April 8, 2022
Have you ever fashioned a prototype for a printed marketing piece using construction paper and scotch tape to help visualize the final product?
There are few things sexier than print. I love working on the many digital projects I get to put my hands on, but the heart wants what it wants. Recently it’s been near blissful working on some creative print pieces. It’s not just the words that excite me. It’s the whole process.
It hits different.
I’m writing and diving into research rabbit holes and getting close to the people who will consume these pieces. A job perk? A job hazard? Certainly, but it’s how we ensure we’re answering the right questions.
If whom I’m writing for is Question One (and it often is), our intent is Question Two.
Am I using this piece to build an audience or nurture a community?
Wait. Let's back up.
Audience vs. Community: What’s The Difference?
When we talk about creating content--be it a blog post, website content, or something meatier--we almost always talk about the importance of writing it “for your audience” or “for your community.”
And that makes sense. We want to create something that someone in the world wants to read.
But we use the words ‘audience’ and ‘community’ so interchangeably that we forget that they mean very different things. They also offer very different things to us as brands and marketers.
Audience
Your audience is the people consuming your content. They read it, take something from it, and go on. Their relationship with you is passive and mostly superficial. They’re spectators of what you’re doing, and you must constantly entertain and engage them. They represent all the fans in your stadium.
Community
Your community is a group of people coming together around a shared interest or goal. They are there to learn from you but also from one another. You get to be part of that community, but the experience is about them. These folks are not just in your stadium; they are the smaller subset paying extra for the Meet and Greet before the show.
So...What Do I Want To Build?
It depends.
An audience is easier to build and scale because it requires less of your attention. Your audience isn’t so dependent on you nurturing them. They want only the goods. Because of that, your time investment doesn’t expand as your audience does. You can grow it quickly by feeding the beast more content to drive more value and awareness to more people.
You can also pay to grow your audience using advertising, social media, contributed content, buying lists, etc.
If your goal is to reach the highest number of people possible, building an audience will allow you to grow faster.
A community takes more energy to build because it involves doing more things that don’t scale. It can take me 8-10 hours to write this letter, start to finish. That doesn’t scale well. But investing in building a community creates a more personal, committed audience. There is a sense of connection. It helps me get feedback and input straight from you.
You reply to this email. And we talk. And it’s lovely. Thank you.
💡 If you were to ask me which one you should focus on. That’s easy.
You should build both.
Seth Godin has an audience of millions. He’s written 20 worldwide best-sellers that have been translated into even more languages. His blog is a staple for marketing folks--from the green to the experienced. There’s a podcast, online courses, and more content than one could ever hope to create. His audience and his reach are no joke.
But all those things are examples of Seth talking at you, not to you. Because they’re audience-focused, not community.
Seth also has a more personal altMBA program that does build community. He creates tribes of people who can connect with him differently. They stay in touch and share experiences long after the program has ended. Those who enroll are there as much for Seth as they are to benefit from one another. That’s his community touchpoint.
Elyse Myers is a social media-based content creator. If you’re familiar with her content, you understand why she’s become a social sensation (she’s a riot). In a very short time, she’s skyrocketed from a woman with a funny story to amassing hoards of followers, scoring brand endorsements, and starring in a Super Bowl commercial. Her combined TikTok and Instagram audience equal 5-6 million people. She’s built an audience, and it’s big. Again, it’s mostly built on Elyse talking at you.
But Elyse also uses Patreon, a membership platform for content creators, to foster her community. Around ~700 people pay a monthly fee to access exclusive content and get direct access to Elyse. That represents just a fraction of her audience, but these are super engagers. Having that community is a win for them--they get more of the content they love-- and Elyse receives direct access to hear what her fans respond to and want.
Overit puts out webinars, blog posts, funny videos, and a smart podcast. We’re growing our audience by investing in consistently serving you new things to make you smarter and improve your day.
Some of our larger audience also opts to receive Into & Overit. Some of it does not.
It’s a smaller community, but it’s valuable, especially to me.
Use The Right Word. Build The Right Thing
The trouble with mixing up 'audience' and 'community' is that even we, the creator, get confused about what we’re building.
We say we want community, but instead of seeking ways to bring people together, we spend our time hunting for new faces. We’re not asking for their feedback or creating space for them to ask and answer questions. We’re re-forcing them through the top of our funnel with thought leadership pieces, whitepapers, and blogs.
Or, we say we’re focusing on the audience, but we’re spending a lot of time nurturing individual relationships without attracting new eyeballs. We’re talking only to our current list instead of going to events, writing for third-party sites, or using dollars to get our existing content in front of more people.
Then, we’re confused when we’re not getting closer to where we want to be.
Where do you want to be?
* * * *
It won't shock you to hear that I believe that building communities is how we build defensible businesses—the type of organization that can thrive in a pandemic or changing market conditions. When you have the power of a community at your disposal, you have direct access to your people when you need them.
That's how I write content. It's also how Overit serves clients.
When you can, build both--audience and community.
When you cannot, be honest about which one you're after.
Thanks for being part of this community. I'll be back in two weeks.
