Audience Development Presentation - Third Tuesday Meetup - March 2013
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Third Tuesday – March 2013 Meetup How to Build a Large, Passionate Audience From Scratch
description
This is an updated version of my Audience Development deck presented at the Third Tuesday Meetup - March 2013. It details how one gets to know their audience, and how you determine how and where to communicate with them and what kinds of content they want from you. Included are a couple of examples / case studies from my personal experience.
Transcript of Audience Development Presentation - Third Tuesday Meetup - March 2013
Third Tuesday – March 2013 Meetup
How to Build a Large, Passionate Audience From Scratch
Who Am I?
12 years of online marketing and product merchandizing experience in e-commerce and affiliate marketingWorked in all facets of online marketing with a focus on SEO, Social, and Content2 years with Reinvent an in-house incubator for one of the largest domainers in the worldRun my own consulting business (3 weeks)
My Audiences BuildDirect.com long buying cycle, complex
products, high $ value but a broad audience.
BlackFriday.com very seasonally focused site with a short buying cycle, very
focused on a single day Long build up and must both capture the audience
beforehand retain them, but also must lure them away from the competition just before buying
Getting StartedWho are they?What’s important to them?Where do you talk to them / find them?How do you get their attention?How do you get them to act to join you?How do you get them to share and expand the community for you?
Who Are They? Make some assumptionsYou have to start somewhereDon’t let the assumptions stand too long w/o more infoPrepare the organization to re-evaluate or change audiencesMake a list of sites like yours
Who Are They?
Ask Them! Talk to your customers
◦ Surveys◦ Ask similar people
Surveys◦ 4Q http://www.4qsurvey.com/ ◦ Survey Monkey http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Create PersonasWhat’s a Persona?How do I build them?Allows you to put yourself in their shoes Segment and prioritize large diverse audiences
Resources: http://usability.gov/methods/analyze_current/personas.html
http://www.stcsig.org/usability/topics/personas.html
http://boxesandarrows.com/making-personas-more-powerful-details-to-drive-strategic-and-tactical-design/
http://uxmag.com/articles/personas-the-foundation-of-a-great-user-experience
http://www.amazon.com/The-User-Always-Right-Practical/dp/0321434536/
Create Personas Debbie Do-it-Yourselfer
Debbie is a 35 year old married woman with 2 school age kids. Debbie’s home is important to her. She likes to entertain and takes pride in having a stylish home that others admire. Debbie enjoys reading home decorating and gardening magazines. Debbie and her husband Dan are of middle income but Debbie aspires to the types of homes she sees on TV and in the magazines.
Dan Do-it-yourselfer, Sam Small-contractor, Dan Developer
What’s Important to Them?What works for your competition? Don’t be afraid to be a fast follower for a whileAsk aroundPhone CallsPicked (via email) a group of customers then we simply phoned them and asked ◦ What do you like about the site?◦ What resources do you use to do research?◦ What other sites do you like?◦ What matters to you when you make a decision? ◦ Do you use Facebook, Twitter, browse on your phone, etc. ◦ Etc.
Where Do You Talk to Them?
Suit the medium to the audienceDon’t just think about online Participate where they doDevelopers might be Reddit, Hacker NewsMarketers might be Twitter, marketing blogsRetail buyers might be Facebook, your own blog, “shopping” blogs, etc.
What We Did @ BuildDirect.com
Started with an assumption of who they wereWe were WRONGTalked to customers, surveyed them, built personasWhat did they want? Aspirations. Dream home. Give them what they wanted – room scenes, blog posts on interior design, engaged designers, participated in forumsWent other places they would be: TV, Home improvement shows.
What We Did @ BuildDirect.com
Tried FB and completely failed, it wasn’t what they wantedGave away free stuff (samples) with tons of our brandingLong slow buildFollow up, customer service, and word of mouth was one of the best audience builders. The audience was built by other audience members, but not through socialOne way was to let them show off their homes, let them do the promotion
What We Did @ BuildDirect.com
Then went after smaller audience segments (builders) Industry organizations (even local, Twitter) Use different speakers for different segments (CEO for getting professionals to follow on Twitter, etc.)
What We Did @ BlackFriday.com
With Black Friday it was very differentThe basic “audience” was everyone who shops on Black FridayIn 2012 that was 247,000,000 Americans (80% of the country)First step, again, figure out who they areWomen, 25-45, middle income and middle education, overwhelmingly with kids 0-17Previous owners made no attempt to develop the audience through any means besides the site and reactive PRNo content (none) and no customer service
What We Did @ BlackFriday.com
What We Did @ BlackFriday.com
Started the same way as BuildDirect. Same audience must equal same tactics, right?Wrong!!!Back to the drawing boardNot just who they are but what they wantTalked extensively to
◦ former owners◦ several very experienced retail people who
had BF experience,◦ internal and external people who loved BF
What We Did @ BlackFriday.com
Now I had a better idea of what users wanted from us
Did not want to hear from us out of season
They wanted quick hits, things that made life easy
Go back to who they are, what they like, and where they are
Timely updates (the fastest), easy to read, not complicated, not too far of what they expected (yet).
What We Did @ BlackFriday.comArmed with the knowledge that they were moms, etc., we out together a totally different campaignGiven the audience, Facebook was the best place to testLooked at FB stats to confirm – 75% female , 55% age 25-44Went to image based posts that women, esp. moms could identify withThe audience on FB began to grow rapidlyFormer best post was 20K views, 783 Likes, 136 Comments, 292 Shares
Facebook Ask for the Like, Share, Comment, etc.Give them a reason to visit the site50% of our growth came from mobile on Facebook Mobile ads to Like pagesImages, Images, Images! Make sure images are optimized for mobile. (403px × 271px)
FacebookGive-awaysSimple to runI like Wildfire http://www.wildfireapp.com/ and Strutta http://www.strutta.com/ Almost $0 outlay on our part added 120K email subscribersPeople love free stuff
Mobile38% of traffic was mobile (18% last year) Created iPhone and iPad appsUsed other media to push apps#1 Free Lifestyle app in 24 hrsWe can push content to them and keep us top of mindLet us provide the content our audience wanted
Future GrowthContinue to learn by listeningAs the network grows they will tell you how to grow it moreWhere? UserVoice http://www.uservoice.com , FB, site comments, social media monitoring Now we know better what they want and can create that content
ResultsDid this stuff work? Mid Sept to Dec we increased our audience by:
◦ 800K Facebook fans◦ 500K email subscribers◦ 900K mobile app downloads ◦ 1 in 20 Americans visited the site in Nov. ◦ 200M pageviews◦ 45% traffic growth YoY
Tips - WhereFacebook just use pics and videoTwitter much better for growing professional networks, really hasn’t worked in either case for us for retail stuffUse every medium that makes senseThink beyond the traditional web. Mobile, apps, web video, social, search, forums, email are all ways to reach your community. How do they work together to present the same message and to drive your audience to your most effective media?
Tips - WhatDon’t give them too little, but also don’t give them more than they wantDon’t underestimate or over-estimate your audienceRespond when they ask questionsSympathise with their troublesCreate urgency – why do they want to pay attention to you NOW
TipsDon’t assume like demographics want the same things at the same timeWhat they want from your site is as important as who they users areCreate an authoritative voice on the subject matterUsers want to feel like you are the expert Know your industry (trends, deals, products, etc.)
Bonus Slide Quick links to stuff mentioned above:
Black Friday FB page https://www.facebook.com/blackfridaydeals
Black Friday app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/black-friday-shopping/id561263218?ls=1&mt=8
Black Friday Twitter https://twitter.com/blackfridayinfo
Black Friday Pinterest http://pinterest.com/blackfridaycom/
BuildDirect Blog http://blog.builddirect.com/
BuildDirect Facebook https://www.facebook.com/builddirect
BuildDirect Twitter https://twitter.com/builddirect
Thank You!
Rob Woods
Twitter: @robdwoods
Skype: rob.d.woods
604.374.5312
