resonates with your audience, you’ll build a strong brand.

Ready to find your target audiences online? Click here to explore and discover the diverse communities that are following your brand with us.