3 Major Places to Find Relevant Targeted Audience Data
Digital marketers and data experts have been harping for years that businesses aren’t leveraging Big Data like they should be.
The problem isn’t necessarily not knowing you should be using data. We’re living in a data-driven society where knowledge is absolute power, and data is being collected at lightspeed every second of every day about our buying and browsing habits.
What’s more problematic for businesses is knowing where to find data sets that are most applicable to their unique use case.
But here’s the thing: data doesn’t always come in the form of neat spreadsheets, charts, and graphs. Given the sheer number of touchpoints in today’s omnichannel customer experience, you’ll likely need to source relevant data from a variety of locations and compile them to form the most reliable insights.
We’ve created a simple, three-step process to help you streamline your data diving:
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1. Check Your Top 20
Apply the Pareto Principle to your data collection by getting specifics from your top 20% of customers. The Pareto Principle suggests that about 20% of your customer base accounts for roughly 80% of your sales.
Your realistic figures might be off a bit (it’s not a guaranteed 80/20 split), but the main logic remains: your most valuable audience data lies in your top buyers.
Knowing what appeals to your biggest spenders will give you an idea of how to tailor your products and marketing to their preferences.
Likewise, the 80/20 rule can also be applied to demographic data. For example, you might find the majority of your buyers come from a specific state or region, are of a certain age range, or share other qualities.
The more you can source and laser focus on common denominators like these, the better positioned you are to deliver the right messages.
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2. Scourge Your Social Media Channels
Social media advertising platforms are powerful data tools because they collect information on their users daily, and give you a chance to harness their efforts.
But here’s a little-known hack for marketers who want to research their audience without spending a dime: you don’t have to run an ad on social media to access their advertising data.
Take Facebook Ad Manager, for example. When you’re creating an ad campaign on Facebook, the Ad Manager will take you through the process of defining your target audience. By answering a few questions like location, ideal age range, and personal interests, Facebook will show you your audience size so you can determine if you should widen or narrow your cast. It’s a small piece of data that could yield big results by knowing how big (or small) of an audience fits your criteria.
Also, if you’re having a hard time narrowing your audience, Facebook offers suggestions on interests to help you get more specific. You can choose from a preset lits of demographics, interests, and behaviors (such as purchasing behaviors) to make better use of your investment.
Another perk of Facebook Ads Manager is the ability to create lookalike audiences based on your current audience. You can upload a list of email addresses from your current buyers and ask Facebook to create a similar audience based on your choice of filters (such as location, age, interest, or behaviors).
In addition, you can use your own social media business pages to grab bits of insights from your customers. User comments, reviews, and star ratings can be telling when it comes to what they think of you. Some might even leave suggestions for you for future products, services, or improvements.
Of course, Facebook isn’t the only place to cast your data net, but it’s a relevant place to start because of its massive reach and number of users. Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest can also be valuable places to look.
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3. Invest in Data Collection Tools
Sifting and sorting through audience data can become a massive hands-on project with no end in sight. Data collection tools can take much of the guesswork and manual labor out of sourcing information and help you put to it to good use.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool for diving deeper into your website visitors’ habits and demographics. Things like age range, browser, device type, geography, and interests can all be discovered through the platform. It’s no surprise really, given that Google is the world’s most widely used search engine. Its popularity allows it to collect data on just about everything that’s happening online, so there’s always something you can learn about your audience.
Google Adwords and SEO tools like Moz or SEMRush can also be helpful in understanding what terms people are using to search for your products.
Personalization can also deliver insightful consumer data. Intercom is a fan-favorite messaging service that sends messages to people who are using your product at that very moment. You can reach out with a personal note when the user triggers a specific behavior, such as upgrading their service or not having accessed a particular feature.
There are tons of other data collection tools you can add to your arsenal to gain closer looks at when, how, and why people use your services. The best ones will depend on your goals in sourcing buyer data and how much of an audience you’ve already built.
You’ve Got Data – Now What?
All that data you’re sitting on is uesless until you learn how to leverage it. Ideally, having a plan in place before you start deep diving into data can help you save time in sorting and sourcing later.
You can use your new audience information to tailor effective marketing strategies on social media, via email, guest blogging, influencer campaigns, or other outlets. It can also help you learn which channels resonate with your audience so you can better allocate your marketing spend.
Data is becoming the biggest driver in today’s marketing. There are seemingly infinite new things you can learn about the people who buy or will buy from you, and given how easy it is to locate it, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be putting it to good use.
