Social Media & Influencer Marketing

Audience vs Community: Do You Know the Difference?

We had a fantastic conversation with Allison Aldridge-Saur of Chickasaw Nation, and I would encourage you to listen to it. Allison has been working on a fascinating project as part of the Digital Vision grant, writing a series on Native American Lessons for Community Building.

Audience Vs. Community

Allison discussed Audiences versus Communities, and it struck me as one of the most important topics in the entire series. I’m not sure that too many marketers recognize that there is such a distinct difference between an audience and a community. Even here on Martech Zone, we do a fantastic job of building a great audience… but we have not developed a community.

Allison discusses the differences between building your audience – listening, engagement, relevant content, loyalty points, gamification, gifting economy, giveaways, and messaging consistency. Some may argue that these are the strategies behind building community… but one question will answer whether you have one or the other.

Will the community continue without you, without your content, without your incentives, or without the overall value you bring them?

If the answer is NO (which it probably is), you’ve got an audience.

Audience

  • Passive consumption of content.
  • Limited interaction or engagement with the content.
  • Typically, one-way communication from the content creator to the audience.
  • May have diverse interests and demographics.
  • Main focus is on receiving information or entertainment.
  • Individual preferences and needs take precedence.

Community

  • Active participation and engagement among members.
  • Two-way communication and interaction within the group.
  • Shared interests, values, or goals among community members.
  • Collaboration and discussion are common.
  • Sense of belonging and shared identity.
  • Collective decision-making and problem-solving.

These differences are important to consider when developing sales, marketing, or online technology strategies, as they impact how you engage with your target audience or community.

Building A Community

Building your community is a much different strategy. Community-building tools include naming the group, the events, and the individuals, using insider jargon, having your symbols, developing a shared narrative, having value systems, rituals, consensus building, and pooling resources. Communities live beyond the leader, the platform, or even the product (think Trekkies). Allison said something incredible when we were speaking to her… a brand advocate in the community may often last longer than the marketing team itself!

That’s not to say having just an audience is a bad thing… we have a great audience that we’re very thankful for. However, if the blog disappeared tomorrow, I’m afraid the audience would, too! If we hope to build a lasting impression, we will work to develop a community.

A great example of this is comparing other product reviews versus an Angie’s List membership. The team at Angie’s List doesn’t dictate reviews nro do they allow anonymous reviews… and they do an outstanding job at mediating reports between businesses and consumers to ensure both sides are treated fairly. The result is an insanely dedicated community that shares hundreds of in-depth reviews of the companies they interact with.

When I signed up personally for the service, I thought I’d be looking at something like Yelp, where a business was listed, and there were a couple dozen reviews with a sentence or two below them. Instead, a small search for plumbers in my region identified hundreds of plumbers with thousands of in-depth reviews. I was even able to narrow it down to a plumber with an excellent rating for installing water heaters. The result was that I got a great water heater at a great price, and I didn’t have to worry about whether or not I was getting ripped off. In one transaction, I saved the entire year’s cost of membership.

If, for some wacky reason, Angie’s List decided to close its doors, I do not doubt that the community they have unleashed will continue to do the incredible work they’re doing in accurately and fairly reporting business results. Yelp and Google may have large audiences… but Angie’s List is building a community. It’s a huge difference.

What are you building?

Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is CMO of OpenINSIGHTS and the founder of the Martech Zone. Douglas has helped dozens of successful MarTech startups, has assisted in the due diligence of over $5 bil in Martech acquisitions and investments, and continues to assist companies in implementing and automating their sales and marketing strategies. Douglas is an internationally recognized digital transformation and MarTech expert and speaker. Douglas is also a published author of a Dummie's guide and a business leadership book.

Related Articles

Back to top button
Close

Adblock Detected

Martech Zone is able to provide you this content at no cost because we monetize our site through ad revenue, affiliate links, and sponsorships. We would appreciate if you would remove your ad blocker as you view our site.