11.1: Defining audience building

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Creators of audiences, audiences of creators. (Unsplash free-to-use. Szabo Viktor)

Media writing students must recognize that for most media companies, regardless of whether the product is journalism, advertising copy, public relations content, audiovisual content, etc., the primary purpose of most everything they will write professionally will be to contribute to the production of content that attracts and holds audiences. It might seem obvious that gaining audiences is essential. It might follow that media companies and media writers simply need to figure out what attracts audiences and create content in that vein, but in practice there are many factors that make media writing more complicated than simply "giving the people what they want."

More than a Feeling

It is not enough to simply study what has worked in the past and try to replicate it when our individual and collective attention spans are now shorter, audiences are consuming more media than ever, and audiences' preferences are changing constantly. We need strategies in the media industry for consistently presenting fresh content and fresh approaches to delivering content without losing sight of the missions and ethics that anchor professional media organizations. Every media organization has, or should have, a clearly defined long-term mission with a basis in professional ethics as well as some general approaches to audience building that connect to that mission.

This is absolutely easier said than done, but this is what media professionals are faced with: They must know who their audience is and what they need and want. They must deliver content to them creatively and consistently without pandering, and they must be simultaneously innovative and consistent. For some this might sound like an impossible challenge. For others, this is just the type of career they have always been looking for.

Definition: Audience Building

Audience building in the context of digital media refers to the development and nurturing of online networks of fans, supporters, followers, etc. centered around the media brand, its content, and the information services it provides. Audience building may involve working within the confines of an existing social media platform, or it may mean developing a proprietary platform connecting audience members with each other and with professional media content and services. Audience building is substantially different from tapping into relatively passive mass audiences, which is to say the nature of audiences as networks is conceptually different than in the past.

Examples of audience building include developing a podcast that reaches thousands of listeners every week; building a TikTok or YouTube following around fun, games, and philanthropy; or developing a fact-checking service that licenses its fact-checked reports to local TV news outlets. In all of these cases, there are common forms. Audiences are identified. Audiences are served with content and information services such as fact checking, and fresh content is published regularly that is both innovative and, usually, on-brand in order to maintain not just brand integrity but community integrity. 

This means that audience building is community building in networked communication spaces. If it were as simple as following a three-step process, more people would succeed at it more often. There are inherent challenges in each one of the three aspects outlined here.

Perhaps most importantly, audience building usually takes place in spaces where audiences have thousands or even millions of media choices. Their attention is so much in demand that many scholars agree the most valuable asset in today's media economy is not media content but audience attention.

Media organizations are constantly observant of the attention economy. Most are constantly tracking user data on social media and other platforms. This can make pandering to audiences seem appealing, but sooner or later, audiences will recognize when they are being pandered to and leave.

Alternatively, if audiences decide they are fine with being pandered to, then media organizations face a different threat -- the likelihood that another media organization will come along that is simply better at pandering to their audience.

Either way, constant pandering is not a key to long-term success for a media organization, and it may do lasting social and cultural harm. Pandering to audiences can create echo chambers where people surround themselves mostly with like-minded individuals and media outlets. Although the process of becoming immersed in a media echo chamber is by no means automatic, the constant appeal to attention and connection of attention to emotion, particularly to radical, politically charged emotional content, can lead to greater polarization in society, which can lead to violence. 

To reiterate: There are many steps on the journey between consuming media content that panders to one's preferences and turning toward violent polarization, but the pathways are there and well documented. 

The relevant reference in this collection is the article, "Polarization on Social Media Platforms" starting on p. 172 by Abdullah Ar Rafee, which states:

Quote, Unquote

Unfortunately, the impact of...increased polarization and intolerance have regularly transformed from online mediums to the ground level, manifested through attacks on minorities, Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, Christchurch Mosque shooting, ISIS propaganda and numerous other instances of online radicalization.

Your charge as a media writing student is to learn to walk the precarious middle ground between being interesting, fresh, and edgy without completely devolving into constant attention-seeking behavior where your intellectual and artistic capabilities are ground up and served to audience members with near-zero attention spans seeking not so much to be informed but to get a dopamine fix. Not only does this type of media feed addictions, it can contribute to polarization around the globe, which can breed violence and lead to breakdowns in society.