Defining Your Audience
by Matt on Mar 29, 2010 in Blogging, Guest Posts
(This is a guest post by John Hawbaker, editor of Chattarati.com, a community news and opinion site serving metro Chattanooga, Tenn.)
If you’re starting a hyperlocal news blog, one of your biggest opportunities may seem at first like a big problem: you don’t have an audience.
Before you laugh, think about the daily newspaper in your town. It has probably been around for decades, and it may be the only reliable source for community news. And like traditional news outlets all over the country, it may be struggling to maintain its subscription and advertising rates. To do that, it needs to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. It needs to be all things to all people.
You don’t.
Matt’s recent post on the Pew Research Center’s “State of the Media” report cited some revealing statistics: only 35% have a favorite place to get news, and news consumers are frequently searching for local topics. Like Matt, I see this as a huge opportunity for new news outlets.
To take advantage of that opportunity, you need to first develop a community of devoted readers. You need quality over quantity. And that means that you need to define your target audience. With an eye towards the overarching goals for your blog, here are a few questions to help:
- What are 3 words you would use to describe your ideal readers?
- Are they active in civic or community affairs?
- Where do they typically shop or dine out?
- What national news and culture websites do they frequent?
- What do they think is missing from local news coverage?
Answering these questions should help you understand who you’re writing for and what you can offer that is distinct from other local news sources–key components for building a brand that inspires loyalty. This understanding should inform everything from what topics you cover to how and where you promote your site.
At Chattarati, our initial target audience looked a lot like our initial group of contributing writers: young, curious, tech- and design-savvy, with a host of influences ranging from Gothamist to GOOD to The New York Times. We’re passionate about politics and education; arts and culture; and creating lively, thoughtful discussions around the issues that affect our region.
Seth Godin recently wrote about “driveby culture,” asking whether he should write posts to increase traffic or help change the way people think:
In the race between ‘who’ and ‘how many’, who usually wins–if action is your goal. Find the right people, those that are willing to listen to what you have to say, and ignore the masses that are just going to race on, unchanged.
Because of his focus on the latter, Godin has actually done both.
You’ll have to make that choice on your own site, but choose wisely. How you define your audience early on will ultimately decide how they define you.
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Maybe if you’re writing for a sliver of an already well-covered city. But I am not a fan of overthinking things before you launch.
I have met and heard from and talked with way too many people who dither themselves into inaction because they’re worried they don’t have a meticulous business plan, they don’t have a specific editorial mission, blah blah blah. If there is something you think is not being covered and you want to cover it – OR if you think it’s not being covered the right way – JUST.DO.IT. I cannot say this enough. A million times over.
We were the “accidental news site” – though I’ve been in news since I was a teenager, I started our site with no intention/expectation it would be what it has become. It just evolved that way, through us listening to the people who found us and started communicating with us, and observing/covering our community. Not to say that having a plan is BAD – but don’t let yourself be scared off by thinking yours is inadequate or maybe wrong. You WILL evolve. What you do will likely change – and that’s a GOOD thing.
Our coverage continues to evolve, even though we are far-ranging generalists doing our best to cover multiple categories of news for a “neighborhood” that is actually the size of a small city (70,000 or so people). But the one thing that will kill you before you start is if you talk your idea to death. JUST GET YOUR SITE GOING. Just sayin’ – TR
Well, I think it’s a different situation for different people/sites/blogs. I did an old post about 5 types of hyperlocal bloggers –
http://www.hyperlocalblogger.com/5-types-of-hyperlocal-bloggers/
If you’re doing or starting a primary news site, you want a general audience and yeah — just doing it is great advice (although I’m a big believer in putting together a plan).
But if you’re doing a local blog/site about your town’s nightlife, or the political scene … or if, like me, your local blogs are primarily business tools, you definitely want to figure out who you want your audience to be and proceed accordingly.
This is an interesting discussion. I like the idea behind the post – but I am not sure if it should be define your audience or define the scope of your blog. When we started IheartPGH – we didn’t think much of it – I think it has become so popular is because we have been consistent with content that is positive. While there are plenty of things to offer commentary on or rant about – we have purposely steered clear of that because it doesn’t fit with the scope of the blog. The audience is much more diverse than I would have ever imagined. Many readers follow from outside of Pittsburgh because they are interested in the city as they used to live here -that is an audience I would not have imagined.
Hi TR. I’m not a fan of over-thinking or over-planning, either. I agree that getting started, and being flexible to experiment and change, is crucial, but not all planning is over-thinking. Our site has certainly evolved over the almost two years since we launched, and in ways we couldn’t have predicted in the beginning. I think having these ideas in mind as you get started would help guide you.
Lindsay, I think that’s another interesting way to look at branding (it’s more than a logo!) for a new blog. I have friends who run a Knoxville, Tenn., website called Knoxify which focuses on the positive aspects of their city. That focus was a conscious decision and it has helped them build a loyal following as well.
[...] just read an interesting article at HyperlocalBlogger.com on the subject of defining your audience. How you define your audience will ultimately determine how they will define you and the value of [...]