Seth Godin once said: Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers. Are you interested in learning how to create a social media campaign? Looking for the latest social media marketing tactics? It is not terribly hard to accomplish these objectives.

We’ll share with you how the most successful businesses use social media to grow business and brand loyalty. This is a four-part series, with this article being part 2, target customer.

Here are the links to the other Social Media Campaign Secrets series articles:

Part 1 The Big Picture

Part 3 Listening and Engaging

Part 4 Telling Stories

And it is essential to know who those customers are, isn’t it? Businesses that put a priority on understanding their customers and improving consumer targeting definitely know most of them. And they are trying to figure out the questions behind each customer segment. What motivates them, and what drives their attitudes and behaviors. In this blog, we will share some tips on how to target customers.

Creating a social media campaign starts with knowing and understanding your target customers and being able to segment them into groups. Without this customer segmentation, you really don’t know your customers’ thoughts.

It is obvious your customers are not all alike. However, knowing how they are segmented will help you target and understand them more easily.

Then you will be able to apply more relevant messages to each segment. The more relevant and focused your messages, the more effective your social media campaign … it is that simple.

Customer market segmentation analysis permits a business to better target its customers. Targeting is growing in importance as more and more customer engagement is focused on relevance and relationship building.

Targeting permits better focus on relevance and relationship building to improve customer engagement. There are many ways to define your market as segments, such as behavioral, psychographic, demographic, and geographic.

There are many ways to expand your thinking on customer segments.

Take a look at these:

Five special types of customer segments that can be very useful in engaging customers:

Experiential

These customers seek a sense of community and/or experience. They are driven by a specific experience and a specific customer community.

Discount

Customers who shop at the same stores frequently, make decisions based on ‘deals’. A good example of this target segment is JC Penny’s which quickly left when the store recently changed its sales strategy.

Target customer … Loyal

Customers who shop with you on a regular basis. No longer 80/20 … they do represent 20% of customers, but no more than 50% of sales. Clearly, there is a trend away from customer loyalty, as the competition grows.

Impulse

No specific shopping goal, they shop on a whim and buy what seems good at the time.

Mission

Have a specific intention/goal for specific items.

Can you spot these customer types in your store?

Do you know your best customers and their shopping patterns and practices?

And then design your customer experiences and marketing to these patterns and practices?

Something else to consider:

We recently read a very interesting article: Four New Approaches to Consumer Segmentation by Joel Rubinson.

The thesis of his article is: customer market segmentation is at the heart of marketing practice, yet it simply does not work that well because it is rarely very actionable. His article describes how that can change using these four approaches to customer segmentation.

Let’s examine his four approaches:

Segment moments

We are much more interested in Ford or General Motors when we are looking to buy a car than right after we make the purchase, correct?

When we are dieting makes us much more interesting in Atkins, Dukan, and Weight Watchers than when are not dieting. In this age of digital and social commerce, moments become directly targetable because our current goals give out great forensic signs as we travel the internet world. We seek out different content, search for different terms, like different things on Facebook, and different products show up on our frequent shopper data.

This includes all highly targetable customers without needing to water things down with demographics, which is a good thing.

You need brand loyalties.

A segment for ad targeting on brand loyalties

Increasingly, we can merge digital and social data with frequent shopper data for ad targeting. So what, you may ask? It is simply that a marketer can now target their advertising to ’switchable’.

Who are they? They are consumers who buy your brand occasionally but not most of the time. Why is this significant?

It is simple

We receive a much higher response to advertising and promotions from switchable than from those who are completely loyal to either you or some competitive brand.

Segment shopper types

Plan purchases or decide in-store? Explore to find new meal ideas? Like to sample new products? Can we assume you have an infant at home given diaper and formula purchases? All of these have clear action implications for product placement, store layouts, and specific shopper promotions delivered in customized ways.

You may be wondering …

This is increasingly accomplished via mobile apps.

Segment targetable interests and values

Rather than creating a battery of questions for segmentation and HOPE that we can target segments, why not flip this around? Why not analyze the interests, cultural values, and lifestyle characteristics that are available via Facebook or Google profiles and create segments on factors that reflect those actionable characteristics?

That way, you can take your segmentation and be much more proactive. Furthermore, every ad campaign becomes a test of the specific targets because they should exhibit a greater response.

What do you think? Convinced enough to give these approaches a try? We certainly are.

Our takeaways

It is critical for businesses to segment their customers by several means. Learn about and talk through generational issues so as to assist in building customer relationships.

In engaging customers, acknowledge and appreciate differences. In moving forward, continue to develop your knowledge of each generation’s preferences.

Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy to innovating your social media strategy?

Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitte r, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

Successful Social Media Marketing Tactics You Should Employ

Social Media Marketing Lessons From the New Pros in Town

The secret to the iphone5 TV ads …Effective Apple Marketing Strategy?

Seth Godin once said: Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers. Are you interested in learning how to create a social media campaign? Looking for the latest social media marketing tactics? It is not terribly hard to accomplish these objectives.

We’ll share with you how the most successful businesses use social media to grow business and brand loyalty. This is a four-part series, with this article being part 2, target customer.

Here are the links to the other Social Media Campaign Secrets series articles:

Part 1 The Big Picture

Part 3 Listening and Engaging

Part 4 Telling Stories

Creating a social media campaign starts with knowing and understanding your target customers and being able to segment them into groups. Without this customer segmentation, you really don’t know your customers’ thoughts.

It is obvious your customers are not all alike. However, knowing how they are segmented will help you target and understand them more easily.

Then you will be able to apply more relevant messages to each segment. The more relevant and focused your messages, the more effective your social media campaign … it is that simple.

Customer market segmentation analysis permits a business to better target its customers. Targeting is growing in importance as more and more customer engagement is focused on relevance and relationship building.

Targeting permits better focus on relevance and relationship building to improve customer engagement. There are many ways to define your market as segments, such as behavioral, psychographic, demographic, and geographic.

There are many ways to expand your thinking on customer segments.

Take a look at these:

Five special types of customer segments that can be very useful in engaging customers:

Experiential

These customers seek a sense of community and/or experience. They are driven by a specific experience and a specific customer community.

Discount

Customers who shop at the same stores frequently, make decisions based on ‘deals’. A good example of this target segment is JC Penny’s which quickly left when the store recently changed its sales strategy.

Target customer … Loyal

Customers who shop with you on a regular basis. No longer 80/20 … they do represent 20% of customers, but no more than 50% of sales. Clearly, there is a trend away from customer loyalty, as the competition grows.

Impulse

No specific shopping goal, they shop on a whim and buy what seems good at the time.

Mission

Have a specific intention/goal for specific items.

Can you spot these customer types in your store?

Do you know your best customers and their shopping patterns and practices?

And then design your customer experiences and marketing to these patterns and practices?

Something else to consider:

We recently read a very interesting article: Four New Approaches to Consumer Segmentation by Joel Rubinson.

The thesis of his article is: customer market segmentation is at the heart of marketing practice, yet it simply does not work that well because it is rarely very actionable. His article describes how that can change using these four approaches to customer segmentation.

Let’s examine his four approaches:

Segment moments

We are much more interested in Ford or General Motors when we are looking to buy a car than right after we make the purchase, correct?

This includes all highly targetable customers without needing to water things down with demographics, which is a good thing.

A segment for ad targeting on brand loyalties

Increasingly, we can merge digital and social data with frequent shopper data for ad targeting. So what, you may ask? It is simply that a marketer can now target their advertising to ’switchable’.

Who are they? They are consumers who buy your brand occasionally but not most of the time. Why is this significant?

It is simple

We receive a much higher response to advertising and promotions from switchable than from those who are completely loyal to either you or some competitive brand.

Segment shopper types

You may be wondering …

This is increasingly accomplished via mobile apps.

Segment targetable interests and values

That way, you can take your segmentation and be much more proactive. Furthermore, every ad campaign becomes a test of the specific targets because they should exhibit a greater response.

What do you think? Convinced enough to give these approaches a try? We certainly are.

Our takeaways

It is critical for businesses to segment their customers by several means. Learn about and talk through generational issues so as to assist in building customer relationships.

In engaging customers, acknowledge and appreciate differences. In moving forward, continue to develop your knowledge of each generation’s preferences.

Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy to innovating your social media strategy?

Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

More reading on marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

Successful Social Media Marketing Tactics You Should Employ

Social Media Marketing Lessons From the New Pros in Town

The secret to the iphone5 TV ads …Effective Apple Marketing Strategy?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitte r, and LinkedIn.