Social Media – Personas Example 1

Here comes the fun part of social media marketing – creating personas!

In another post, I discussed Storytelling& ToV and the importance of knowing how to talk to your audience. But who exactly is your audience? And while we are figuring it out, let’s make it colorful and fun ❇️

So what is a persona?

Sprout Social’s definition of social media persona:

“Social media personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers. Taking into account factors such as demographics, desires and pain points, personas paint a picture of the individuals you’re trying to sell to.

In other words, a profile of your perfect customer.”

Mecca-Amirah’s definition of a social media persona:

“A fun way to visualize who exactly you want to target (And creating weird scenarios in your mind and letting it run rampant until I am tempted again to play Sims.)”

Below are some examples of personas from a class I took in my MBA program. It was a group project! So these personas were a group effort 🙂 And to give a little backstory, our team were creating personas for Sephora:

Millennial Maddie aka your next bestie

Born in 1993 (I would change this to 94 or 95 now), Maddie is a 27 YR old paralegal who likes to shop and go out with friends on the weekend. She doesn’t hesitate to spend money to look good!

Demographic:

When considering the “perfect” Sephora customer, we needed to brainstorm Maddie’s demographics. Maddie is 27, making her a Millennial, an audience that has different preferences compared to other generations. For example, Maddie may want an omni-channel experience compared to a Boomer who may prefer going into a brick-and-mortar store only. No kids=more money for Sephora (dances in childless behavior). Single, which means Maddie is probably going out on dates and partying, meaning she needs Sephora products to look her best. How is Maddie sustaining these habits? Maddie works as a paralegal and makes an annual income of$65,000. Considering all of these traits, Maddie has enough dispensary income to spend on Sephora considering that she does not have any kids to care for. Go, Maddie, Go!

Shopping preferences:

The typical shopping experience has changed so much, even before COVID! Online shopping, curbside, order online and pickup in the store….we have so many options now! Which is both thrilling and distressing because it makes it more difficult to predict and track how people shop. But looking at Millennial Maddie and understanding her a little better now, my group predicted Maddie’s shopping preferences.

We also needed to consider how much the cosmetic industry has changed and integrated with social media.

Word-of-Mouth: The power of hearing directly from a customer! People are more likely to buy something. Did you know “Word of mouth is directly responsible for 90% of all purchases” ? Think about it – let’s say you wanted to go and buy headphones at Best Buy but your good friend says she had a terrible experience at the store, would you still go? Let’s say that good friend ordered something online but the delivery took longer than was quoted and when it did come, the box was broken. Would you still want to buy from Best Buy for that product? Or would you consider other stores or options? And for this example for Maddie, who is buying lipstick for an outfit she is wearing to a party later that night, an opinion from a friend will be extremely important.

Social ads – Instagram, Tik Tok, & YouTube: Social ads have been growing increasingly popular over the years and Maddie has a strong chance of her shopping preferences being influenced by a paid ad.

Likes to go in-store to talk with sales reps and try on products: Despite Sephora and other cosmetic companies investing in AR to provide their customers the same experience online and in their retail stores, they are still strategizing ways to get customers to physically come in. And for products like makeup, clothes, jewelry, and shoes, there is still a gap between mimicking the same experiences.

Signed up for monthly subscription services, like Ipsy, Fab-Fit-Fun, and Birch-Box: Subscription boxes are so fun right? They offer these personalized boxes that customers like Maddie can get delivered at her door.

Social Characteristics:

Now, let’s flesh out Maddie’s social characteristics – as mentioned above, Maddie is single, using dating apps like Bumble, and makes times to hangout with friends and coworkers. Maddie has an exciting social life, and she has been quoted saying:

“Shopping online is easy but I still like to go in and get a feel of the product.

“I always make sure to look at both the good and bad reviews before buying online.”

As I mentioned above, this persona was a group, class assignment so of course, companies may be using different methods but the goal is the same – to visualize who exactly is your audience and to better understand their habits. This can help companies map out their users experiences.

Stay tuned for other personas!