Is the number 1 thought on all business owners’ minds?
The answer is easy IF you know your Ideal Customer!
For this article, my ideal customer is:
- 35+yo South African Male (between the ages of 35-60yo)
- High to the mid-level earner
- Owns his own home with a large garden and pool.
- Prefers to do self-improvement and maintenance on his property.
- He likes to shop at local hardware and the larger building stores but if he can save money and buy a product online he will gladly do it.
- He enjoys entertaining by his pool and braai area
- He values quality over price
- He is habitual in the products he does purchase – but is willing to try new things.
The scenario:
I met with a customer of mine who wants to increase traffic to his e-commerce website. He’s used Facebook ads and made a few posts in the past with no real sales or interest. We agreed that FB is a little overcrowded and he wants to explore new avenues.
He was thinking of switching it up and using other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to engage with more customers and get more visits to his site. He heard it’s popular and thinks it’s the right move.
Does this sound familiar to you?
But have you considered the audience you need to attract is based on the products you sell?
Let’s get some data and look at the consumers on these platforms:
- Instagram has an impressive base of 2 billion active users*.
- TikTok has almost 1 billion active users*.
The ages of the TikTok user are:
- Ages 10-19 are 25% of users.
- Ages 20-29 are 22.4% of users.
- Ages 30-39 are 21.7% of users.
- Ages 40-49 are 20.3% of users
- Ages 50+ are 11% of users.
- With 57% of these users are Female.
The highest viewed content based on Hashtags in these categories are:
- #Entertainment = 535 billion
- #Dance = 181 billion
- #Pranks 79 billion
- #HomeReno / #DIY = 39 billion
- #LifeHacks / #Advice = #13 billion
- #Outdoors = 2 billion
SA stats
Based on all users – there is no breakdown of age unless stipulated. ** as of early 2023
- Facebook: 22.15 million** | 50.8% are female – 49.2% are male.
- Instagram: 5.65 million** | 54.0% are female – 46.0% are male.
- TikTok: 11.83 million users aged 18 and above** | 56.1% are female – 43.9% are male.
it’s important to note that these numbers do not necessarily represent unique individuals as some may have multiple accounts on various platforms or access several through a single device or account. Nevertheless, the data proves that digital technology remains popular and widely used among all demographics in South Africa – including both the young and the elderly.
Now we have some stats.
Let’s see if our ideal customer hangs out on Instagram and TikTok.
TikTok: South African users are just over 1% of the total worldwide users; of which 44% are male and assuming the provided TikTok stats above, 18% (average) of those 44% male users are the ages of 30-50+
So, what are the chances of my Ideal customer seeing my ads?
- TikTok: 0.1%
- Instagram: 0.3%
It’s noteworthy that my customer used Facebook which has 2x the users of TikTok and over 4x the users that Instagram with no ‘real sales or interest’.
Do you think it’s worthwhile that my customer spends the time and money, creating these posts and videos for these platforms? Would he get a return?
When I asked my customer (having the same criteria as the ideal customer) if he was active on any of these platforms?
His reply was, “I have the Instagram app installed on my phone – I look at it occasionally. I don’t use TikTok at all – but I know what it is”
I asked his colleague who is 27yo the same question: he said he does use both and is highly active on both.
When I asked if he has clicked on any posts to visit/purchase a product he said “Yes”
I asked if he owns his home and had a pool he said “No”
Since he doesn’t own his own home, would he purchase any of the products on the site? He said “No”
This quick exercise quickly ruled out Instagram and TikTok because his ideal customer isn’t there.
SO WHAT NOW?
I asked him: When you have a question, what do you do? He said: “I go to Google and start searching.”
So, why not spend that money on Google Ads?
The Plan
- We will spend time and rework the SEO on his e-commerce website.
- Create a Google Ad account and create 20 keywords and about 5 phrases.
- The SEO will take a couple of months for Google to index and recommend while Google Ads is concurrently recommending customers to the site. This is all happening while summer is on its way. The time of the year when his website and products shine!
I also recommended something else which they were also keen on that will generate interest on the site, and this will also increase the age gap from the senior to the younger market.
Building trust with the brand and when these people need to purchase a home/pool care product which website will they likely buy from? 😉
Conclusion
My customer has been using me as his marketing consultant as well as the designer for all of his businesses. I will post an update in about 8-12 months and let you know the outcome.
Consulting
If you want to consult with me, send me an email sandy@udezine.co.za – subject: Consulting
Not only will I help you with new ideas for your business, new marketing avenues and strategies, but I can also execute the ideas we come up with.
Until next time – stay awesome.
Links and References
- *these numbers are based on stats in June 2023
- SA used Sats from: https://helloyes.co.za/digital-statistics-and-usage-south-africa-2023/#:~:text=TikTok%20users%20in%20South%20Africa%20in%202023&text=This%20equates%20to%20a%20reach,at%20the%20start%20of%202023.
- Worldwide Hash Tag Stats from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1130988/most-popular-categories-tiktok-worldwide-hashtag-views/