Where Are Your Customers Hanging Out Online?

By Piper Toth. Photography by Vladimir Kukorenchuk.

You've opened up your online shop, hung out your shingle (so to speak), and have done all the right things to find your online customers. Facebook page created? Check. Guest posts on other blogs/store featured on blogs? Check. Spending time daily doing the social media thing? Check.

And then you reach that point where sales and customers (or readers) visiting you hist a plateau. And it won’t budge. So you start wondering...WHERE are my customers hanging out?

This is where you need to step into your customer’s (or reader’s) shoes and think about who they are and what they like. Start with a close friend who you know loves your shop or blog. did this by choosing two friends who were completely my target market. One of them is a mid-west professional who loves traveling, baking, and hiking. The other is an east coast gal who loves reading design blogs, going to flea market, and entertaining. So even though they both are my target market, they hang out at completely different places online.

Now it’s your turn. Think of a friend who you know LOVES your site, then have them answer these questions:

• She loves reading _____________________________ 
• Her favorite magazines are _____________________ 
• She shops at _________________________________ 
• Her hobbies are _______________________________ 
•  She spends her weekends ______________________ 
• She lives ____________________________________ 
• She works full-time / is a stay-at-home mom / is a student / other

If you know that she loves photography as a hobby, chances are she’s checking out photography sites and pinning those images. Can you collaborate with a photographer on a project? Advertise on a photography site? Guest post?

Starting with someone you know makes it much easier to talk to them an know what they’re searching for and where they’re spending their time online.