We’re back with another installment of the Building Super Fans blog series.
We’ve talked about how your all fans fall into one of these categories: Passively Interested, Engaged, and Committed.
We discussed the fact that your ONLY job is to love on them and help them move from Passively Interested to Engaged, and from Engaged to Committed.
So how do we move our fans up the pyramid? Let’s start with some basics on moving people from Passively Interested to Engaged.
1. Hone your branding.
Know your demographic so you know how translate your image in ways that’ll be magnetic. This will result in posts that feel like they’re speaking directly to your target audience and their sensibilities.
You can make people feel like you’re speaking directly to them by creating posts that are: age appropriate, politically aligned, and culturally relevant (skateboarding in the city vs. playing banjo on a farm, singles trying to party vs. introspective adults thinking about deeper topics).
Having honed branding will make passively interested people see aspects of who they’d like to become in you. They’ll start to like the person they’re becoming when they interact with your project. This is a very good thing!
2. Communicate your “why.”
Your “why” is the reason you make music in the first place. Perhaps you create music because life is just too damn short not to have fun, or because you’ve been through emotional hell and music can help you (and others) heal. Or maybe you create music because it makes you feel powerful and you want other people to feel their own power, too.
Whatever the reason, be sure to communicate it in various ways across your platforms. You could write it in your Instagram bio, mention it explicitly in posts from time to time, or post content that shows you living out the “why” in real time.
Your branding is the attractive sidewalk sign. The “why” is the good food that gets people wanting to come back.
3. Understand that you are having a two way conversation.
This tactic will serve you in moving fans up from Passively Interested to Engaged as well as Engaged to Committed. The best way to make a fan more engaged is to help them not feel anonymous.
If you notice engagement from someone who doesn’t usually like your posts, go to their profile and like/comment on your favorite post. Try to start a conversation. If someone comments on your post, reply quickly and in a manner that may illicit a response. “Thanks for the kind words! I love this guitar, too. Do you play?” Something like that. Even better, share one of their cool posts in your story feed. The spotlight will make them feel appreciated and valued.
With these three ideas in place, you’re well on your way to lassoing some of these rogue satellite fans and placing them securely in the Engaged orbit.
In the next installment of the Building Super Fans series, we’ll talk about ways to move your Engaged fans up a wrung to Committed. This is the level where 80% of your emotional and financial support will emanate from. This is where you want people to be.
If you have any questions about this process, or would like customized one-on-one coaching to help you achieve your music career goals quicker, hit me up at james@forestparkdiy.com today.
Be well, keeping rocking.
// James
