Boosting a Facebook ad or running a commercial on tv can will hopefully grow your owned audience but for the time being, you are renting this audience. If you pay for more people to be exposed to your content and brand, you are only renting these views. You want to own your audience. Your owned audience is your facebook followers, loyal shoppers, and dedicated fans. In order to own a solid audience, you will have to pay up to reach more people. You are paying to spark interest in an individual. Maybe your content resonated with this person, if they see that your content provides value to them…they will follow you. This is how you begin to own your audience.
When you run an advertisement on television or the radio, you are essentially renting that slot. You are renting that slot in hopes someone will visit your website. Often results are divided by organic and paid. Organic results are acquired by your presence and content. This includes search, social media pages, content and other ways to interact and find your company naturally. Paid, on the other hand, are advertisements. You had to pay for your company advertisement to be served to this individual. They did not come across your company by accident, in a sense.
In order to own your audience, you will have to use paid and organic strategies to build up your connections. This is valuable because once you own an audience, you can market to them for free. They are already ready to receive your message, you do not have to go out and pay to reach them. This could be in the form of followers, blog subscribers, email subscribers or social connections. It is better to invest in something you have the end goal of owning rather than throwing money at a rental that will not result in an owned asset.