Imagine going to a party and the music is playing, everyone is dancing and having a good time except you. You start chatting up some people but all conversation feels awkward. So you end up leaving. A next time you go to a different event for people like you. You talk to a few people and they ask what you do and low and behold they love you. You are what they were searching for. That’s the feeling you get when you find your customers and people with similar interest. And the thing is you can find them online as well.
Online is littered with groups with all types of interest. From knitting to sports to healthcare to cars. The thing is you can use this in your search to find where your customers are.
What are your customers interested in?
Knowing your customer’s interest will find communities to be a part of to reach them. This piece of information is useful when choosing platforms base on customers interest. They will use a particular platform to get information. For example, a lot of friends share craft and cooking videos on facebook. They are short and demonstrate how to cook something. On Pinterest, a female coworker pins hairstyles she likes, outfits, shoes and so on. This can help you with your search.
If they have a problem where is the first place they go to find answers? Who are the influencers in the space? This will help you find where they gather on a regular basis. To help you on your search here are a few places:
Forums
Forums are the really old school way of using the internet. There are websites dedicated to giving persons space to ask questions and get help. It has evolved into various Q&A sites like Quora, Reddit and others. To maximize this space find forums dedicated to your topic. Create an account and start answering questions.
Facebook and Linkedin groups
Some social media sites have groups you can join around the interest of your customers. Similar to the forums jump in and start answering questions you can tackle and participate in the group.
Twitter search
Conversations are happening on twitter. They are asking questions and complaining about stuff. You can use twitter to search to find these questions. Type in the question and start answering the questions.
Youtube
There are communities on youtube. The thing is they’re usually watching certain people on a regular basis under those videos people leave comments and talk to each other. Jump in and be apart of the community associated with your platforms.
In the book brains on fire, the authors talk about a scissors company that created a community for craft makers. The idea was to enable them to make more craft. What that did was give persons more reason to create which in turn encourage them to use the scissors more often.
If you can find your community online with your customer’s interest and start participating.