Recently, at our Social Strategy Boot Camp in Des Moines, an audience member asked, “How do I know my market size or interests when it comes to social media?” One approach we’ve found useful in doing research for clients employs a few Facebook hacks that we’ve discovered via their paid advertising tools. While these metrics may not give a 100% on-target answer, they will definitely provide greater insight into customers and how a brand can target them.
Let’s take an in-depth look at a few of these Facebook hacks using a dog trainer in Madison, Wisconsin as an example. Most would immediately say that their target market would be dog owners in the city, but from there, may struggle to narrow it down further in terms of market size, location, and need.
Size
Facebook is a great place to start your search for market size. Their paid advertising features allow brands to not only target specific areas, but interests, as well.
For our dog trainer, we set our search for Madison. With that specification alone, we see a target reach (on the right hand side of the page) of 247,080. Now, when we factor in the target age and gender for the business (20-40 year old females), we see an updated number of 81,680.
Of course, these numbers are based on the information that Facebook collects from users, so it won’t include non-users, but it does provide an idea of what percentage of the city is in the target age group.
Specifics
With marketing campaigns, it helps to have a realistic number when setting goals and objectives, especially when ROI is needed at the end of a campaign or fiscal year. Using the number above alone with the target age and gender can be misleading and could potentially deliver a low return, as not all in-market users will be dog owners. Instead, use that number as a base and get more specific with your search to narrow down a percentage of that market that is more in-line with who you want to target.
For our example, to find a number that may better represent the people who have interest in dogs, we can browse the categories listed to find Pets (Dogs) under Interests. This takes our market size to 10,280. Now, if the business focused on all pets, we could just select Pets (All), or a combination of Pets (Dogs) and Pets (Cats). The numbers will vary.
Special Promotions
Often, a more targeted marketing campaign will lead to stronger results, as users take action when the ad content is more relevant to them. Using the Facebook advertising tool, a brand can get even more specific when it comes to learning about their market and how to connect.
For our example, let’s say that the dog trainer reads that there was a trend for recently married or engaged couples to purchase a puppy. To help understand how large that market would be in Madison, we can go back to our Facebook advertising search. By selecting from the family status category Engaged (1 Year), Engaged (6 Months), Newlywed (1 Year), and Newlywed (6 Months), we see the number of 4,820, a substantial market in our opinion, and one that may be worth targeting specifically for puppy promotions.
Whether you choose to go through with the paid advertising on Facebook or not, the tool itself may still be of value to you when trying to understand more about your market, or markets you may be interested in exploring further. Use the tips above to help you get accustomed to the tool and your market, and if you consider running a paid ad campaign, remember to continually test and monitor for the best results.
What other tricks do you have for learning about your market? Have you tried more specific campaigns on social networks like Facebook? How effective have they been?
