What’s Your Horizontal?
In order for any business to succeed, it must first identify and meet the needs of a specific target market. It’s Entrepreneurship 101: You can’t be everything to everybody, but you can cater your products, services and even digital content to a unique demographic. Doing so brings you passionate users and loyal customers, which are vital to the success of your organization. This specific market is known as your “vertical” – that unique community you’re reaching out to within an industry.
For example, most attorneys don’t practice every area of law; instead, they might start out with a more narrow emphasis on personal injury or estate planning. No matter what the business, doing one thing well and serving a specific community puts a stake in the ground and prepares you for growth. It places a focus on your more passionate users – the people and customers you interface with on a daily basis. The vertical market is vital to the success of your organization and should permeate your digital and online messaging as much as possible.
But while your vertical market may take you deep, you also need to find ways to widen your reach. Die-hard fans will keep you afloat, but a broader range of customers and products can give your business new blood. Spread across more industries, a “horizontal” market can bring you breadth, not just depth. These markets are related to your area, but they are not specific to your regular audience.
Think about a “horizontal” approach in terms of your digital and online presence. Most of your Instagram and Facebook posts are probably catering to your fans and followers – the vertical. Posting a consistent diet of relevant, engaging content to your most loyal audience is one of the best things you can do for engagement online. However, only reaching those groups can make it difficult to find new audiences who may also be interested in your products and services but just don’t know it yet. So, if you’re looking to grow your online presence through horizontal content, check out some of these coiski tips:
Identify Your Horizontal
The first step is really to identify those industries that are similar to, but not exactly the same as, your own. This can be difficult, especially when you’ve been so focused on your own vertical for so long. But start by thinking about the needs and interests of your current customers that you currently do not meet. Then, group them into four or five “categories.” For example, if you are a dentist, some customer needs you may not be able to fulfill could be holistic health or food, both of which contribute to overall oral health. These categories are examples of some appropriate horizontal markets.
Use Hashtags
Whenever you use a #hashtag on social media, you are automatically reaching out to people that may not already be following you. Users who may not know about you or your business can more easily discover you and the great content you provide through a hashtag. Especially on Instagram, be creative with them, and you’ll begin to see more interaction from non-fans.
Find, Follow and Interact
The biggest misconception with social media is that “if you post it, they will come.” While that can be true, it’s rarely that easy. To be discovered by new audiences may require you to venture out and find other brands, companies or people that have similarities to your market. For example, if you are a local nutrition shop, it would benefit you to find and follow all health, wellness, fitness or exercise businesses in your area. And don’t just follow them – interact! Ask questions. Post responses. Engage with them, and chances are, they’ll reply and follow back, thus growing your digital network.
80 / 20 Rule
One unofficial rule on social media is the “80/20 Rule” – the concept that 80% of your online content should focus on non-self promoted, entertaining content and 20% can be shameless self-promotion. The same could be said about your market focus: Let 80% of your digital content be “vertical” and 20% be “horizontal.” This is a healthy balance between keeping your regular fans happy and reaching out to new customers. Plan these horizontal posts strategically, like on holidays or during live sporting events, so you can get the most attention from new crowds.
Broaden Your Platforms
Each social media site has a different “personality” and already caters to specific demographics. For example, Twitter is best for news and information, and Instagram content must be visually appealing. Simply put, each site already has its own “vertical” market and voice. So, if you or your company only rely on one or two platforms, you’re already limiting yourself to those verticals. When you diversify your digital message to multiple platforms, you are in effect reaching out horizontally. So venture out into new platforms. Try out Snapchat. Give Pinterest a whirl. These platforms bring with them new audiences and demographics your company may desperately be needing.
