COM 310 (Campus) - Social Media

Target Audience

Your assignment says:

Clearly define and justify at least one recommended target audience for the client. Include evidence of research to back your recommendations. For example, it isn't enough to say “XYZ should target men and women ages 21-35.” Show research to prove that is the right audience to target. What else do you know about those 21-35 year olds? Education level? Income? Married or single? Where do they live? The more detail you can offer, the better you can match up the organization, the audience, and your social media outreach.

If your client already has a clearly defined audience, help them evaluate their decision. Have they made the right pick? How do you know? Prove it with some attributed research.

Who will be the audience for your social media campaigns/messages? Below are some possible suggestions, however your group will have to identify in conjunction with your client, who they desire to reach with their social media campaigns. Then use the information below the  target audience suggestions to conduct research on those potential audiences.

When writing your goals for your client's social media plan, consider using S.M.A.R.T. goals. 

How to write SMART goals This link opens in a new window (Atlassian, Sept. 2021)

Spring 2025 COM310 Clients - Potential Target Audiences

NH Navigator Program (part of Foundation for Healthy Communities)

Consider all those who would need help with identifying and paying for health insurance (health, vision, dental, accidental death & dismemberment, etc.). Depending on what your client says, they might also be looking for people to work and become certified Navigators to operate call-in lines or the chat service.

• Adults turning 26 who will no longer be covered under their parents' plan(s)
• Anyone who is currently uninsured
• Adults approaching 65 years old who might be retiring or qualifying for Medicare
• Adults looking for work who are detail-oriented and have customer service credentials or skills
• Others?

HealthForceNH

Consider the "audience" types listed on their "ongoing initiatives" page:

• High school & college students - exploring the health care field
• Schools/colleges - Career offices, Guidance counselors, School nurses, Health care program directors, etc.
• Health care industry employers - medical organizations, community health centers, pharmacies & pharmaceutical companies, etc.
• Health care related Professional Associations
• Others?

Creative Haverhill

Consider children in K-12 who might be interested in taking art lessons or writing poetry; along with their families (who might be looking for extracurricular activities for their children); community members with time to engage in the arts.

• School aged students (K-12)
• College students - who might be recruited to teach lessons
• Retirees looking to try something new
• Local artists - who might teach at the center or are looking for studio space, etc. (Once renovations of the old school are complete and the center opens)
• Donors - Wealthy locals with an interest in the arts
• Others?

Granite State News Collaborative

Consider news outlets across NH that are not currently part of the collaborative, as well as other potential partners:

• New Hampshire newspapers and radio stations not currently part of the Collaborative
• Students at NH high schools & colleges with an interest in journalism
• Colleges & universities in New Hampshire
• Non-profit educational organizations across the state (focused on civic causes or forgotten histories or key social issues, etc.)
• Donors - individuals who subscribe to NPR or other more "neutral" news venues
• Others?

InDepthNH.org

Consider some of the target audience for GSNC above but also focus on who the client says they are interested in connecting with.

• Colleges & universities
• Media Literacy education organizations
• Government representatives
• News subscribers across the state (individuals who read/listen to the news)
• Others?

Target Audience Demographics & Psychographics

To find out more information about the types of people that would be candidates for involvement (donating, volunteering, joining, etc.) in your client's organization, you may begin by using some of these library databases listed below. For an overview check out the FAQ below.

Statista

Statista This link opens in a new window is an easy-to-use database to search for statistics, quantitative data, and related information. For this part of the project researching your target audience:

• Use keywords appropriate to your anticipated target audience like: charity; charitable donations; charitable organisations (YES, spell it with an "s" as this is a European database); health insurance (Ex: see Health insurance in the United States - Statistics & Facts) , art lessons, news (Ex: see News Consumption in the United States - Statistics & Facts.),  etc.
• After you select a result, be sure to click on the Source provided in the box to the right of each chart to find much more information and data  
• Examples: Target audience: Consumers that donate to charitable causes in the United States
  • This chart helps you identify which social media channels people use who donate to charities/nonprofits which will help with your target audience-social media match up of your target audience is potential donors to your client's organization:

• Statista contains target audience reports such as: Target audience: Consumers driven by influencer marketing in the United States or Target audience: Retirees in the United States. These will cover: Demographic profile; Consumer lifestyle; Consumer attitudes; and Marketing touchpoints on this population.

Mintel Academic

• After you click on the link to the Mintel Academic database, you must check the acknowledgement box first to continue.
• OPTION ONE: You may Type in Search Box terms appropriate to your client's mission and/or to your anticipated audience
  • Example: news consumption; Then select "Reports" in the drop down menu under Content Types; Select: Content Consumption – US – 2024This link opens in a new window
• OPTION TWO: Instead of using the Search Box, try clicking the "Demographics" tab to the right of the search box, and use the drop-down to select a demographic group such as "Gen Z (1995-2007)" for example.
• Select appropriate Reports
  • Examples
    • Marketing to Gen Z - US - 2024
    • Marketing to Millennials - US - 2024
    • Marketing to Gen X - US - 2023
    • Marketing to Baby Boomers – US – 2024
    • Senior Lifestyles - US - 2022
    • Lifestyles of Single Americans – US – 2023
• Click on Report title - two choices from here are:
  • Scroll down the report beginning with the Executive Summary sections looking for key topics you need. Ex: In the Marketing to Gen Z report, under the "Key issues covered in this report" it says: Gen Z lifestyles, how they spend free time, and their use of social media and technology. Click on "use of social media" to learn how this demographic group uses social media, which apps, when and how often, etc. to help guide your recommendations to your client if this is their target audience.
  • Click on the Table of Contents icon in the top left corner of the report. Scroll down the drop-down menu and click on the report listed under "Consumer Data" to see all the charts for the answers to all the questions in the survey used with this demographic.
    • Use the "Select a question or demographic to explore" box to choose a question/demographic of interest to you about this group.
    • Use the second box, "Select demographics to include" to choose from 25 to 30 different demographics. (Ex: Gaming devices used; Household income; Social Media visitation; etc.)
    • On any question chart, you may click the blue "Explore demographics" button to see the specific numeric or percentage data figures for responses to each question. Or use the "Tables" tab at the top of the screen.
• Example of Mintel chart: US-Social media sites used daily, by Millennials and Gen Z, 2024  Sometimes a report focused on one demographic (Ex: Millennials) will include data on another demographic (Ex: Gen Z) in their charts.

Esri Demographics

Tapestry Segmentation 

67 distinctive segments of the US population based on socioeconomic and demographic composition, further classified into LIfeMode and Urbanization groups.

• To begin, read down the page about the 14 "LifeMode Groups" which range from categories like "Affluent Estates" to "GenXurban" to "Scholars and Patriots" and consider which might be your target audience.
• Once you select a LIfeMode Group that might match your target audience, scroll back up to that LIfeMode description.
• To the right of that LifeMode description will be from 3 to 7  "segments" allowing you to further narrow down the category.
• Click on a segment and a PDF will come up with descriptions Who are we?, Our Neighborhood, Socioeconomic Traits, Age by Sex, Race & Ethnicity, Income & Net Worth, Average Household Budget, Occupation by Earnings, and many other specifics on that particular population group to flesh out this target audience.

Example: Family Landscapes (Life Mode); 4A Workday Drive (Segment)
Prosperous 2-income, married-couple families, homeowners, residing in suburban or semirural areas. Look at the density map on page4. This shows a high density of this segment of the population in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts, a key area for some of the clients for this term's COM310 class. This report shows gender, race, ethnicity, household budget, income, net worth, occupations, market profile, various indexes, socioeconomic traits and a host of other data to better understand this target market and therefore how to design appropriate messages for them.

Bureau of Labor Statistics: American Time Use Survey