As far back as the 1940’s sociologist understood smaller groups of people with kindred values are more incline to act predictably. These social scientists called these publics to distinguish them from audiences. They went further to describe the different between the two types of people.
An audience is a group of people with different values; the only attribute they share is the desire to be entertained. Sociologists also found an audience is less likely, in fact almost will never, act or engage meaningfully with the content being presented to them. Whereas publics, because of their shared values, seek out and engage content that speaks to them.
The difference is stark. An audience only wants to be entertained, and that’s passive behavior. On the other hand, publics are seeking out content to solve problems. By their very nature, publics are already engaged, so the content you provide, that they find – given it solves their problem – will be used.
Facebook’s custom and lookalike advertising features bring a new level of precision to your paid promotion. With this, you’re able to either send an advertisement to a list of people who you have built a relationship with, or to a much larger group of people with similar values to those who you’ve built relationships with previously.
Are you beginning to understand the power this gives you? How, accurate your online advertising could be?
In my new ebook “Facebook Custom Audience Advertising: The only guide you need for custom advertising success on Facebook.” You will not only learn exactly how to set up custom or lookalike audiences for your advertising, I also provide some strategic direction for you to get started on the right foot.
For example, it’s a well-known fact among communication professionals that people use different channels (email, blog posts, or tweets, for instance) to consume information. If some of your existing customers are not opening emails you send, it could be the information you sending them is being delivered through the wrong channel. Changing the channel to Facebook might earn you more readers. According to Pew research released last year, “roughly two-thirds (64%) of U.S. adults use [Facebook], and half of those users get news there — amounting to 30% of the general population.”
It’s clear people use Facebook to consume news, and your email might be that. If some of your people are not opening the messages you’re sending them, it’s quite possible changing the channel is all you need to engage.
