An engaged audience is critical to a thriving influencer business. Think of it this way: your page isn’t just a stage for your performance; you’re also forming a community.

Defining your target audience helps you create content to not only attract your ideal followers but also serve their needs, therefore creating value that keeps them engaged. It’ll help you create a consistent theme for your page that quickly communicates your brand, making it easier for new visitors to decide whether to click that subscribe button or not.

Who are you reaching out to?

To define your target audience, think about who’d enjoy your content and who you’d like to interact with regularly. This community should be one you authentically fit in with and want to help.

For example, a food influencer specializing in a diverse, colorful variety of healthy dishes may set a broader category of “healthy food lovers.” That’s a lot of people spanning a wide range of demographics and psychographics!

Let’s zoom into groups within that category. If most of your dishes are quick to prepare, you should consider targeting “people who like healthy food but don’t have a lot of time to cook.”

Where are these people located? If your ingredients come from every corner of the world, your audience will generally be living in more multicultural, urban cities where they’re likely to have access to exotic ingredients.

If you’re looking to target an international audience, you might want to use easily accessible and common ingredients and write your captions in multiple languages. If you think a chunk of your audience may have particular food preferences such as being vegan, remember to create content tailored to their needs.

Now let's talk about the psychographics: Psychographics are the personal characteristics of your audience. They include the interests and challenges your community faces.

People who are interested in healthy eating are also typically interested in exercise and other ways to stay healthy, so occasionally posting a video of you doing 25 push-ups with a dog on your back won't be too off-brand. People interested in diverse entrees may be interested in the history behind them, so your kheer (Indian rice pudding) recipe could briefly summarize the ancient history behind the 1500-year-old dish.

You see how defining your audience can help you refine your content, inspire new content, and therefore help define your overall brand?

What do they want? How do they want it?

Now that you’ve defined your target audience (urban, cultured, healthy, and busy in this example), you need to understand them beyond your assumptions. Research to make sure you’ve got all the smaller details covered.

A great way to do so is through social listening. Look at accounts, both influencers, and brands, who seem to cater to similar audiences. What are they looking for that they aren’t getting from these accounts? What are their motivations and aspirations? What requests are they making, and what criticisms do they have? What are their pain points?

Seeing what delights your target audience and what irritates them will help you gain insight on creating valuable content.

Do you see how understanding your audience can help you build a strong and loyal community? You'll have a better understanding of how to refine your messages to best resonate with them without changing their initial meanings.

If you need any help with this, don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@irosesocial.com! We'll schedule a complimentary consultation to help you reach your social media business goals together and land the brand deals of your dreams!

Images by our in-house photographer Sharon

xoxo,

Irose

David Ogilvy, the “Father of Advertising,” defined a brand as “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes.” As an influencer, you are the product, and it’s up to you which attributes you choose to define you to create your brand.

A distinctive and crystal clear personal brand plays a vital role in converting viewers into engaged followers. A clearly defined brand makes it easier for your audience to connect with you and understand what sets you apart from other influencers.

A crowd that is genuinely interested in what you have to say and offers is key to building and scaling a viable influencer business. We’ll discuss what a personal brand is and how to define yours.

Let’s make it clear what a brand is. Why is a clear brand important?

The definition of a brand is somewhat abstract, but you’ve been seeing and experiencing them. Think of what differentiates one brand of makeup from another despite selling the same products: you’re probably thinking of their marketing, packaging, logo, and how they word their emails. Think of a brand you prefer over another that produces similar products with similar quality. Why is this?

Your personal brand is a package that ties together multiple facets of your identity and what you offer. It’s the overall look and feel of what you’re presenting. It’s an intangible energy radiating from your aesthetic, words, and tone of your captions. Think of it as the way you’re delivering your content, or like your page’s personality. It immediately evokes an abstract, gut feeling to a viewer.

Do you want your page to give off a dreamy vibe or a more serious one? Do you want viewers to immediately think “vintage” or “futuristic” when they land upon your page? Whatever you choose, your page needs to authentically reflect your unique personality, aspirations, interests, values, and talent. Identify which parts of the above you’d like to highlight.

Your brand should be distinctive from other influencers and be genuinely unique to you. Your personality is what will allow your followers to build a deeper bond with your brand.

Here are some tangible steps you should take to define this brand.

Narrow down your niche.

Let’s start with the more concrete, tangible elements on your page. First off, what’s your niche? You probably know some types of content you’re offering, so try to narrow it down. Say you’re a fashionista -- is there a type of fashion you’d like to focus on?

For example, fashion influencer Jenny Cipoletti stands out with a distinctively feminine, delicate style, while another fashion influencer Jessica Wang consistently flaunts her unique high-fashion style. From each of their pages, viewers can quickly identify those niches and keep scrolling if they happen to like these specific styles, eventually converting to followers. Having a specific, distinctive niche shows expertise in a particular topic, helping you attract a targeted audience.

Perspective: what’s your value?

Another perspective you can take to define your brand is to think of the value you’re providing. How is your content going to help your audience and improve their lives? Are you presenting in-depth facts about your niche? Will you be writing detailed travel guides? Do you want to be a source of everyday motivation and inspiration towards a healthier lifestyle? A gorgeous feed isn’t enough anymore. You’ll need more substance than that.

Think from the perspective of what problems you’re solving. For example, some influencers are trying to fill a gap they’ve noticed. For example, some influencers like Sarah Tripp saw a lack of curvy influencers and wanted to create a space to encourage body positivity in the influencer industry.

Analyze your target audience. Think about people who share similar physical or personality characteristics as you. What challenges and frustrations do they tend to face? What do they feel is missing in their lives? How do you plan on easing up their lives and inspiring them? How do you plan on helping them solve their problems?

Your journey throughout all the above should be genuine. Even if you’re just showing off your life’s highlights and not the days at home eating gallons of ice cream, don’t forget to be true to yourself. Be honest about your values and preferences. Don’t participate in something you’re uncomfortable with just for clout or to jump on the bandwagon.

Your personal brand defines much of your reputation and is the foundation of your influencer business and well, all businesses in general. It’s what people will visualize when they hear your name. It’s what you’ll be known for. So choose a sustainable direction you’ll be proud of in the years ahead, one that makes you and your audience happy.. If you’re looking to take your influencer career to the next level, don’t hesitate to hit us up for a free consultation!

Images by our in-house photographer Sharon