{"id":479,"date":"2012-12-03T18:29:46","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T18:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/how-to-develop-a-hardcore-fan-base\/"},"modified":"2012-12-03T18:29:46","modified_gmt":"2012-12-03T18:29:46","slug":"how-to-develop-a-hardcore-fan-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/how-to-develop-a-hardcore-fan-base\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Develop a Hardcore Fan Base"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether or not you think it is the key that unlocks your music career, it is always good to build an army of enthusiastic supporters who will\u00a0fervently\u00a0support your music. The best way for any company or new artist to grow their fan base is through referrals. The combined energy from a hardcore fan base can create some serious momentum (just look at the career of Justin Bieber or even the popularity of the book\u00a0<em>50 Shades of Grey<\/em>, both were\u00a0launched\u00a0by obsessed fans).<\/p>\n<p>So how do you create that loyal, energetic army? Here are some tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Always Over-Deliver<\/strong>: Always take the time to get to know your fans: online, via social media or email, and especially at the show.<em>\u00a0Turn your fans into friends<\/em>. When people order merch from you or book you for a show, over-deliver by doing more than promised.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Get Creative:\u00a0<\/strong>Find new, fun ways to surprise your fans. For example, when my band is on tour, we\u2019ll buy postcards throughout our tour and randomly pick people on our mailing list to send them to. Everyone sends a personal message about the tour, draws a little doodle, etc. We\u2019ll often find photos of the postcards tagging us on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter and know that we just made someone\u2019s day.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Get to Know the Mavens:\u00a0<\/strong>Malcolm Gladwell writes about how things go viral in his book,\u00a0<em><a title=\"The Tipping Point\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference\/dp\/0316346624\/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1344877785&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=malcolm+gladwell\" target=\"_blank\">The Tipping Point<\/a><\/em>. One of the key concepts is getting the social \u201cmavens\u201d (or leaders\/influencers) on board with what you\u2019re doing. These are the trendsetters, the people who are hip to what\u2019s cool. Think about your target audience and who influences them. Music blogs? Skateboarding icons? Guitar gurus? YouTube cover artists? If you get these folks on board, they\u2019ll help you spread your music in no time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consistency, Consistency, Consistency:\u00a0<\/strong>When you start something, you have to consistently follow up on it or it\u2019ll fall through. When people sign up on your email list at a show, get them into your database ASAP, then write them and thank them for coming to the show. If you have a mailing list, send out a newsletter on a regular basis. If you are on social media, update on a regular basis. Don\u2019t spam them with an overwhelming amount of updates, just be consistent so that they know to expect you and can depend on your updates for show announcements, new music, or other fun things.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Think Telephone, Not Megaphone:\u00a0<\/strong>Who do you pay more attention to, the guy standing on a street corner yelling into a megaphone and holding up signs or your friend on the telephone? Think of your e-newsletter and social media as a phone, a prompt for a two-way conversation and not simply as an information\/propaganda service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Via <a href=\"http:\/\/laststopbooking.wordpress.com\/2012\/08\/13\/how-to-develop-a-hardcore-fan-base\/\" target=\"_blank\">Last Stop Booking<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether or not you think it is the key that unlocks your music career, it is always good to build an army of enthusiastic supporters who will\u00a0fervently\u00a0support your music. The best way for any company or new artist to grow their fan base is through referrals. The combined energy from a hardcore fan base can create some serious momentum (just look at the career of Justin Bieber or even the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14,153],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-tips","tag-music-business","tag-tips","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}