Jake AndersonOne of the first questions you’ll get when it comes to marketing a product or service is, “Who is your ideal customer?” With that information in hand, you can then proceed to craft a strategy to speak to their needs, desires, sensibilities and pain points. With the advent of social media, this process has become much simpler than in the past. Your “followers” will tell you what they think, who they are and what they need when you’re leveraging social media to understand your demographic.

Start with Their Bios

People will tell you everything you need to know to figure out who they are if you listen. Similarly, if you learn to properly dissect a social media bio, you’ll learn everything you need to craft an ebook they’ll appreciate. How do they describe themselves? What are their hobbies and passions? Where do they flt in terms of the political and religious spectrums? What are they proud of? What causes them to express disdain? These insights will help you craft books to which they will relate and with which they are likely to engage.

To Whom Do They Tend to Listen?

You can accomplish a couple of things simultaneously If you can get a handle on the key influencers among your followers. You’ll know whose ear you need to get to broadcast your marketing messages widely among your group and you’ll gain some additional insights into their thought processes. This can help you make your topic as timely as possible to appeal to your audience’s immediate concerns. You can also engage these thought leaders to attract more attention to your existing work if you’re more interested in boosting sales of a current title.

What Other Sites Do They Frequent?

Seeing where else your audience spends time on the ‘net will give you significant insights into their thought processes when you’re selling ebooks online. You’re dealing with inquisitive people who value expert opinions if your followers tend to favor sites like Quora. This bodes well for an instructional tome with relevance to some of their other interests. It’s also a positive for anything likely to stimulate their intellects with thought-provoking content. You’ll want to emphasize the cerebral nature of the work when you’re marketing to a group of this nature. A quick way to get this information is to simply run a survey on your existing site—and ask your current cadre of followers where their interests lie in this regard. You can also mine those sites for book ideas likely to appeal directly to these people.

When Are They Usually Active?

Knowing when they tend to consult social media gives you an idea of how they spend their “free” time. It can also tell you if they use social media as part of their professional lives. They are more likely to be professional users than recreational if they are most responsive during business hours. Knowing this can be extremely beneficial if you’re writing books for pleasure rather than professional development. It also gives you an idea of when they might be most likely to read your book, which can provide insights to the potential of certain topics over others.As you can see, there is much to be gained from leveraging social media to understand your demographic more clearly. Master this and you’ll be almost guaranteed to produce books your audience will appreciate and purchase. Over time, this will help you build a loyal following for both your social outlets and your ebooks. Best of all, creating books specifically tailored to the interests of your readers makes your investment of time, effort and money more likely to pay dividends. [author]About the Author: Awestruck by Star trek as a kid, Jake Anderson has been relentless in his pursuit for covering the big technological innovations which will shape the future. A self-proclaimed gadget freak, he loves getting his hands on every piece of gadget he can afford. [/author]