{"id":15621,"date":"2012-05-11T12:53:48","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T20:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/?p=15621"},"modified":"2024-01-31T13:51:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T13:51:56","slug":"transform-fans-super-fans-build-loyal-fanbase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/transform-fans-super-fans-build-loyal-fanbase\/","title":{"rendered":"Transform Fans to Super Fans- How to Build a Loyal Fanbase"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your superfans are not just assets; they are your SUPER ASSETS and you simply cannot lose one or two because of the lack of artist-fan relationship. Here are some ways to build a rock-solid relationship with your fans:<\/p>\n

Give Your Fans a Name<\/strong><\/p>\n

You want to create a semi-cult, right? In order to make it somewhat official, you have to give your fans a name. This would make them feel like they\u2019re part of an exclusive organization. One good example is the Lady Gaga. Gaga doesn’t like the word “fan” so she calls them her “Little Monsters,” named after her album \u201c The Fame Monster.\u201d Naming your fans is one of the best ways for branding your band<\/a>\u00a0and developing a good following.<\/p>\n

Tag Fans in Your Panoramic Concert Photos<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let your photographers take photos of your fans during your concerts and post them on your Facebook page. Let fans tag themselves. Challenge them to get all the faces identified and tagged. This is not a new idea but I believe it still works as long as you put a bit of twist to it.\u00a0Here’s\u00a0one awesome example\u00a0made by the Glastonbury organizers.<\/p>\n

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The experience is a bit like\u00a0Where\u2019s Waldo<\/em>\u00a0for the digital age, where oddly dressed cartoon characters are replaced by real people who attended the concert. If you enable Facebook Connect, you can tag yourself and your friends.<\/p>\n

Give Approaching Fans Your Undivided Attention<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a fan approaches you, always give them your undivided attention. You do not have to talk to them for an hour, just a minute or even 30 seconds will do. And if there are just too many of them (lucky you, why are you still reading this article?), you don\u2019t have to interact with each one of them- treat them as a group. The point is this: don\u2019t be a snob. Don’t just go whooshing by as if you’re having the worst day of your life, even if you’re having the worst day of your life. Make sure you read our personality development 101<\/a> so you’ll charm (or at least not turn off) any big industry man or big fan you meet.<\/p>\n

Always Have a Couple of Merch Handy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bring small, easy-to-carry merch -like the Beastreaks’ lollies<\/a>, customized guitar picks, rubber bracelets or even just stickers wherever you go so you will have something to give fans that will approach you. You\u2019re aiming to have super fans, so you have to feed them with these stuff. They\u2019ll love you for it. You don’t have to worry about budget because we can make really awesome yet affordable merch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Share Dark Secrets on Your Blog<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do not simply blog about your upcoming concerts; share something more intimate than that. Talk about your experiences, your dirty secrets, your inspiration, your opinions, your problems. Once regular fans read your blog, they\u2019ll sympathize, laugh, and totally become more interested in your band. What most bands don’t realize is that music-lovers want something more than music, they want stories. Learn more blogging tips for musicians <\/a>so you can make the most out of your blog.<\/p>\n

Send Special E-mails<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not all fans are created equal- some are more loyal than the others. You do not want to send them all the same e-mail because the loyal ones SHOULD (and I mean MUST) feel special. They simply want to know they are more appreciated than the guy who only knows your latest hit song. If you want to develop intimacy with your fans<\/a>, make sure you put them in different categories (the more categories, the better) and send them different e-mails, different web conferences, different concert invites, etc. New fans should receive different e-mails from old fans. Old fans should receive different e-mails from Hardcore fans. Make sure you won’t commit any of these frequently\u00a0committed\u00a0e-mail marketing don’ts<\/a> or else your efforts would be useless.<\/p>\n

Develop Shared Symbols<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"musicians<\/a><\/p>\n

The concept is pretty much the same as naming your fans. Shared symbols allow fans to identify each other and connect. It\u2019s the feeling of being part of a \u201csecret society.\u201d Lady Gaga\u2019s official Little Monster greeting is the outstretched \u201cmonster claw\u201d hand. As all Little Monsters know, the clawed hand is part of the choreography in the video of her song \u201cBad Romance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Use Loyalty-based Apps to Connect to Your Fans<\/strong><\/p>\n

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One example is Flowd. It lets you chat directly to your fans, promote gigs, and throw contests. You can sync Flowd to Facebook and Twitter for easy management of your social networks. If you are an artist, you can sign yourself into Flowd with an artist profile on: flowd.com\/artist_registration.<\/p>\n

Play in Smaller Venues<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Develop intimacy by playing in more intimate venues like art galleries, book stores, smaller bars or in the living room of one of your loyal fans (hey, great idea for a contest). Try to invite the more loyal fans and make sure you connect with them by sharing stories, giving some merch, giving free pizza, etc.<\/p>\n

Stay on Your Merch Table<\/strong><\/p>\n

After your performance, head to your merch table. This will not only help you sell more merch<\/a>, you\u2019ll also be able to connect with your fans and future fans. While you\u2019re there signing autographs, let them write down their e-mail addresses for so you can send them e-mails and newsletters.<\/p>\n

Conduct Live Webcast<\/strong><\/p>\n

Livechat\u00a0allows you to webcast a video to your fans. It is pretty much like talking to someone on Skype. Your fans will ask questions through a text-based chat room interface and you will answer them one by one.<\/p>\n

Showcase Them In Your Music Video<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most loyal fans deserve recognition and rewards. You can express your gratitude by inviting them to dance for your latest music video. Take it from Graham Coxon\u2019s new video for\u00a0What\u2019ll It Take. He<\/em> invited his fans to dance on camera. 85 of them from 22 countries sent him footage. The result is one very unique music video.<\/p>\n

\"crowdfund<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Post Their Gifts on Your Website and Social Networks<\/strong><\/p>\n

So let’s say you’re already that loved (popular) and you’ve received tons of letters and gifts from all over the world. Take time to give each one a thank you e-mail. You do not have to rush this if you’re too swamped. As long as you do it within six months, you’re still a lovable musician. If you are active online (which you should be), I suggest you take a photo of your fans’ gifts. You can tag them and thank them one by one or shout out a big thanks to all of them.<\/p>\n

I’m sure you have more clever ideas than the ones listed here. Do share!<\/p>\n

Photo: Wired<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Unified Manufacturing<\/strong>\u00a0is an L.A. -based one-stop-shop that offers very affordable CD\/DVD\/USB replication, custom printing, promotional products, warehousing and fulfillment and many more. If you need an Instant Quote on a project and you want FREE SHIPPING, simply\u00a0CLICK HERE<\/a>. \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your superfans are not just assets; they are your SUPER ASSETS and you simply cannot lose one or two because of the lack of artist-fan relationship. Here are some ways to build a rock-solid relationship with your fans: Give Your Fans a Name You want to create a semi-cult, right? In order to make it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unified-manufacturing-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15621"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39135,"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15621\/revisions\/39135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unifiedmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}