Discover the Type of Facebook User Your Target Audience Is

Over 1.94 million people worldwide log on to Facebook each month. With such a wide usership, it’s only natural that your target audience is out there engaging with this platform. But how?

With user demand only growing every year, Facebook is constantly changing to support the growing expectations of the users. Although it may seem like users have completely individualistic experiences on the platform, this may not actually be the case – a recent study published by the International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking has suggested there may only be four types of users making up your newsfeed.

These categories are: ‘relationship builders’, ‘town criers’, ‘window shoppers’ and ‘selfies’.

So, you may be wondering how you as a business can use this information to your advantage. By evaluating the category that your target audience falls under, you can streamline your marketing campaigns on Facebook to suit their social networking expectations and desires.

Relationship Builders: As the name suggests, these users have harnessed the platform as a way to mainly keep in touch with those who mean most to them, such as family and friends. For them, Facebook is a vehicle to share information such as personal photos, videos and updates with their loved ones, thereby seemingly blurring the line between offline and online communication.

Town Criers: To the ‘Town Crier’, Facebook is used as a platform to gather and share information whilst voicing one’s opinions of societal or political matters. Usually made up of those within the journalism or activism fields, these users typically do not engage with the social media giant as a means of keeping in touch with loved ones; instead they use it as a podium for their voice to be heard. They engage mostly with events or causes that are broadcasted through the platform.

Window Shoppers: Due to Facebook’s sheer prevalence, it is only natural that some people may feel pressured to have a presence on the platform. Window Shoppers are users who, although they have a profile, do not really use Facebook as a means of communication. Instead, they scroll through their feed, acting as a silent observer. For the Window Shopper, Facebook is a social obligation and nothing deeper. They don’t usually post, but they do engage with things that catch their eye amongst the stream of updates from other users.

Selfies: Using social media daily is nothing new to those who find themselves in the ‘selfie’ category. Typically made up of the younger generation, Facebook is a platform where these users can gain validation through the likes and responses they generate from posting pictures, videos or updates.

Using This to Update Your Advertising and Marketing Strategies

By identifying and evaluating which category your target audience falls under, you can optimise your Facebook marketing strategy to target them in a way they will respond to. This will allow you to better strategise your campaign and directly work towards your target audience’s expectations – for instance, to create a campaign that targets ‘Window Shoppers’, it would need to stand out amongst these users’ senseless scrolling. This can be achieved by using an eye-catching video or picture.

Take a look at your own Facebook and see how many categories you can identify within your feed. Put yourself in the user’s shoes and create a new form of marketing for your target audience based on what they will most likely be receptive to.