Building an audience outside your network can be challenging.

Maybe you’ve reached a point where growth has stopped, even though you’re constantly producing content. If that’s the case, it’s time to explore other “Online Buckets”, the places where your audience hangs out online. These are not only great for promoting your product but also for conducting customer research, building trust, and establishing authority.

“It really comes down to understanding the target audience you are writing for and trying to attract. Where do they most likely hang out?“

— Todd Kunsman from Remote Work Junkie, a remote work platform that made over $10K in one year.

So, what exactly are Online Buckets? They can be:

• Online communities and forums, such as Slack, Facebook, and Discord
• Social media accounts, including YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram
• Newsletters
• Q&A sites like Quora, LinkedIn Answers, or StackExchange
• Tools forums, communities, and support groups
• Twitter lists
• Online meetup groups
• Job boards and communities
• Blogs and news websites
• E-commerce marketplaces

How Others Have Grown Thanks to Their Online Buckets

• AZLabels is a software solution by Keith Brink that sends your labels directly to your thermal printer and generates over $4k in monthly revenue. Brink said that his most consistently successful channel involved “reaching out to influencers in the Amazon Seller space and proposing an affiliate program. Approximately one-third of AZLabels’ sales were driven through this channel, highlighting the effectiveness of influencer partnerships.”
• Shervin Koushan developed AnyTracker, a price-tracking app that achieved over 80k downloads primarily through promotion on Reddit: “What had great success was posting on Reddit. I posted in r/androidapps and the app got a lot of love. I think I reached 1000 downloads within the first week, which was a big milestone at that point.“
• Lane Wagner, who teaches backend courses at Boot.dev, generating over $80K/month, attributes much of his success to guest appearances on coding podcasts or YouTube channels. These appearances have been the “best thing for big ‘pumps’ where we bring in big volumes of customers all at once.“
• The customer support platform Groove earns $500K/month. Alex Turnbull mentioned reaching more than 1 million people by guest blogging. A post published on Buffer’s blog was shared over 10,000 times, highlighting the power of well-placed content.

Whether you’re looking for users, beta testers, or just clients for your services, finding relevant communities, influencers, blogs, or podcasts is essential. But where to start?

The First Step to Find Your Audience

The first rule in finding your audience’s hangout spots is to know them well. Understand the language they use, the problems they face, what they buy, and who they follow.

Creating a customer persona or an empathy map can be incredibly helpful. If you don’t have one yet, you can create one with this free Customer Persona Template:

With this tool plus some research, you’ll be able to answer questions like:

• What tools do they use?
• Are there books they read?
• What kind of questions would your audience ask?
• Who do they listen to?

Once you have a deep understanding of your audience, their problems, and their desires, finding them becomes much easier.

The three key things you have to know about your audience:

• The names they use to refer to themselves: Let’s say you’re target audience are nutritionists and dietitians. Find the names they use to refer to themselves like “nutrition coach”, “pediatric dietitian”, or “intuitive eating dietitian”.
• The keywords or jargon they use.
• The tools and resources they utilize.

With this information in hand, you’re ready to start your search online.

5 Ways to Find Your Audience Online

1. Ask People

Directly ask your clients, audience, and peers. Pose simple questions like “Where can I find [audience]?” or “What podcasts do you usually listen to?”

For example, Sam Plank went to the IndieHackers forum and posted this simple question: “Where can I find communities of podcasters?” To which he received multiple helpful answers.

The beauty of the internet is that there’s almost always someone willing to help you.

2. Search on Google

Use Google to search a mix of your audience’s names, keywords, tools, and online buckets.

Following our example of nutritionists and dietitians, these are the searches you could do on Google

• ‘nutrition coaches community’
• ‘Foodzilla newsletter’ (Foodzilla is a nutritional meal tool)
• ‘meal plan resources’

3. Find Communities

Use audience discovery tools to find where your audience gathers:

• The Hive Index (Free): Community discovery tool.
• Unita (Free): Community discovery tool.
• BuzzSumo (30-day free trial): Find influencers and content your audience reads.
• Sparktoro (Free): Audience insights.
• Klear Twitter Influencer Tool (Free): Find Twitter influencers.
• UpFluence (Paid): Find influencers and identify brand ambassadors.
• Group Hunt (Paid): A directory of +40K online active communities.
• Gummy Search (Free): Discover communities on Reddit.

4. Research Your Competitors

Look at where your competitors are advertising, guest posting, or forming partnerships to gain insights into potential audience hangouts.

5. Watch The Influencers

Look for social media influencers in your niche. If you don’t know any, seek a couple of potential clients and identify who they follow and engage with.

By following these steps you’ll be well on your way to locating and engaging with your audience in their favorite online spaces.

Follow the breadcrumbs, click on links, and remember to save your results!