Audience vs Community: Knowing The Difference to Better Market Your Business
When we talk about marketing, it's important to know that two terms, audience and community are always in the conversation, but yet constantly confused. While these are similar, it's important to note that they are NOT the same.
Today, we are discussing the key differences and you can convert one into the other.
First, let's define what each means:
Audience = People who consume your content but may not engage. They follow, watch, and/or listen without deeply diving into the conversation. (I.e. who you are marketing to)
Community = People who actively participate, engage and connect with your brand. (i.e. who you are marketing for)
Think about a billboard for example. People are driving past, viewing your billboard but they aren't having another interaction with your brand until they take further action, right? If they call, go to your social media and comment, that's where they turn the page to a community member. While this is a physical example of print marketing, this can happen in every channel. Your audience might read your email subject line, vs your community will open, read through, and maybe reply back. Your audience will see your social media post pop up in your feed, your community will comment, like, or share it. Let's get more into the key differences and similarities.
Key Differences:
One-Way vs. Two-Way Communication: An audience listens; a community interacts. Social media has opened the page to more brand-consumer interactions.
Relationship: A community will comment and share creating a deeper relationship with your brand. An audience passively absorbs, likely leading to not a large relationship factor.
Key Similarities:
Both are important to know deeply and create strategies around. Even though your audience isn't engaging, doesn't mean that they aren't seeing and taking in the information provided. So, it's important to remember both when creating content.
BOTH can purchased or be potential buyers. Even your quietest audience member can be your most profitable customer, so if your audience is quiet that doesn't always mean it's negative! Think about the brands that you purchase constantly, but don't interact with. For example, I might love the brand of toothpaste I'm using right now, but am I going to go comment on their Instagram post? Probably not, and that's okay!
Converting
Audiences can be converted into a community with the right strategy. If you want that tight-knit, engaged feel with your audience, you need to focus on warming them up. Here are a few ways:
Start conversations (polls, Q&A, DMs).
Create shared experiences (events, memberships).
Make people feel seen and valued (respond, highlight members, inside jokes).
So, in the end, while an audience and a community can both be customers, they interact with your brands in different ways (or not at all besides purchasing!), and it's important to consider both when creating your marketing strategy. Just because you have a community, doesn't mean they are buying, and just because you have an audience doesn't mean they aren't buying, so take the time to nurture both.
