Readers, Readers, Who Are You?

by Bri Sandoval

There is a question that consistently burns in my overcrowded mind. 

Who is my next target? 

And before you start to panic, no, I don’t have a hit list. Not in the murderous sense, anyways. I’m just an aspiring author. An aspiring author with a dream to sell novels. But this dream is nothing without a group of loyal readers to indulge in my work. An author is nothing without its readers. 

NOTHING. 

We all have to start somewhere in the world of marketing. Whether that’s standing on the streets passing out advertisements or begging your grandma and grandpa to share your contact info with their friends. Luckily for us, this day and age makes the process a lot less invasive with the use of social media. Nevertheless, the start of the process has never changed. It must focus on one major aspect just like it always has: the audience. 

Who is using our product? How old are they? Where do they live? Where do they shop? What apps do they use? The list can truly go on and on but it’s essential to answer as many of these questions as possible for maximum effectiveness. 

Weixin, a popular Chinese social networking app, has proven to be highly successful by managing to answer all of these questions. According to Mahoney and Tang, the app boasts over 300 million users and the company is now worth a very pretty penny. 

$100 billion on the Hong Kong exchange to be exact. 

To get to this point in their story of success, Weixin began by thoroughly analyzing their audience and tailoring their brand to it. They came to realize that they would need to target young, urban, mobile-users. This demographic is busy, bustling and needs everything at their fingertips. For this reason, Weixin creators decided that “if audiences can get all they want from one platform, why bother to find other options?” (Mahoney and Tang, 2016). The app allows users to send messages, get news, make purchases, and even find a cab. And what do youthful, convenience driven, technology glued urbanites like the most? Why the next best thing of course. Weixin keeps introducing new functions/campaigns to satisfy their audience’s newest needs.

Weixin’s strategy can be applied to a plethora of online business ventures. Many businesses, and writer’s like myself, use social media to support and promote their brand. Stacy Jo Dixon reports that in 2022, over 4.59 billion people were using social media worldwide and projected to increase to nearly six billion in 2027. With this vast number of people worldwide using social media platforms on a daily basis, it’s the perfect place for businesses to connect with potential consumers (or readers, in my case). 

Defining your target audience and figuring out how best to reach them is always the place to start. Shopify states that you must understand WHO your audience is and HOW you can reach them. 

I have had to ask myself many questions in the pursuit of finding my readers. What gender most lends themselves to thrillers? What primary age group reads thrillers? Where do thriller readers search for their next read? What social media sites do these individuals find themselves on? 

Primarily women, some young adults with the majority being over the age of 50, Amazon and in bookstores, and good ol’ Facebook. 

The internet truly knows all. 

Different social media sites, though, attract different audiences. According to Mahoney & Tang (2016), “Facebook is the most popular social media platform, with more than 1 billion users worldwide.” The site reaches more than 70% of online adults and is also one of few social media sites that can reach older demographics, since over half of Internet users aged 65+ use Facebook.

For this reason, I will be using the hell out of Facebook. Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg. 

But while I may benefit from Facebook’s user demographic, it might be different for someone else. Instagram appeals to a lot of younger crowds, while YouTube has the widest span of age ranges using it. Either way, it’s important to figure this out before going all in on your marketing strategy. 

So I implore you to go out there and find your next targets! Do your research and give your brand the best possible start. You’ll thank yourself later on.

Until next time,

XOXO

Bri Sandoval

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