We cringe when we hear the phrase “owned audience.” People don’t own others, and businesses certainly don’t own people. But we can dislike the clunky term and still embrace its place in today’s marketing ecosystem.
First, let’s talk about what people actually mean when they say “owned audience.”
When marketers talk about an “owned audience,” they are talking about having direct access to their audience instead of engaging with them on platforms they don’t, well, own.
Here’s an example: You have 3 million followers on Instagram. That’s incredible! But those people are all….Instagram users, right? You don’t ultimately control your own access to them.
Social platforms control the algorithms, the visibility, the rules, and ultimately the relationship between your business and your followers. A sudden algorithm change can dramatically reduce your reach overnight. Features disappear. Platforms rise and fall in popularity. Accounts get suspended. Engagement fluctuates unpredictably.
That’s why marketers value the questionably-named “owned audiences.”
An owned audience is any group of people you can reach directly, without depending on a third-party platform to decide whether your message gets seen.
The most common example is an email newsletter.
When someone subscribes to your email list, you have a direct line of communication with them. You’re not fighting an algorithm every time you want to share an update. That’s valuable.
Other examples include:
- Membership communities
- SMS marketing
- Customer databases
- Podcasts
This is one reason for the renaissance of newsletters, including the rise of Substack. It’s a way to reach your own audience on your own terms, and those highly engaged subscribers can be worth more than thousands of disengaged, passive “followers” on another platform.
This doesn’t mean abandoning social media altogether. Social platforms are still essential for visibility and discovery. But ideally, they should lead people into deeper, more direct relationships with your business. Because the businesses that thrive long term have the ability to maintain connection. And these days, owned audiences are one of the best ways to do that.
Mad 4 Marketing can help you discover pathways to your own “owned audience” channels—and make the most of them once established. And the best part? We never need to call them that.