Building an audience and building an engaged audience are two different things. Audience growth is about attracting people. Audience engagement is about giving them reasons to interact, return, participate and develop a relationship with your brand.

Organic marketing can be brilliant for getting discovered, but attracting attention is only the beginning.

Think of it like opening a pub. You've spent months advertising the grand opening. Four hundred people queue outside. Then they walk in and discover there's no music, no conversation, no atmosphere and absolutely nothing to drink.

Bit awkward. Getting people through the door is one thing. Giving them a reason to stay is another.

Sometimes businesses mistake a lack of visible engagement for a lack of interest. But not everyone comments or likes things publicly. Plenty of people prefer to observe, learn and decide quietly.

They might be reading your articles, exploring your products, returning to your website or recommending you privately. All useful behaviour.

The problem begins when there's no meaningful next step. Perhaps your content attracts the wrong people. Perhaps everything you publish is about your business instead of their problems. Perhaps your community doesn't offer much that people can't find elsewhere.

Or perhaps you've built an audience across five social platforms but have no way to develop those relationships beyond an occasional post.

Your audience hasn't necessarily abandoned you. You just haven't given them much to come back for.

1. Give people a reason to return. Useful content, relevant advice, interesting discussions, exclusive resources or opportunities to connect can encourage repeat visits. What would make somebody choose to spend another five minutes with your brand? If the answer is another photo of the office dog, you might need a second idea.

2. Make participation ridiculously easy. Ask useful questions, invite quick opinions and encourage people to share experiences. Don't demand an essay with every interaction. Listen and reply, too. A community shouldn't feel like a lecture in an empty theatre.

3. Recognise people's interests. Someone looking for beginner's advice probably wants a different experience from a loyal customer. Use feedback, preferences and appropriately collected information to make what you share more relevant.

4. Give relationships somewhere to grow. Social media is useful for discovery, but external platforms have their own algorithms and rules. Encourage interested people to join a newsletter, branded community or other experience where you can build a more direct relationship. Get discovered out there. Give people something worth joining in here.

Would you rather have 20,000 followers who occasionally admire your photographs, or 1,000 people who regularly visit, participate, recommend your business and buy? The answer depends on your goals, but bigger numbers don't automatically mean better business.

To measure audience engagement, look beyond follower counts and likes. Track meaningful actions such as repeat visits, newsletter sign-ups, community participation, useful conversations, enquiries and purchases.

Look at whether people return, explore related content and progress from casual interest towards a stronger relationship. Notice what they're telling you. If people repeatedly ask a question, answer it. If a topic attracts genuine interest, explore further.

Good organic audience growth isn't about collecting as many people as possible. It's about attracting the right people and making their experience worthwhile.

A useful community gives people somewhere to connect, exchange ideas, discover relevant information and become familiar with your brand.

Marketing automation can help organise communication, surface relevant content and suggest appropriate next steps as relationships develop. The aim isn't to automate human connection out of existence. It's to make relationships easier to manage as your audience grows.

That's part of the thinking behind Frank Rabbit: an all-in-one automated organic marketing platform connecting strategy, content, audience building, nurturing, conversion and monetisation.

Get discovered outside Frank Rabbit. Then cultivate your audience, build your own branded community, connect and create opportunities to sell on-platform.

Because attracting an audience is only the beginning. And building relationships is considerably more useful than collecting digital strangers.

You don't need the biggest audience on the internet. You need people who understand why your business matters, enjoy being part of what you're building and have a reason to keep coming back.

Give them useful things to discover, interesting people to meet, conversations worth joining and clear opportunities to take the next step.

And don't panic if everyone isn't commenting every five minutes. Some of your most valuable future customers might be quietly paying attention.

But if your entire community consists of your mum, an abandoned welcome post and a suspicious account offering cryptocurrency advice, it might be time to rethink the entertainment.

Even the tumbleweed's getting bored.