Social Media Audience vs. Community

Nearly every business or organization should be using some form of social media to promote or further its mission and objectives. The world in which we live has seeped into the metaverse and social media is, in many cases, where your customers and external stakeholders can most easily be reached. Therefore, it’s more important than ever to understand which platform fulfills which purpose, and how you can best increase your engagement within those platforms.

In the social media world, there’s a lot of talk about audiences and communities. It’s important to understand the difference.

Think about an audience watching a play. They’re clapping, laughing, and crying at the appropriate times—but they’re not part of the show. The audience is there to be entertained, informed, or persuaded, but not to interrupt the show.

Now think of a community, much like our own. Different community members fulfill specific roles - the doctor, the mayor, the teacher, etc. Those parts interact with each other to form a functioning town. If people stop playing their parts, the community stagnates. Everyone is incentivized to connect with each other, and those interactions strengthen the community.

Communities and audiences have distinct dynamics. The same is true within social media. Audience-centric platforms, like TikTok, are constantly creating and refining features to keep users on the app staying longer and visiting more frequently. Meanwhile, community-based platforms, like Reddit or Facebook, leave space for real conversation. Instead of simply commenting on posts, users are conversing about topics. A marketer or business might start the conversation, but the community members dictate where it goes. Some platforms even reward users for engaging with a community – for example, Instagram rewards users who engage with their followers before and after publishing by increasing their posts’ visibility using an algorithm.

The bottom line: It is worth your time to determine which social media platforms fulfill your mission and objectives. Are you communicating within a community or are you entertaining an audience? Which social media channels best fulfill your needs? While social media planners allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time, that does not necessarily mean your Facebook posts and your Instagram posts should be identical.

If you have questions about this, ask us! We are here to help!