Know The Importance of Audience Data

Audience data is not just a concept. It’s a concrete set of data points that can put the power in your hands…and keep it there. Since you have determined who your audience is and what they care about, you want to set a plan to be able to engage with them directly. While social media platforms are a great way to engage total strangers who could be anywhere in the world, the social media platforms own your relationship to your audience and determine who gets to see your posts. The power of audience data is harnessed when you have a direct, dis-intermediated relationship with your audience. Like, you have their email addresses or phone numbers. And the more crucial data points you have, the better your distribution outcomes can be.

A non-exhaustive list of important audience data

• Email address
• Location (city, state)
• Organizational affiliation(s)
• How they like to watch stuff (platform preference, theaters)
• How they found out about you

Other important data to keep:

• The names/contact of festival programmers you know/have worked with
• The names/contacts of press you know/have worked with (or have covered your work)
• The names/contacts of organization heads who can/have helped you with promotion/outreach

The above lists constitute your network power. This is the sort of spreadsheet distributors salivate over. And it makes whatever you’re working on right now instantly more valuable because you know how to reach an audience.

How do you get this data?

• You gather it from the very beginning:
  • Crowdfunding campaigns allow you to build a direct relationship with your audience and are a tremendous forcing function for organization your audience outreach early on in your project. (Wanna run a kickass crowdfunding campaign? Watch Seed&Spark’s Crowdfunding to Build Independence Workshop for free.)
  • Create a mailing list and attract your social media following through engaging mailing-list only offerings
  • Partner with organizations that serve your audience
• Use events:
  • Create a screening series and gather data from audiences (with their consent, of course!)
  • Are you screening something at a film festival? Provide exit surveys or QR codes that make it easy for audiences to sign up to stay in touch.
• Demand audience data from your partners as a part of deals (some will not budge, some do not have it, and this should be a consideration)

How do you use it?

• To effectively and efficiently grow your audience and market to them