In this interview, Imogen Gifford speaks to Wes Hackett, Microsoft 365 MVP and Addin365 CTO, about Audience Manager: a new Site Builder innovation that helps internal communications teams target content more confidently, more securely and more effectively in Microsoft 365. 

Audience targeting has long promised more relevant employee experiences, but for many organisations it has been difficult to manage in practice. Audience Manager makes the process simpler by giving communications teams a clear, business-friendly way to define, understand and use audiences — without weakening IT governance. 

Imogen: Why do organisations typically want to audience target? 

Wes: Audience targeting is about getting the right information into the hands of the right people. For internal communications teams, that means making content feel more relevant by showing messages to the people they are intended for — whether that is everyone in a location, people in a particular role, or employees interested in a specific topic. 

At its simplest, an audience is a defined group of people within the business. It is not just a technical construct; it is a way of helping communicators reflect how the organisation actually works. 

Imogen: Before Audience Manager, what challenges were communications teams facing with audience targeting in Microsoft 365? 

Wes: Natively, audiences in Microsoft 365 are usually based on Entra ID groups. Those groups are often created by IT, Microsoft Teams, Viva Engage, Planner or other systems. The IT generated groups frequently have IT-focused names that make sense from a security perspective but are hard for communicators to understand. 

The problem is that there has not been a single, friendly place for internal communications teams to see which groups are the official communications audiences, what they are for, or how many people they reach. Setting audiences on pages, links and navigation is also hidden away in different editing panels, so a powerful feature ends up being underused. 

Imogen: In simple terms, what is Audience Manager and how does it solve these challenges? 

Wes: Audience Manager gives communications teams and intranet owners a single view of the audiences they want to use for targeting content, navigation and quick links. They can give those audiences friendly business names and clear descriptions, so editors know when to use them and why. 

It also shows useful information such as audience size, which Microsoft 365 does not surface clearly out of the box. That means a team can see, for example, whether an audience reaches 250 store managers or 12,500 employees, and make better decisions about how content is targeted. 

Imogen: How does Audience Manager give communications teams more control without weakening IT governance? 

Wes: It is designed to work securely with Entra ID. Communications teams can manage approved audiences without being given broad access to every group in the organisation. IT remains in control of the governance model, while communications teams get the practical control they need to manage audience targeting day to day. 

Imogen: What kind of audiences could organisations create or manage through Audience Manager? 

Wes: Common examples include all employees, contractors, people in a particular office or region, line managers, store managers, or employees in a specific country. These audiences can be used to target news, navigation, employee centre links, facilities updates, HR reminders and role-specific information. 

One of the most exciting use cases is opt-in audiences. Employees can subscribe to topics that matter to them, such as pensions, product updates, specific services or industry areas. Communications teams can then target content to those subscribers and use analytics to understand how interest grows over time. 

Imogen: How do HR systems such as Workday fit into this? 

Wes: HR systems can provide the profile data that makes audience targeting more powerful. Basic identity data flows into Entra, while richer employee profile information can support Microsoft 365 profile experiences, people search and Copilot. When that profile data is accurate and well connected, organisations can create more meaningful audiences based on role, location, skills, certifications or interests. 

Imogen: What business outcomes are organisations likely to see when using Audience Manager? 

Wes: The clearest outcome is being able to get the right message to the right people at the right time. Communications teams can be more confident that important updates are reaching the intended audience, and analytics can show whether that audience engaged with the content. 

It also supports true personalisation. Employees increasingly expect their digital workplace to show them the tools, news, links and updates that are relevant to their role and interests. Audience Manager makes that personalisation easier to manage, easier to govern and easier to measure. 

Why it matters 

Audience Manager helps organisations move from broad, one-size-fits-all internal communications to targeted, measurable employee experiences. For communications teams, it reduces complexity. For IT teams, it preserves governance. For employees, it helps make the intranet feel more relevant, useful and personal. 

Want to improve audience targeting in Microsoft 365? Addin365’s Site Builder, including Audience Manager, helps organisations create more relevant employee experiences while keeping Microsoft 365 governance in place.