As a creator aiming to do what you enjoy for a living, it’s important to build a fanbase, but what is that exactly?
According to Kevin Kelly, it’s fairly simple — get yourself 1,000 true fans. Kelly originally addressed this with a 2008 blog post outlining with 1,000 true fans that spend $100 on your work each year, you can make $100,000 annually and sustain a career. Of course, expenses have to be taken into account, and you have to be patient and consistent with your time and work to build that base.
WordPlay T. Jay is a big proponent of this method, and he has four ways you can help to get to that 1,000-fan threshold.
First, release new content consistently. As Kelly said, you can never guess which of your works will be the hit or will go viral. For that reason, don’t focus on creating hits. Instead, focus on consistently releasing quality products and spend time creating the best content you can, then let it take off on its own.
Second, Give fans more value than what they expect. Fans who sign up for an email newsletter will expect to get regular emails, and if you put out a new song once every few months, fans will begin to expect that.
What fans won’t expect, and where you can create a relationship with them, is by doing things like responding directly on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) or sending them free merchandise out of the blue. Keeping fans engaged like this is key to maintaining and growing a fanbase.
Third, don’t be afraid to market your work traditionally. Do the little things fans appreciate. Expose your content to as many new people as possible and in as many places as possible through advertising, self-promotion and interaction with fans.
Finally, the fourth tip is to collect information from your fans. This can be done through emails, following on social media or creating social media groups. You need a place where you can learn what your fans want, and where you will be able to communicate with them about what you are delivering.
Let them know through email you have new merch out or are going on tour soon. There’s also things like SuperPhone, which allow you to mass text your fans.
As you grow your fanbase ands get close to the 1,000 true fans, you want to cultivate and support that fanbase as much as possible. Show them they are the most important thing in the world to you!
For more about the 1,000 true fans method, check out the video below.