Amanda Natividad's Audience Research: Content That Starts with Understanding

Most content marketers guess.

They assume they know what their audience wants. They write what seems interesting to them. They follow trends because other people are following them.

Then they wonder why the content doesn’t land.

Amanda Natividad, VP Marketing at SparkToro, advocates for a different approach: research first, create second. Understand your audience deeply before you make anything for them.

Here’s what research-driven content marketing actually looks like.

The Research Problem

Why most audience “research” fails:

Asking the wrong questions

“What content do you want?” gets useless answers. People don’t know what they want until they see it. They’ll tell you what sounds good, not what they’ll actually engage with.

Survey bias

Your most engaged subscribers answer surveys. They’re not representative of your broader audience—they’re your superfans.

Limited sample sizes

Talking to 10 customers isn’t research. It’s anecdote collection. Real patterns require real numbers.

Confirmation bias

You hear what you expect to hear. The insights that challenge your assumptions get filtered out.

Good research requires discipline, methodology, and willingness to be surprised.

The SparkToro Approach

What genuine audience research looks like:

Follow the digital footprint

People reveal their interests through behavior:

What accounts do they follow?
What podcasts do they listen to?
What websites do they visit?
What hashtags do they use?

This behavioral data tells you more than surveys ever could. People’s actions reveal their true interests.

Identify shared sources

Find the media, influencers, and platforms your audience clusters around. This reveals:

Where to reach them
Whose endorsement matters
What content they already consume
What language and references resonate

Understand the overlap

Your audience isn’t monolithic. Different segments share different interests. The Venn diagrams reveal unexpected opportunities and partnerships.

Research competitors’ audiences too

Who follows your competitors? What else do they care about? This competitive intelligence shapes positioning and differentiation.

Zero-Click Content

Natividad’s concept for social-first content:

The problem with traffic-dependent content

Traditional content marketing: create content, hope people click through to your site, measure success by traffic.

But platform algorithms increasingly keep people on-platform. Clicks are getting harder to earn.

The zero-click solution

Create content that delivers value within the feed itself:

Complete insights in the tweet/post
No click required to get value
Brand association happens in-feed

The content builds authority even if people never visit your website.

How it works

Instead of “5 audience research tips (link in bio),” give all five tips in the post itself. The value is delivered. The brand is associated with the value. Mission accomplished.

The long game

Zero-click content builds:

Followers who trust your insights
Brand recognition in your space
Authority that eventually converts

It sacrifices immediate clicks for long-term brand equity.

Research-Informed Content Strategy

How to use audience research in content planning:

Content-audience fit

Before creating anything:

Who specifically is this for?
What do they already consume?
What language do they use?
What problems keep them up at night?

Content that nails these questions resonates. Content that guesses misses.

Gap identification

What topics does your audience care about that existing content doesn’t address well?

Research reveals:

Questions being asked that nobody’s answering
Topics covered poorly by existing content
Emerging interests before they’re mainstream

These gaps are opportunities.

Format preferences

How does your audience prefer to consume content?

Long-form or short-form?
Video or text?
Podcast or newsletter?
Platform preferences?

Research answers these questions. Assumptions waste resources.

Distribution strategy

Where does your audience actually spend time?

Not where you assume they are. Not where everyone else is marketing. Where research shows they actually hang out.

Original Research as Content

Creating research-based content:

The authority play

Original data gives you something no one else has. You become the source, not the aggregator.

When others cite your research, you gain:

Backlinks for SEO
Brand mentions for awareness
Authority positioning
Thought leadership status

Types of original research

Surveys: Ask your audience questions and publish aggregate findings.

Data analysis: Analyze publicly available data in new ways.

Experiments: Test hypotheses and share results.

Industry studies: Benchmark data across companies or practitioners.

Making research content work

Clear methodology (transparency builds trust)
Visualize the data (charts and graphs get shared)
Highlight surprising findings (the unexpected gets attention)
Make it citeable (easy for others to reference)

Audience Segmentation That Matters

Not all of your audience is the same:

Demographic segments

Age, location, job title, company size—traditional segmentation still matters. Different demographics need different messaging.

Behavioral segments

How they found you
What content they’ve engaged with
Where they are in the buyer journey
How they prefer to engage

Behavior predicts behavior. Past actions forecast future actions.

Psychographic segments

Values, beliefs, priorities, pain points. The internal drivers that demographics can’t capture.

Two people with identical demographics might have completely different motivations and fears.

Jobs-to-be-done segments

What job is each segment hiring your content (or product) to do?

Information seeking
Skill development
Problem solving
Entertainment
Status/identity

Different jobs require different content.

Research Tools and Methods

How to actually gather insights:

Quantitative tools

SparkToro (audience intelligence)
Social analytics platforms
Survey tools (with statistically significant samples)
Website analytics segmentation

Qualitative methods

Customer interviews (structured, not casual)
Sales call analysis
Support ticket themes
Community observation

Combining both

Quantitative data shows patterns. Qualitative data explains why.

Use surveys to identify trends. Use interviews to understand the nuance behind them.

Common Audience Research Mistakes

What to avoid:

Mistake 1: Researching once

Audiences evolve. Interests shift. Research is ongoing, not a one-time project.

Mistake 2: Only researching customers

Your audience includes prospects, not just buyers. Understanding why people don’t convert is as important as understanding why they do.

Mistake 3: Ignoring negative feedback

Critical feedback is gold. What’s not working? What are people complaining about? This is where improvement opportunities live.

Mistake 4: Analysis paralysis

Research should inform action, not replace it. At some point, you know enough. Create something and learn from the response.

Mistake 5: Researching the wrong audience

If you’re targeting the wrong people, understanding them better doesn’t help. Make sure you’re researching who you actually want to reach.

Applying Research to Content Creation

How research becomes content:

Before writing

Who is this piece for? (Be specific)
What do they already believe?
What language do they use?
What would surprise or challenge them?

During writing

Use their vocabulary, not yours
Reference their influences and touchpoints
Address their specific concerns
Meet them where they are

After publishing

How did target segments respond?
What did engagement tell you?
What would you do differently?
What follow-up content does this suggest?

Each piece of content is research for the next one.

Building a Research Practice

How to make research systematic:

Regular research rhythms

Monthly audience pulse checks
Quarterly deep dives
Annual comprehensive studies

Build research into your calendar, not just your to-do list when you have time.

Research repositories

Store findings where they’re accessible:

Key insights documented
Data sources linked
Segment profiles maintained
Historical comparisons possible

Research is only useful if you can find it when you need it.

Research shouldn’t live in marketing alone. Sales, product, support—everyone benefits from audience understanding.

The Bottom Line

Amanda Natividad’s approach to content marketing starts with a simple premise: know your audience before you create for them.

This means:

Research behavior, not just stated preferences
Create zero-click content that delivers value in-feed
Use original research for authority and differentiation
Segment by behavior and motivation, not just demographics
Make research ongoing, not one-time

The best content comes from deep understanding. Guessing is expensive.

When you truly know your audience, content strategy stops being creative gambling and starts being informed strategy.

Nora Schlesinger’s Growth Machine — Content-led growth strategy
Why Your Copy Isn’t Converting — Audience misalignment symptoms
Tyler Denk’s Newsletter Growth Playbook — Understanding subscriber behavior

Discover more insights from today’s practitioners: The Marketing Experts.

Ready to create content that resonates? See the Blogs That Sell system—the complete methodology for audience-informed content that converts.

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