Hi. You’re reading my blog and thank you.
Just so you know, I consider you part of my audience. Ideally, I’d like my blog to add enough value to your life and business that you choose become a regular reader. And it would be great if you get my feed and check me out on a regular basis; leaving comments as you go.
That’s the way I think. But according to Stowe Boyd I shouldn’t be calling you part of my ‘audience‘ any longer. In his post, Enough Already: Getting Social Media All Wrong, Stowe writes:
…Please, please, please don’t talk about audiences when you are theoretically promoting social media. As Jay Rosen has suggested, we are the people formerly known as the audience. Blogging is not just another channel for corporate marketing types to push their messages to markets, eyeballs, or audiences. Social media is based on the dynamic of a many-to-many dialogue between people. Yes, people: that’s the word that should have been used. Not audience. If you’d like to make a distinction between a company and those outside the company, just remember: they are not an audience for your messages, any more than you are an audience for theirs. The whole point is that the people formerly known at the audience — the edglings, as I call us — are participating in the blogosphere, and if individuals within companies want to, they can participate: as individuals. Companies don’t blog, or converse: people do.
Now I agree with his points about pushing a message in front of eyeballs and that dialogue and blogging happens between people, not companies. I’m all for that.
What I’m not jiving with is the idea that you, and those I write my blog for, are not my audience. In my opinion, you are. And I mean that with tenderness and caring. I’m not blogging, nor am I in business for that matter, to push some message down your throat.
I’m interested in relationships and I’ve spent years building them with my clients. Blogging is adding a whole new dimension to creating and building relationships. And I’m grateful for the time you spend reading my posts and leaving comments on my blog.
I also believe that there’s enough business to go around. So there’s no need to be cutthroat competitive. Periodically I may talk about a new project, a site launch or a class or product I’ve created. But you’ll never get a hard sell from me. I will always approach marketing with simply sharing the benefits and potential results of what I offer. Then I leave you to decide.
So I don’t think of you as a commodity or a market or eyeballs to put my services in front of. Not at all. I think of you as acquaintances, colleagues and friends.
WebWalker reminds us that “the Oxford Dictionary defines audience (in this context) as: the assembled spectators or listeners at an event.” That’s how I see you – as spectators and listeners. And I trust that if you like what I have to offer, you’ll become readers, which Oxford defines as a person who reads, by the way.
So regardless of anyone’s opinion, I’m going to continue to call you my audience. Then you can all become readers and I won’t have to use the term audience any longer.
What do you think? How do you refer to your niche-eyeball-target-market-audience-leads-prospects?
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