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We are all leasing our audience, but no message without a medium
It’s great that you've elaborated the interaction with your fans to beyond the physical world. But in reality, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and the other social media networks own your audience. Not you. So even if your socials have been working well for you, you should be worried—and should start owning your audience. Definitely when you rely on an audience or a fanbase for your revenue. First, because you will want to ensure that your message actually reaches your followers. Second, because you want to have a grip on the many metrics and dependencies of algorithms that actually affect the delivery of your message. How does that make you feel, having Mark own your audience?
As is
If you have a message, you need a medium. Too bad most of them are owned by one guy. But while we might not like this dependency, we do like the insights and the data! Before social media, brands hadn’t much info on who their fans were, let alone what they liked, where they shopped and what they believed in. Now, a brand can target every member of the family separately and much more accurately. Does that mean we have to live with the cons? Only focus on the pro’s? No. It means we use the benefits while we improve the system.
We have a very strict direct-to-consumer-plan, all first party data will be owned, stored and used by us.
Could be
The call for more control over audience data sounds loud and echoes over many industries. No wonder start-ups are eagerly attempting to fill the gap. Whether it's Patreon or Substack, the direct link between brand and customer or producer and consumer is making a comeback, with major Belgian brands like Colruyt or even the Red Devils betting on their own platform. If data is the new oil, history is telling us to protect it well and preferably own it ourselves. User awareness about data is growing, and so is their willingness to leave social media and enter dedicated brand platforms or tools. This is Web 3 in action, iterating the internet, asking questions about who owns and controls your data. Comfort doesn’t always reign over privacy. Brands know this. That’s why, for the time being, they’re having it both ways, sharing small content snippets on Facebook and full-blown posts to boost interaction in their more gated communities. Or was it Facebook who has the highest gates?
A combination of media guarantees the most qualitative audience.
