Affinity Groups & Big A$$@ Canvas: Targeting the Right People in Your Social Media
When you begin building your social media outreach, consider affinity groups. Wikipedia defines an affinity group as a small group of activists, but I want to stretch this just a bit.
In social media, an affinity group is a group of individuals who are bound together by a passion, an emotional attachment that goes beyond the norm. It might be architects, or programmers, or moms, or motorcyclists, or artists. They probably have a metaphorical group t-shirt, a way of recognizing each other from a distance.
Characteristics of affinity groups include generous sharing, directed action, passionate purpose, and somewhat informal organization around a strong and specific focus. They talk to each other, they share with each other, and they spur each other on. It’s more than a niche – they have a lot more in common than just demographics or a hobby – they have a heart-felt and important cause.
You need to know which affinity groups care about what you do on social and reach out to them.
Let’s run through an example that I had the immense pleasure of experiencing today. I met with a fantastic entrepreneur who is running a company called Big A$$@ Canvas. It’s a hip and cool cooperative art experiment where the crowd makes the painting and the canvases get sold off to benefit charity. Check out the video montage of their process below:
So the questions to ask, to find the affinity groups for BAC, are as follows:
- Who cares about art?
- Who cares about kids?
- Who cares about being a patron of art?
- Who cares about community engagement?
- Who cares about non-profits?
- Who cares about giving back locally?
- Who cares about general philanthropy?
- Who cares about education?
- Who cares about outdoor events?
- Who cares about artists?
- Who cares about creative expression?
- Who cares about Austin (or x city)?
- Who cares about being in front of the community?
- Who cares about crowd sourcing?
- Who cares about painting?
- Who cares about fun?
- Who cares about urban experiences?
- Who cares about cool?
- Who do all the above people listen to and respect?
- Who do all the above people love?
- Who do all the above people walk through fire to protect and help?
You can see that this would get you a very distinct pool of prospects to begin connecting with, right?
Why is this important to ponder? Because who you are wanting to reach drives the keywords you use, the blog posts you write, the website copy you write, the hash tags you follow, the SEO you apply, the influencers you connect with, the social media status updates you create, and your multi-media choices. It is everything.
Simple message – find your affinity groups and connect. Tell them memorable stories and give them cause to amplify their emotional connection to their hopes and dreams through you.
And, go like the Big A$$@# Canvas Facebook page too – they do great work!
Til next time!
Vicki @Smartwoman Flaugher
You may also be interested in...
Published: July 9, 2012 By:
