As a content creator, a big part of my job is to create cool and interesting industry-related articles. However, I need to
always ask: W
ho am I writing this for, and who is going to read this?You could create the best piece of content that the world has ever laid its eyes on. But, if you wrote it with the wrong audience in mind, it will just get lost in translation.
Read on as media update's Saads Abrahams gives you the lowdown on the types of audiences in content creation.
Primary audience
The primary audience is also known as the
intended audience. This is who your piece of content is
aimed at. The intended audience can be your
targeted readership or even a general one. It can also be a specific:
- demographic
- ethnicity
- age, or
- gender.
When you are creating your content, you need to always double-check your work and ensure that what you are creating is going to
capture the attention of your intended audience.
Secondary audience
A
secondary audience is
not who your piece is aimed at; however, they still hold great importance. This type of audience can possibly
influence the primary audience to look at and engage with your content.
Here is a perfect example of a secondary audience — an advert for a toy. A child watching the advert looks at it and goes to their parents to tell them about this toy that they want that they just saw in this ad.
The parent is then
the primary audience as they have the
power to purchase the toy, whereas the child has
no buying power. However, they were able to influence their parents to buy that toy for them — making them
the secondary audience.
General audience
The
general audience is the group of people who your content is
not directly created for. This type of audience could
possibly become a secondary or primary audience, but they are pretty
neutral when it comes to your content.
When you are creating your content and it is not
specialised for a specific audience and it focuses on a topic that can be
enjoyed by the masses and is free from crazy jargon. This is the audience your content will most likely be consumed by.
When you are creating content for a general audience, try to keep your writing:
- straightforward
- simple, and
- positive.
Lay audience
A
lay audience is a particular audience you will find in writing. This audience
does not have any special or expert knowledge of what you are writing. However, they may have an interest in learning more about the topic at hand.
When you are creating any content for this audience, it is important to keep that in mind. Try to write your work in a way in which they can grasp it, but don't over-simplify it because it could then lose its meaning.
Expert audience
Your
expert audience is the audience who has the
most knowledge of the content you are creating. This audience would understand your content — even if you are making use of technical terms and phrases.
If you are creating content specifically for this audience you need to be mindful that they already know a lot about the topic. You
do not need to simplify your content, and you also need to ensure that you have done your
research thoroughly on the content you are creating.
Business audience
If you are creating content for a
business audience, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind.
One is that they don't have the time for
fluff and storytelling, so the best practice is to keep it
short and concise.
Another thing to consider is that they probably
do not have as much
knowledge as an expert, so make sure you don't make use of
complicated jargon.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below.
*Image courtesy of Canva