When should I use keyword searches vs. social profiles or websites as inputs?

Keyword searches are perfect when the audience you want to reach frequently talks about or includes in their profile a very specific, definable word, phrase, or sets of words and phrases. When this isn’t the case, or when those words may be tough to brainstorm or know, using an already-existing source of influence (a social account or website) can be the best way to go.

For example, our cofounder Rand struggled to describe an audience interested in reading lengthy news and interest pieces online. This group might be called “long-form content fans” or “big essay readers” but they don’t describe themselves in this fashion, nor do they often talk about their passion for essays and longer news/analysis pieces. So, instead, Rand used the website longreads.com as a search vector and quickly found other sources of influence that reach this target audience.