Do you write a blog just for your friends and for some group of acquaintances? You probably have a very limited audience then. Would you prefer to be read by a broader and more heterogeneous audience? Most writers aim to reach a larger audience for their particular story, campaign, promotion, or advocacy. The term “audience” is generally defined as a group of readers, viewers, or listeners who collectively read particular written content, or view and listen to audiovisual material. In this particular context, we are referring to an Internet audience for your online electronic content.

Audiences come in all ages, shapes, sizes, and backgrounds. They also read your content with different intentions and purposes. Your particular audience will understand you better if you adjust your language to better convey your message. Let’s take a look at profiles of our eight types of audiences and how to tailor your content for them.

1. Children or young people informed: They are schoolchildren, teenagers in or out of school, young people who spend a lot of time looking for useful resources on the Internet. They are internet savvy and are often interested in games, stories, homework tips, graphics, social media, and many other things that may not even be for kids. They are usually not your target audience, but they are capable of judging your content and if they find it extremely useful, they will share it with their parents or other mature family members or relatives. This group needs action-packed descriptive vocabulary and simple content presented in a more exciting way, such as video or interactive text.

2. The Laity or Non-Specialists: They tend to know a little about almost everything in life, work, business, technology, art and science; however, they need to master at least one of these many things. They do not possess expert knowledge and require graphic descriptions and more detailed information on most topics. It is quite easy to attract their attention. You can adjust your style, tone, and terminology to keep them interested. They need visual elements for easy understanding.

3. The Executives or Managers. They are usually more knowledgeable about their own particular field of expertise or industry. They also know a great deal, but they usually require a lot of supporting data and recommendations before they can make important conclusions, choices, or decisions. Your writing should also appeal to the majority of people in your particular industry.

4. Academic theorists and non-professional mentors: Just like experts and specialists, they need a well-written and well-researched article. More than that, they want something new and interesting that must also be fully supported with references, citations, and peer review from academic colleagues, not necessarily professionals in the field. They are well suited to reading newsletters, academic and government publications that contain so-called professional jargon. If you use dialectics, officious common phrases and high-handed language, they will become familiar with it; but at the same time, they recognize and appreciate direct, clear and concise writing.

5. Technicians, specialists and experts: They require a completely specialized vocabulary when you write about their interests: the latest technology, science and industry news. Technicians and specialists know how a product works and how to repair it. The experts designed the product, tested it and know it inside out. They need real testing and peer review, and fully documented. Invite them to comment on your content and share their experience with others.

6. Communities or Specific Groups: Whether small or large, a group is a good target audience for advocacy, promotional, marketing, and other campaigns. Your collective choices, preferences, decisions, and action plans are easily elicited through your group discussions and collaborative/supportive efforts between leadership and members. They usually have clear goals and objectives that are achieved through open communication channels. Writing for them requires a good power of persuasion through simple and clear language. Convincing your leaders usually means convincing the whole group.

7. The Consumer: They look for complete information (generally comparative) about certain products in order to make the best choice. They don’t want to make the mistake of spending their money on a product that doesn’t meet their needs, purposes, tastes, or preferences. Product reviews help the consumer by: giving them relevant information about the product, helping them save time and money, and leading them to product improvements.

8. General public: If you have a readership of at least fifty thousand, there’s a good chance your audience will be a variety of types. Adjusting your readability level will help better convey your message. Most advertising and marketing copy writers target a general audience for greater readership variability and a higher chance of marketing success. A well-organized, well-illustrated, and well-written product user manual is a good example of content written for the general public. It is properly organized in a step by step procedure and easy vocabulary. Although it has technical content, it can be understood by the normal user of the product. However, it is not always necessary to illustrate the content for the general public. Using clear, simple, and powerful descriptive language is often enough to get your message across. Your message could be further spread to a wider audience through the ripple effect. Use the proper style and structure and organize the correct information in the correct way so that your reader can see the connection of all the sections. Consumer groups fall into this category, but fall under a very specific type of general audience category.

You need to keep these two things in mind when writing your content: 1) the purpose of the writer and 2) the intended and unintended audience.

Achieve your purpose through clear and powerful language that easily convinces your specific (target) audience. Spread your message to the unwanted audience through word of mouth. A satisfied audience shares your message with their loved ones and friends, your beneficial message has succeeded if it has been continuously shared and shared with many people. Write something truly useful and your message will remain in the hearts and minds of your present and future audience. Why not start playing them all today?

– Ma. France O. Bengco