Ever told what you thought was a cracking story, only to watch it land with absolutely no one?
Awkward.
Sometimes the story is the problem. But quite often, you are simply telling the right story to the wrong people.
The same thing happens in marketing all the time.
A business creates a perfectly good social post, sends it out into the world and waits. Nothing much happens. So the algorithm gets blamed, the format gets blamed and before long someone suggests making more Reels.
Meanwhile, there is a much more useful question sitting quietly in the corner.
Who were we trying to reach in the first place?
Knowing your audience has always mattered. With more content competing for attention every day, it matters even more now. Good content does not start with deciding what to post, it starts with knowing who you are talking to and what matters to them.
First, who are you trying to talk to?
Before you open your analytics, look at follower numbers or start building audience profiles, get clear on the people your business genuinely needs to reach.
Start by thinking about who needs what you offer, who influences the decision and who ultimately makes it. Then think about who you want to know, trust and remember your business. The answer might not be one group.
An agritech business could be speaking to the people using its technology, the rural professionals recommending it and the business leaders making the purchasing decision. They are connected to the same product, but what matters to each of them can be very different.
This is also where the phrase “our audience is everyone” needs to be fast tracked to the bin. Trying to speak to everyone generally leaves you saying very little to anyone.
You do not need to narrow your audience so tightly that only six people qualify. You do need enough clarity to understand who you want to reach, what role they play and why your business should matter to them.
Once you know that, you can start learning more about who those people are.
Demographics are useful. They are not your audience strategy.
Age, location, gender, job title and industry can all add useful context. Your social media analytics can show you who currently follows you, who engages with your content and whether that lines up with the people you are trying to reach.
But demographics are only one layer.
Knowing your audience is predominantly 35 to 54 and lives in the Waikato is information. It does not tell you what will make them pay attention to your business.
Think beyond age and location.
What are they trying to achieve?
What gets in their way?
What questions keep coming up?
And what information do they need before they are ready to make a decision?
That is where useful audience insight starts.
And if your current audience profile tells you that Sarah is 42, likes flat whites and walks her dog on Sundays, but tells you nothing about why Sarah would choose your business, we may need to revisit Sarah.
Knowing your audience makes content creation easier
The dreaded blank content calendar becomes considerably less intimidating when you know who you are trying to help. Instead of staring at it wondering what on earth you can post, start with what your audience is dealing with right now.
Think about what you can explain, what they regularly misunderstand, what they need help making sense of and what your business knows that would genuinely be useful to them. Can they relate to the problem that you solve? Show it!
Suddenly, you have somewhere useful to start.
Your content can educate, entertain, show your expertise, share your people, explain your services and start conversations. Not because you have cracked some mysterious social media formula.
Because you are talking about things the right people care about.
And remember the social bit
Social media is still social. Posting content and disappearing until the next scheduled post is not much of a conversation.
Reply to people. Notice what they are saying. Join relevant conversations and pay attention to what is happening across your sector. People want to know there are people behind the business.
That does not mean every brand needs to behave like an influencer or tell us what everyone had for lunch. It simply means communicating like humans rather than a scheduled content machine.
Before you blame the algorithm...
Algorithms matter. Formats matter. Platforms change. Trends come and go. But none of them can rescue content that has very little reason to exist in the first place.
Knowing who you are speaking to helps you choose better topics, stronger examples, the right language and, just as importantly, what not to post.
So before your next content planning meeting turns into a 45 minute debate about whether you need more Reels, start with the people on the other side of the screen.
Who are they?
What matters to them?
And are you giving them something worth stopping for?
If your business is creating plenty of content but you are not completely sure who it is all for, come and have a chat. We can help you get clear on the audience, the message and what is worth saying in the first place.
