Finding Online Audiences

Tools to discover and target audiences for your messages

Sarah Skerik

January 2012

The Power of the People

Today’s social networks enable people to gather around a

special interest to interact, share information and discuss

related topics.

These groups can be a treasure trove of intelligence for

brands. Within them you can often identify influential

people, as well.

This short deck offers some ideas to help you start to find

your audiences online.

Search engines – a good starting point.

To illustrate these examples, we’ll look for audiences interested in user experience design (“uxd”)

Starting with search engines, you can find blogs, discussion groups and articles. Pay attention to who and where that content links, and follow those paths.

Listorious: a directory of people & lists on Twitter.

For this example, we’re using “UXD” (shorthand for “user experience design”) to find audiences of the web designers who focus on “UX” (“user experience.”) This is pretty niche stuff.

Easily find & follow subject specific lists on Listorious

Once you’ve found a list or lists you think are interesting, you can follow them.

Keep an eye on the ensuing conversation, and notice what sort of content is readily shared by list members.

Use these observations when crafting content.

And don’t forget – as is the case with any social network, thoughtful interaction is welcomed. Spam is not.

Media dBs offer insight, contacts

Don’t forget to query your media database. Many print (and broadcast) reporters are now also required to blog, Tweet and contribute content to their publication’s social channels, where they develop significant audiences.

PR Newswire also includes blogger data in MEDIAtlas.

As always, it’s important to spend some time reading a writer’s past work to ensure they’re a good fit for your efforts.

Forums & Discussion Groups

Joining discussion groups enables you to connect with industry professionals, keep tabs on issues du jour, hear directly from your audience & identify influencers.

Need more help getting started in social media?

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