That old saw, ‘Build it and they will come’, couldn’t be more dangerous for a start-up company looking to engage a new audience. As anyone who has tried this will doubtless tell you, if you post content on your company blog without a thought about how best to promote it, the chances are that you will get few readers.

So where to start? A good method of building an audience is by finding out where your likely readers like to hang out on the web. Courtesy of this post by Alex Manthei, here are four ways to find your new audience:

Hit those forums

They are a little old-fashioned, but forums remain a popular means for peer-to-peer discussion on topics as diverse as tappet replacement to breast-feeding. As Manthei says, “The great thing about forums is that people are there to share their expertise on a given topic.” Perhaps in your content you could respond to a specific problem posted in a forum and offer advice as well?

Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook

Despite the width and breadth of social media, there are still ways to hone in on smaller, niche groups. Twitter’s hashtags allow you to search for unique topics, and LinkedIn has plenty of specialist groups devoted particular subject areas, as well as events. Likewise, Google+ and Facebook supports thousands of communities that you can easily engage with and promote your content.

Target ready-established audiences

We’re not talking about ripping off your competitors. Rather, try to tap into the communities of any partner organisations, perhaps ones that you have co-hosted an event with. If their business offers a complementary product to yours, the chances are that its audience will be very similar to the one you are trying to create. As Manthei says: “Join their groups, attend their events, ask your contacts for intros, etc.”

Use Mention

First off, a declaration. Menthai’s official role is Community Manager at Mention, and he extols his product’s virtues in finding and building new audiences. In a nutshell, the tool allows you to keep track of when you are mentioned on social media and track discussions with specific tags. That way, you can better monitor your audience’s mood and fast-moving topics of the day.