What is Audience Analysis?

We explain how brands can use social media analytics to for audience analysis and insights.

Social media analytics provides a great way for brands to understand what consumers are saying about their products, ads, competitors and more. But what is being said is only one part of a larger story.

Understanding who is doing the talking is just as important.

Audience analysis allows brands to gain a deeper understanding of their current and potential customers to improve marketing strategy, customer experience, and brand perception. This post covers how brands can use audience analysis to create more successful marketing campaigns and advertising.

Why you need to understand your audience

Today, brands understand the importance of targeted marketing. Facebook and Google’s massive growth stems from their ability to sell hyper-targeted advertising. With all of the advertising and marketing technology available, targeting the audience of your choice is the easy part.

The more difficult business questions to answer are things like: Who should you be targeting? What kind of messaging and content should you use for specific groups? What type of campaign will generate the most engagement with this audience?

An example of a brand who recently answered these difficult questions with social media data comes from Fender. They were about to launch a new an exciting new product, the Flea Jazz Bass, designed by the beloved Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist. Before launch, they needed to determine the right audience to target and best type of campaign to engage them.

Without fully understanding the preferences, demographics, and motivations of your audience, your campaigns and your products won’t reach their full potential.

In the past, gaining an understanding of your audience could only be accomplished by spending a lot of time and money on surveys and market research firms. Today, social media data helps brands gain actionable business insights about an audience quickly.

What is audience analysis?

In consumer insights, audience analysis refers to researching the interests, preferences, demographic, location, and other aspects of a group. This could be a broad audience like “all Tumblr users” or a much narrower group like “millennial female fans of The Bachelor in Massachusetts.” The insights you gain from audience analysis depend on the depth of your research.

While your own audience is a great place to start with audience analysis, looking at your competitor’s audience and comparing it to your own can help you gain insights into how to stay ahead of the competition.