Target Audience

Hello, today I will be talking to you about the difference between online and offline target audiences.  Throughout the semester I have been following Southern New Hampshire University through various forms of social media. SNHU is a brand that does a great job with social media, partially due to the fact that they understand the difference between their online target audience and offline target audience. Both online and offline target audiences are important in developing a strong perceived image and awareness of your brand. In terms of social media, which is made up of user generated content it is important to be able to understand your audience.

This is where the Groundswell tool comes in handy. This tool classifies consumers into seven overlapping levels of social participation. This tool is extremely helpful in understanding your audience and what types of social media will best reach them. For Southern New Hampshire University the groundswell tool is as follows. SNHU’s main target audience’s demographics are both males and females in the united states between the ages of 18- 24. According to the Groundswell tool, SNHU’s target audience mainly falls into the spectators and joiners classifications and has a very low amount of innovators.  SNHU does a very good job of targeting their online audience and understanding where and what they will be doing online.

Once you understand the Groundswell tool in relation to your company you can start to understand and use COBRA motivation. When developing a strategy and deciding on objectives, it is essential to make sure to look at the motivations of your target audience.  COBRA motivations are motivations to consume, contribute and create content and are separated into low, middle, and high engagement. Southern New Hampshire University also must have a good understanding of the motivations of their online target audience because they are very active and engaged on social media. Thanks for reading my blog today, hopefully you learned something interesting!