When it comes to any kind of communication, you’ve probably heard a million times already how important it is to know your audience in order to be effective. What you say in a text to a friend and how you say it is probably completely different from an email you send to your boss.

Navigating the ever-shifting world of online trends is no different. Knowing your audience and the kinds of content they like could be the difference between reaching and appealing to a few people interested in your industry and the multitudes; between generating a little traffic on your site, and a lot.

Luckily, there are online tools that not only help with this, but make it easy. Sites like Buzzsumo and ahrefs.com can show you what type of content in your industry gets the most shares just by typing in a specific topic.

Does your audience like reading longer, in-depth articles and think/opinion pieces. Or, would they rather shorter news items or a quick-read blog and listicle?   

For example, a quick search of the topic ‘social media’ would tell us here at Panmedia that blogs and articles about social media get the most shares while shorter news items and listicles are more popular under the topic of ‘restaurants’.

Not only can these sites help you get more shares and visibility, they can also help you be more competitive. A quick search of your competitor can show what content performs best for them and help you shift your own content accordingly.

Even more established brands such as Facebook, Netflix and Uber are known to use these sites, proving how important it is to understand one’s audience as they respond to constantly changing trends.