The Ultimate Guide to Finding Your Instagram Target Audience

If you are not making any headway with your Instagram content, you are probably trying to promote something to a cold audience. When you do this, your content does not speak to the audience you are creating it for. The best way to avoid this and start creating content that converts is to identify your Instagram target audience.

If you have not gone through this process, keep reading to discover how to find followers who love your content and brand.

The Importance of a Target Audience on Instagram

Aside from the fact that Instagram has more than 2 billion active monthly users, the platform allows you to shape your content, so it has the biggest impact. It does this by offering features that help you find and serve the needs of your target audience. Moreover, when you target an audience most likely to buy from you, you will continuously convert more users.

Pick a Niche

You won't get anywhere if you post random quotes or products with zero context. Instagram audiences have diverse interests. To succeed on this platform, you must pick a niche that fits these interests. It does not have to be one of the big ones like travel, fashion, or fitness. The beauty of Instagram is that there is an audience for just about any topic under the sun. If you create content about a product or service (or anything else) that appeals to your ideal audience, you can build a large following on Instagram.

Understand Your Existing Audience

Use Instagram’s built-in insights to assess your existing audience before establishing a new one. Aim to understand your current follower demographic and study their behavior and interaction with your content. Doing this will help you determine patterns and trends that you can use to create unique buyer personas. It will also allow you to create content that will resonate with your newly created target market.

Create Buyer Personas

Once you have decided on the content avenue you want to take on Instagram, you should start building buyer personas. Take a hard look at your product or service and imagine the perfect customer. Decide who you created your product for, then create a persona based on that.

You don’t have to stick to just one persona. You can create different target audiences for each persona. Doing this is especially effective if you have a wide range of products or services.

When you start building buyer personas, you need to include their demographics and characteristics like age, location, job, marital status, income, and hobbies. And you must identify each persona’s challenges and determine how your product or service will address them. You can use this information to build comprehensive profiles, which will assist you in creating inspiring content.

Check Out the Competition

Checking out the competition doesn’t mean stealing their content ideas or poaching their followers. Observe the type of followers that go gaga over your competitor's content and the type of content posted. This will help give you an idea of the target market you need to consider and the content you should create.

Go Big on Surveys

Before you start creating content specifically for your new audience, you should get feedback from them. Create surveys on Instagram to find out more about their likes and dislikes. You can even use Instagram polls to gauge interest and identify the content your followers prefer.

Make Use of Hashtags

Did you know you can use hashtags to find and reach your target audience on Instagram? If you find your surveys don’t reveal useful information, use hashtags to identify consumer patterns and behaviors.

You must first research popular hashtags within your niche and look at the content accompanying them. Then, develop specific hashtags for your own brand, content, and marketing campaigns. Don’t overthink your hashtags. Go with words and phrases that are easy to remember and spell. Also, use both popular and niche hashtags to broaden your reach. Furthermore, you can use location-based hashtags to engage or establish a local target audience.

You can do a lot with hashtags, including developing a unique branded hashtag for your brand and encouraging your users to include it when they share your content. Stay updated on trending topics so you can incorporate relevant hashtags in your future content.

Create High-Quality Content

This may sound like a given, but far too many brands still believe they can get by with subpar content on Instagram. Modern social media audiences demand quality content, and it is no different on Instagram. If you find your target audience using buyer personas, hashtags, and insights, don’t disappoint them by producing bad content.

Your content must always be relevant to your audience and add value by providing information they can use. Any visuals you use in your Instagram campaign must be polished and compelling. You should also consider Instagram's best practices to build and engage your newly established audience.

If you struggle to create content that draws attention and converts, use social listening on Instagram to understand what is happening and get an idea of how your business is perceived. You will soon notice conversations and trends as they emerge, and you can adapt your content accordingly.

Encourage UGC to Attract Your Target Audience

When you understand your target audience, you can set up a UGC (user-generated content) campaign to support your content goals. Whether you want to increase awareness around your brand, promote a new product, or drive engagement, you can use content generated by your followers.

Use one of your branded hashtags or create a new one for your followers to use when they create UGC. Encourage them to share their posts with their followers and on your Instagram feed. Also, ask them to review your products and services or post testimonials about their experience with your brand. This is one of the best ways to grow your target audience.

Find Your Target Audience Today

Don’t delay finding and retaining your target audience on Instagram. Using these methods and strategies, you can make your mark on the platform and build a community around your brand. As long as you keep quality and relevance front of mind, you will continue expanding your audience and find success on one of the world’s biggest social media platforms.