Do You Know Who Your Fans Are?
If you haven't read Kevin Kelly's post on 1,000 True Fans yet, you should do so as soon as you finish this post.
The gist of it is, if you have 1,000 true fans, you can achieve virtually anything: win an election, start a massive movement, become profitable, sell enough albums to matter, sell enough paintings to matter, become a bestseller, etc...
So, the question becomes: do you have true fans?
My answer: yes I do. Although I certainly don't have 1,000. In fact, under my definition of what I think a true fan is, I have less than 100.
Under my definition, if I published an e-book and charged for it, I believe my true fans would pay. And then they would share the product with their network. My true fans actively engage with my content. My true fans tell others about me. My true fans send me notes telling me that I matter and that my message resonates with them. [This makes doing what I do worth it...]
So, therein lies my challenge. To grow this list. And as you correctly surmise, this task doesn't happen overnight. So, here is a simple checklist on how to begin:
1. Create list of your current TRUE FANS. Be discerning. This list only matters if you are honest with yourself. Even if you have less than ten, this matters. You can build from there. Getting the first true fan is the hardest part...
2. Figure out some short-term, and long-term steps, to keep them fans. To thank them. To show them appreciation.
2.5. For me? I am writing an e-book just for them. At no charge, just to thank them for their love and support.
3. Work to understand, to analyze why they became true fans in the first place. Understand this, and it becomes easier to develop more true fans.
4. Continue to believe in giving and serving all of your network with meaningful, helpful (free) content.
5. Another way to frame what we are talking about here is creating evangelists for your work. People that - without pay - do the selling for you because they are so inspired by your work, and want to tell others.
The simple goal here today is to ask you to do recognize who your true fans are, do something to demonstrate appreciation, understand why they are true fans, and then focus your energy on adding to your fan base...
But here is the most important understanding:
6. You must recognize that you can't force this. Looking at my list of true fans, I did nothing different for these folks than I've done for any other. For some reason, my work and my message just works for these people. And that's great. There are others who have read the very same content, and not been so moved.
The more you focus on just building your fan base, just to report a cool number of fans, the more difficult it will be. Instead, focus on generating the meaningful work that got you your first few fans, and keep going from there, innovating and improving as you go. And, caring for and appreciating your fans along the journey.
Before long, you will have an army of evangelists that love and support you, and help you spread the message. This is when business and art is fun!
