What Type of Audience Is Your Content Attracting?

If you are creating any type of content and distribute it on digital or traditional platforms, it means that you already have an audience. 

But what kind of audience do you have? Is it an active audience or a passive one? 

Let me explain briefly what I think about these 2 types of an audience:

The active audience = the kind of person who has a very active life (entrepreneurs, parents as managers, athletes, solopreneurs, mompreneurs, side project hustlers). The kind of person who has different activities scheduled for the whole day, every day of the week. 

The passive audience = the kind of person who is comfortable with their life and they just wake up whenever they want, go to sleep whenever they want. They have a job, but they are not very passionate about it and they just can’t wait to go home, order something to eat, and watch a season of movies. 

These audiences are consuming content. The most interesting thing about this is that they both consume different kinds of content because they have different lifestyles. 

That means that the content they are consuming is different, and that there are two main types of content here: the active content and the passive content. 

The active content = you need to consume it actively. That means that you need to stay focused on the screen to watch it – Youtube videos, Instagram Stories, Netflix movies, Blog Articles, Instagram Pictures, TikTok videos, cinema movies. You are engaged in consuming the content. 

The passive content = you can do it passively. This means that you can do other things while consuming that type of content. For example a podcast episode. You can put on your headset, and go for a run or you can play your favorite music album and start designing or editing some photos while listening to it. 

Now, what kind of audience welcomes what type of content? Here’s the most interesting part I discovered lately. 

I’m an active person who is consuming passive content

I looked at my behavior and understood that now that I’m a husband, a parent, a marketer, a content strategist who creates written content, visual content and audio content, my life is a very active one. 

This means that my lifestyle involves more than just sitting down every night and watch a movie, because, after a long day of doing all my work and taking care of my family, I’m exhausted. When do I find time to consume content? Well, I do it whenever I can take a  30 minutes break and go for a walk. That’s when I listen to a podcast. That’s when I can consume content. And the best content I can consume is the passive kind of content. 

How to attract an active audience with passive content?

The active audience can’t consume active content. They don’t have the required amount of time to consume that content. So, if you want to reach out to the active audience, you need to start creating passive content; such as the podcasts. 

Maybe you are writing articles for entrepreneurs but you are not seeing any interest in it. That’s because entrepreneurs don’t have enough time to read every article you publish. This is why the best way to get them interested is to record an audio based on your written content, send the newsletter, and give them the chance to consume it passively. You can repurpose your text in an audio blog. Now your chances to get in touch with your audience doubles at least..  

How to attract passive audiences with active content?

There is also the possibility that the passive audience won’t consume passive content because they need some active moments in their life. This is why if you want to engage with this kind of audience, you need to create video series on Youtube, launch a TikTok challenge or start creating written content. They have patience and time to consume what you create. And they will be actively involved in your content. 

It’s just like the magnet effect. 

The passive content attracts the active audience. 

The active content attracts the passive audience. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the active audience is better than the passive audience. Just think about Netflix, they build their entire empire on the passive audience behavior and this is great. 

But this means that you need to understand your audience’s behavior, their day to day life habits and try to create the type of content that they want to consume according to their lifestyles. 

What kind of content do you create in order to attract a certain type of audience?