There are three types of audiences:

• The first type is your owned network. These are individuals you know personally, who will respond to your messages and answer your phone calls. Adding people on LinkedIn or Facebook does not mean they are part of your network.
• The second type is audiences to your owned media. This group includes people whose email addresses you have, those who subscribe to your WhatsApp channel, or follow you on social media. Essentially, when you reach out to them, there’s a chance they will read your message. Your audience invests their time in you, which equates to their attention.
• Finally, the most valuable type of audience is a community. A community represents the highest form of audience engagement because people actively choose to meet and interact with others through your owned media. This community not only invests time but also contributes effort. They gather on your platform, giving you the opportunity to bring together the right individuals in a meaningful way. You can encourage them to share insights, experiences, challenges, and predictions they might not disclose in public settings.
  • Recently, I was at a closed-door, invite-only meeting of CTOs at Microsoft where they had employed Chatham House Rules which means you use what is discussed but not quote who said it. Microsoft has the power to convene and drive open conversations.

A common mistake is to leap from an owned network to a community without first cultivating an audience. In most successful scenarios, there is a natural progression: network leads to audience, which then evolves into a community.