We know that Social media is essentially about people, their experiences, thoughts, ideas, personality and generally ‘what’s in it’ for them. It’s also important to clarify the term ‘what’s in it’, as it does not necessarily mean that people are seeking financial reward or compensation.
Within a social network, ‘what’s in it’ for most social media participants are the needs for trust-building, emotional and intellectual association with people of common interest and purpose. Looking down at the microscopic level of the social networks that currently exist, there are thousands of groups, tribes and ‘fan’ clubs. The common ground shared between them, the conversations that flow and the activities of these different groups define their purpose and what they can contribute or generate in terms of value to its members and to the social media network in general.
So to succeed in social media it’s important that you have to first possess a clear understanding of the degree of audience segmentations within theweb social circles, then establish who the various audiences are that might be interested in engaging…
Another critical reason is that your focus particularly needs to be on engaging the right crowd to ensure that ‘results’ are generated rather than just playing the probability game, as is the case for many traditional marketing and advertising initiatives(!) <said with tounge in cheek> 
The third reason for identifying the right audience is because your organisation needs to ensure continuity. Significant efforts need to be made to first establish relationship with this ‘right crowd’, and the logic here is the maintenance of this relationship, although potentially minimal in terms of financial cost, continuity helps to build a strong network and relationship with your organisation; promoting trust and familiarity that will in turn drive other results…
Have you tried to identify the ‘right crowd’? How did you get on?
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