07 Jul Harnessing the Power of Data: Active Audiences
Posted
in Tips 'n' Tricks
Previously in this series on harnessing the power of data, I have talked about how to leverage your audience demographics and given a quick and dirty rundown on A/B testing. In this piece, I will expand this topic further by talking about active audiences, why they are important, where to find the data, and using A/B testing to strengthen your strategy with this new set of data points.
WHY IS ACTIVE AUDIENCE DATA SO POWERFUL?
Knowing when your audience is active is powerful information that you can use to target them when they are most likely to engage. Platforms have different areas you can use to aim your content directly at the people who are already invested in you. Some sites have a feed, where your followers can see when you have posted content and where autogenerated posts (such as sales posts) are dropped by the platform. Some sites have carousels of new content, or new models, and these are put in a prominent position on home pages. Most sites also have direct messaging capabilities, including the ability to schedule messages to your followers. When your audience is active on a particular site, this is when they have it open and they are using it. You want to make sure it is your content that they see first, tempting them into engaging with you and potentially completing purchases.
It is important to remember that knowing when your audience is active is not just about targeting the base that already knows you exist, follows you, and most importantly, supports you by purchasing content. People with similar demographic data as your current audience, such as age, location, and preferences, are probably online at the same time and may also be interested in discovering you. Making sure your content is put in front of these people who are primed to engage with you is priceless… hence why collecting this kind of data is a priority for the biggest companies and brands in the world.
WHERE TO FIND ACTIVE AUDIENCE DATA
Active audience data can be found in a variety of places on sites. If sites provide it to you, then it will more than likely be in the data dashboard of your account. Some sites also release generic information publicly about when audiences are active on their site. Although this is not as good as your own personalised active audience information, it is also a powerful piece of data to utilise. Your own data will be unique to you, but the generic data will also give you an idea of when traffic and purchases are high. As I said in a previous post on harnessing data, although social media sites are very hostile to adult models, they also provide active audience information in their data dashboards. If you can build and maintain a profile on mainstream social media, this is a great addition to the data you can use.
Another thing to keep in mind when looking at your active audience data and working out how to use it is the difference in global time zones. As I am in Australia, and most of my sites work on Northern Hemisphere times, I have had to get very good at using time zone conversion tools and understanding what time zones sites are referring to when they release data. As my time zone differs greatly from that of my audience, I utilise scheduling to make sure content and posts are released at a time that syncs up with my audience. Although your time zone may not differ as greatly as mine, ensuring you are aware of the time difference between the times the sites are telling you and the time where you are physically located means you can use scheduling tools accurately to ensure you get your content in front of people at the correct time.
REINFORCING YOUR STRATEGY WITH A/B TESTING
In a previous post, I gave an introduction to A/B testing, which is a marketing technique used to see which version of content or product performs better. By setting up multiple “tests”, you can work out which is better and use that to guide your marketing strategy going forward. A/B testing is not a hard and fast technique, so it can definitely be used to see what times or days are better for the performance of your content and getting it in front of your audience base.
Using the key components that I described previously regarding A/B testing, you also need to consider time-sensitive factors when evaluating which time or day is better. If your period of testing includes a national holiday or if there was a major event occurring at the time, this can impact the results of your test. These are occurrences that affect more than just random individuals and can change the behaviour of large groups of people. Also, considering the seasons of the year (for example, in summer, content sales may be affected simply due to good weather and people being out and about) will help you analyse and make sense of the data you collect.
Rem Sequence is an Australian adult content creator, blogger, and internationally published alt model. She has a background in psychology, philosophy and political science and worked in health and sex education, youth work and trauma counselling for almost two decades. Now, she works full time in the adult industry, as well as indulging her passion for arts, writing and music in numerous side projects.
Previously in this series on harnessing the power of data, I have talked about how to leverage your audience demographics and given a quick and dirty rundown on A/B testing. In this piece, I will expand this topic further by talking about active audiences, why they are important, where to find the data, and using A/B testing to strengthen your strategy with this new set of data points.
WHY IS ACTIVE AUDIENCE DATA SO POWERFUL?
Knowing when your audience is active is powerful information that you can use to target them when they are most likely to engage. Platforms have different areas you can use to aim your content directly at the people who are already invested in you. Some sites have a feed, where your followers can see when you have posted content and where autogenerated posts (such as sales posts) are dropped by the platform. Some sites have carousels of new content, or new models, and these are put in a prominent position on home pages. Most sites also have direct messaging capabilities, including the ability to schedule messages to your followers. When your audience is active on a particular site, this is when they have it open and they are using it. You want to make sure it is your content that they see first, tempting them into engaging with you and potentially completing purchases.
It is important to remember that knowing when your audience is active is not just about targeting the base that already knows you exist, follows you, and most importantly, supports you by purchasing content. People with similar demographic data as your current audience, such as age, location, and preferences, are probably online at the same time and may also be interested in discovering you. Making sure your content is put in front of these people who are primed to engage with you is priceless… hence why collecting this kind of data is a priority for the biggest companies and brands in the world.
WHERE TO FIND ACTIVE AUDIENCE DATA
Active audience data can be found in a variety of places on sites. If sites provide it to you, then it will more than likely be in the data dashboard of your account. Some sites also release generic information publicly about when audiences are active on their site. Although this is not as good as your own personalised active audience information, it is also a powerful piece of data to utilise. Your own data will be unique to you, but the generic data will also give you an idea of when traffic and purchases are high. As I said in a previous post on harnessing data, although social media sites are very hostile to adult models, they also provide active audience information in their data dashboards. If you can build and maintain a profile on mainstream social media, this is a great addition to the data you can use.
Another thing to keep in mind when looking at your active audience data and working out how to use it is the difference in global time zones. As I am in Australia, and most of my sites work on Northern Hemisphere times, I have had to get very good at using time zone conversion tools and understanding what time zones sites are referring to when they release data. As my time zone differs greatly from that of my audience, I utilise scheduling to make sure content and posts are released at a time that syncs up with my audience. Although your time zone may not differ as greatly as mine, ensuring you are aware of the time difference between the times the sites are telling you and the time where you are physically located means you can use scheduling tools accurately to ensure you get your content in front of people at the correct time.
REINFORCING YOUR STRATEGY WITH A/B TESTING
In a previous post, I gave an introduction to A/B testing, which is a marketing technique used to see which version of content or product performs better. By setting up multiple “tests”, you can work out which is better and use that to guide your marketing strategy going forward. A/B testing is not a hard and fast technique, so it can definitely be used to see what times or days are better for the performance of your content and getting it in front of your audience base.
Using the key components that I described previously regarding A/B testing, you also need to consider time-sensitive factors when evaluating which time or day is better. If your period of testing includes a national holiday or if there was a major event occurring at the time, this can impact the results of your test. These are occurrences that affect more than just random individuals and can change the behaviour of large groups of people. Also, considering the seasons of the year (for example, in summer, content sales may be affected simply due to good weather and people being out and about) will help you analyse and make sense of the data you collect.
Rem Sequence is an Australian adult content creator, blogger, and internationally published alt model. She has a background in psychology, philosophy and political science and worked in health and sex education, youth work and trauma counselling for almost two decades. Now, she works full time in the adult industry, as well as indulging her passion for arts, writing and music in numerous side projects.
