Laurel Simon | @mslaurelsimon

Yes, you read this right. You really only need ONE customer to have a successful social media marketing plan this year.

There is no way you can tailor your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, your blog or any other type of marketing to everyone who you may do business with. However, most companies try to be all things to all people and post everything and anything they think will be of interest to their customers. Most companies don’t realize how futile this tactic is. There are just too many personalities, preferences, opinions and attitudes to try to engage them all. Try to connect with them all and likely you’ll just end up with a muddled message that no one pays attention to.  Seeing little engagement and ROI, management starts to question their social media efforts and wonders if it’s all worth it. Sound familiar?

Stop trying to be all things to all people in your social media content and focus on one customer.  This simple concept is often overlooked and can be one of the major reasons for social mediocrity. The goal of social media is engagement...getting your customers involved and interested in your business. But how do you “speak” to them all? You don’t, you speak to only one.

The notion is that if you can personify your typical customer and “see” her as an individual when you’re writing content, your message will resonate not only with “her”, but also with her friends, her family and her co-workers. And you’ll find it much easier to come up with content and strategies if you can envision her and what she’d want to hear about.

Try to write down the characteristics of your typical customer, or those you seek to target. Give this person a name, an age, a profession, write down their hobbies, kids names etc. Any details that will help you personify your one customer. Once you’ve done this correctly, you can then direct all your social media efforts to this “one” customer.

For example, a salon and spa I’ve worked with described their “one” customer as over 40, affluent, had 2 kids, drove an SUV, worked full-time. This was a great start, but it helps to get even more granular. We decided to name her Heather. Heather is 42 and an editor at a publishing house. She has been married to Matt (a stockbroker) for 10 years, and they have two kids who are ages four and six. Heather drives a Range Rover, loves yoga and tries to eat healthy. They live in a large historic home and love to entertain. And Heather is totally strapped for time.

Now, all our content and marketing is based around, WWHW? What would Heather want? And keeping Heather as the primary focus of our efforts will usually engage friends of Heather, those who want to be Heather and those who work with, live with, or are related to Heather. Simple, huh? Try it yourself. Make sure you really have a detailed description of customer #1 and I guarantee you, you’ll start really connecting and will see your engagement increase in no time.