How to Find Your Target Audience on Instagram

So, you followed your passion and developed a great product. Your mom loves it. Your sister wants to know how much discount you’ll give her. Your dad brags about it on the golf course.

While that’s a great start to your business, you’ll only see money come in when you find your target audience. And the best place to start is on Instagram.

Instagram has over 2 billion active users. This figure means you’re almost guaranteed to find your tribe within the platform. Also, more and more people turn to Instagram every year to find products and services.

With Instagram’s various features, you can make it easy for users to buy your products. And no matter how big or small your brand is, you’ll find a home for it on this beloved social media platform.

But first things first. How do you find and keep your target audience on Instagram?

What’s the Big Deal About a Target Audience?

The right audience is the key to Instagram success. When you promote your brand to an interested audience, they will engage with it and encourage others to engage with it, too. High engagement allows Instagram to prioritize your content and show it to even more users. This process, in turn, leads to more sales, helping you grow your business.

Check out Your Instagram Insights

If you don’t have a business account on Instagram, switch today. With a business account, you get Instagram Insights, which allows you to get to know your followers better. Check out the Audience section to determine the demographics of your followers. This way, you’ll establish who is already interested in your content.

Get Into Demographics

Now that you know who’s looking at your content, it’s time to refine your audience. Consider your niche and think about who might be interested in it. For example, if you sell health products, health-conscious users will be part of your audience. If you write and sell YA (young adult) books, you ideally want to attract Gen Z followers. The more you understand your niche, the easier you can narrow your audience.

Use Social Listening

Social listening means monitoring hashtags, mentions, and comments related to your brand. This tactic is another way to establish your target audience. Search for hashtags relevant to your content. When you find them linked to your posts, have a look at the comments on them. Those commenting and engaging with your content form part of your potential audience.

Check Out the Competition

Did you know you can learn a lot from your competition? Cast an eye over their content and see what type of followers it attracts. This strategy doesn’t mean stealing from the competition. Instead, it can help you see what not to do with your own account. It can also help you determine what type of audience you want to establish on Instagram.

Be Social

Once you know who your audience should be, it’s time to get social. Follow accounts that match your niche and engage with their posts. Instead of posting emojis or one-word comments, leave thoughtful feedback and messages. Doing this is one of the best ways to get your brand noticed on Instagram. It is also the quickest way to draw users’ attention. By engaging on Instagram, you will soon find an audience to promote your brand to.

Show Behind-the-Scenes Content

Instagram is all about the virtual world. You engage with an online audience, and they buy from your Shopping page or website. But sometimes, you should leave the virtual world behind for a while and show your audience that there is a real world behind the brand. No matter the advancements in technology or AI, people prefer connecting with real humans. This preference means your followers don’t just want to see your chatbot or logo. They want to engage with the person behind the brand.

Share funny behind-the-scenes moments or product-in-action reels. You can even create a blooper reel to go viral on Instagram. This type of content helps build a personal connection with your followers. It also encourages them to stick around for the long haul, which means you’ll always have an audience to create content for.

Tell a Story Or Two

How interesting is your brand’s story? Whether you were doing something simple or extraordinary when you came up with your brand, your story will resonate with your audience. These types of origin stories do exceptionally well on Instagram. You can tell your brand’s story using interactive elements like videos and reels. You can even break it up into chapters to give your followers something to look forward to every week.

Compelling content draws people, which means your ideal audience will be drawn to your posts and, by default, your products.

Also, interactive content can help you understand your followers’ preferences so you can create more of the same posts.

Use Practical Features

When you’ve established a presence on Instagram, you want more and more followers to find you. To ensure they do, use hashtags wisely and effectively. Research the most popular hashtags related to your niche and use them in captions and stories. Doing this increases the chances of finding the right audience – those looking for what you’re offering.

Collaborate and Cross-Promote

Most of your Instagram followers will have an account on other social media platforms. This means you can find your ideal audience on Facebook or Twitter by cross-promoting your content. You can extend your brand’s reach further by teaming up with an influencer and allowing them to post and cross-promote your content from their account.

Analyze and Adapt Accordingly

At this point, you would have made headway into finding your target Instagram audience. But this doesn’t mean you get to sit back and watch your follower count increase. Use Instagram’s analytics tools to study and understand your content’s performance. Check what content resonates with your audience and what doesn’t. Then, adapt your next strategy accordingly.

Final Thoughts

Think of your Instagram audience as extended family. You want them to be as excited about your product as those closest to you. You want your product to make their lives easier. Once you’ve found “your people” on Instagram, you’ve made it easier to get your product out there and see the difference it makes in your customers’ lives.