Posting to social media can sometimes feel like a shot in the dark. The frustration of laboring over a post which results in just a few likes and even less shares or clicks is an experience shared by too many to count. After drafting tens of thousands of social media posts for a diverse array of clients, we’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way!

The first step to drafting effective posts is to ask two simple questions: Who is your target audience and where does your target audience spend time online? Just because a social media platform is popular worldwide, doesn’t mean that it’s popular with your target audience – your supporters or clients. As Rocks Digital explains:

It’s not enough to only understand how each platform works – within social media demographics, the generational divide is significant, and disregarding it can be a huge mistake… [T]here’s no age limit. Sure, you have to be 13 to have an account and 18 to make purchases, but after that, you could be posting pictures on your Instagram until you’re 95. There are multiple generations of consumers out there, and millions of brands are all vying to get their attention at once – when they should be considering how their messaging reads across each age group separately.

Take a step back to brainstorm. Ensure that you know who is using each social platform. Demographics are an important part of this equation, but not the full equation. Knowing your target generation and where they “live” online is just one of the first steps to understanding your target audience. Here’s an infographic to get you started: