I had an article published on MIPBlog earlier today, where I talked a bit about the fact that the audience increasingly is becoming one of your channels for reaching a greater audience. A channel to be nurtured, to be harnessed and to be allowed to grow, sometimes even without 100% 24/7 control. Matt Campion of Spirit Digital chimed in on Twitter with a very good point afterwards:

 “annoying that these channels are built only to be dropped once a project ends. Long relationships not short flings!”

This, as I wrote on over at MIPBlog as well, is all about planning for success and harnessing what has the potential to become a very important channel of communication, straight to the audience, from the producers.

This, again, is where utilizing transmedia storytelling methods sounds like the most logical thing to apply to the design and development of the content at hand. If brought into the mix, they will allow the creator(s) to find new ways of telling stories in between seasons, to keep the audience engaged, to find new entry points into the narrative… With transmedia storytelling methods as basis, it is possible to engage a loyal audience that will follow you through the content maze straight to the next release in the series. This is a resource that is far too seldom drawn upon; the masses you’ve enticed with your content are ripe for extending the narrative when they’ve just experienced that content.

Basically; plan for success.