Does your online Audience actually reflect your desired Target Audience? I wanted to find out, I had a feeling it did, but proof is in the pudding! I manage a facebook fan page, community blog and twitter account for a personal project called Otaki Zilchoo. Otaki is the town where I grew up and is located in the North Island of New Zealand.
The Zilchoo part, well that stands for zilch for zero and oo for Oh my Goodness it's free. The tag line being, 'Free things to see and do in Otaki.
It's important to keep track of all my statistics and ensure that my target audience is being aimed. As the Otaki Zilchoo Facebook page is the most active of my social media sites, I took a look at those statistics to see who my fans really are.
Facebook Page - Otaki Zilchoo
The Otaki Zilchoo Facebook page is partnered with the website which is dedicated to free things to see and do in Otaki. The target audience is local residents of Otaki, the Kapiti Coast and Wellington, as well as holiday makers, who are generally from the lower part of the North Island of New Zealand. Graph 1 - People who Like my Page (sex and age)
I can see from Graph 1, the biggest age ranges for my fan page are women aged between 35 - 44 and 45 - 54. Men are only 21% of my fan base and typically aged between 35-44 years. According to Emarketer 2012, the most common age demographic on Facebook is the 25 to 34-year-olds, which is 29.7% of all Facebook users, this almost fits with my demographic.
So after the viewing the results, should I tailor my Facebook posts for my biggest demographic or should I try and branch out and target other demographic groups and ensure my Facebook page is of interest to a broader audience? What do you think? Graph 2 - Facebook Fan Locations
Graph 2 is telling me, that my target location for Otaki is quite good, which is great! I have 268 (as of January 2015) likes on my Facebook Page, the population (2013 census) of Otaki is 5,778 and *47.4 percent of households in Otaki have access to the Internet. This means I'm probably never going to gain more than 2,700 likes from the local residents, but I'm hoping this should be achievable.
My Average Facebook Fan
The average fan of Otaki Zilchoo Facebook page is a Women who lives on the Kapiti Coast, aged at approximately 40 years old. However saying that, when I look at my Notifications and comments although men are only 21% of my fan base, there are a couple of men that regularly comment and like my posts. So I'll keep posting on Facebook to my targeted audience, but keep in mind my other fans. *http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2006CensusHomePage/QuickStats/AboutAPlace/SnapShot.aspx?id=3564400&tab=&ParentID=1000009&type=au&p=y&printall=true
