Every creator wants fan loyalty from their community, but how do you achieve this? Find out how your own powerful website and mobile apps can help you…
Fan loyalty is something every creator strives towards and takes pride in. Knowing that your fans will come back time and time again to enjoy your content is sometimes all that is needed to motivate a content creator to keep creating.
So how do you build fan loyalty and, most importantly, how do you maintain it? We need to look at how your fans became your fans in the first place to understand this.
We use the word 'Superfan' a lot at SupaPass, it's at the core of our client’s priorities, and that's how we've seen them grow their business the fastest and strongest.
You may already know who your superfans are! You probably interact with them on social media, see their passion for your content in the comment section, or they may even message you privately to show their support. Fans who take these actions show their dedication and commitment to you as a creator and your content by going above and beyond being a regular consumer of your content and instead being a superfan who extends the life of your content with new engagement.
As a creator, the overall quality of the fan experience should be your number one priority. Your superfans should be your focu! By rewarding your best fans with a community and exclusive content, you minimize the risk of them choosing to give their attention to other creators who they may feel appreciate them more.
The journey of a fan becoming a superfan is similar to that of the buyer's journey and the sales funnel.
Fans are first introduced to your content at the top of the funnel - perhaps they stumbled across your profile on social media, YouTube's algorithm recommended them a video of yours, or a friend or colleague of theirs recommended you to them personally. This is when fans become aware of you. They may not click on the video just yet, or may save it to their 'watch later' playlist, but at least they're aware of you and have an idea of what you do.
Once aware of you, fans enter the middle of the funnel. They've started watching or listening to your content and are judging whether it is worth committing to consuming this content. Usually, this process is very quick. Sometimes all it takes is a few seconds to decide whether they want to continue watching a YouTube video or keep listening to a recommended podcast episode. We judge based on the tone of voice, the quality of the audio or video, and the subject matter.
If your content passes the evaluation stage, they've entered the bottom of the funnel - the decision stage. Here, your fan will make that all-important choice on whether to subscribe to your channel, binge your entire catalog of videos and podcast episodes, and even recommend you to their friends and colleagues.
If they make the decision to be part of your community, then that's great! Now what?
Do you hope for a sponsorship that could potentially drive away fans who don't want to listen to an advertisement in your show? Try and rely on monetizing your YouTube videos despite it getting increasingly difficult to do so?
When your fans fall out the bottom of your funnel, you need a place for them to land and feel like they're being rewarded for being one of your superfans.
Have you spent time trying to study who your superfans are? Who engages with you the most on social media, who is first to watch your new video, who are your most significant patrons and donors?
Most importantly, what are you doing to reward these superfans and maintain their loyalty to you as a creator?
At SupaPass, we've witnessed creators losing their loyal followers and superfans because they treat them the same as all of their other casual fans and don't offer them anything in return for their dedication to their content.
Ideally, you need to provide your fans with an ultimate destination built just for them! A club of sorts: an exclusive community for your superfans to savor every piece of your content without distractions from social media or other creators on platforms such as YouTube or TikTok.
By investing in building your own platform for your content, you ensure that you have a tailored fan experience built around your fans' feedback and the relationship between them and you as a creator. Your own platform lets you control what your superfans see and have access to by deciding what content is available to specific users.
We've seen great success with our clients offering their most dedicated and loyal superfans exclusive content - content that goes beyond what is offered on your other platforms.
Exclusive content can be rewarded to your superfans for simply registering their contact data into your website or app, or as a reward for subscribing to your content through a subscription paywall, or by donating to you to help you continue your content creation.
Creating a website for all of your content in one place gives your superfans an ultimate destination - one singular place for your fans to enjoy your video, audio, and written content together.
What solutions are there to achieve this?
Building a custom website can take time, energy, and a substantial amount of money. With custom development fees, upkeep, server hosting costs, and unexpected hiccups along the way, costs may quickly rise out of budget for any content creator to any content creator.
Using website builders such as Wix or Squarespace can seem cost-effective and time-saving at face value. However, these builders are not content-focused and can require custom development to achieve the goal of creating a website for all of your content and community - features that you need as a creator.
All the above is why SupaPass has been creating a cutting-edge website builder over the past 10 years. We are inspired to develop technology that allows creators such as yourself to build a powerful website for all of your content in one place and more, including...
Mobile apps are one of the most popular forms of online entertainment and usage across the internet. Nearly 90% of internet usage on mobile is through using apps, and this trend is only rising, with young people using phones earlier every year.
Social media, TV & Film, video games, work, news... everything is on your phone these days. It's one of our most popular ways to consume content across the world, and with over 80% of the entire world now owning a smartphone, it's a huge market with great potential for anyone to make and promote their own app.
Being discoverable is a crucial focus for all content creators, and if you are missing out on being found, other creators may succeed in your place. Apps provide a whole new way to find audiences, including the possibility of being found on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, the potential of being featured on these stores, and the increased accessibility of having a dedicated app to your content and community.
Better still, mobile apps allow you to always be in your followers' pockets. As strange as that sounds, people are never too far from their mobile devices; you may even be holding yours now.
Fans and followers of your content are often overwhelmed with the choices they need to make to show support to you as the creator.
Call-to-actions are often so fragmented that creators don't even realize that they're sending their loyal fans away to other platforms and bombarding them with information on how to support them. Join my Patreon, subscribe to my YouTube channel, like my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter, like, share, retweet... the list goes on, and it can be overwhelming for them to maintain the fan engagement you endeavor for.
Instead, imagine having only one call-to-action: Download my app.
Wrapping up a video and you want your viewers to watch and engage with more of your content? Download my app.
Doing a social media campaign to invite your supporters to attend your webinar or video course? Download my app.
With one straight forward call-to-action, you simplify the process for your fans, making it easier for your fans to become members of your exclusive community and improve your overall brand loyalty.
Download my app provides a clear goal for you and for your fans to achieve, rather than having them lost in the confusing and noisy world of social media.
Of course, it isn't as simple as creating a community and hoping for the best without putting in consistent work. Once you've started your community, you need to maintain it to ensure your superfans stay on your content and keep coming back..
By consistently providing new and exclusive content to the members of your community, you demonstrate to your superfans how important they are to you.
A top tip for maintaining your fans' loyalty and commitment to your community is creating a consistent schedule for posting and creating your content. By maintaining the consistency in which you create and post your content, you let your followers and fans anticipate your next great piece of content and build a routine around your latest podcast episode, video, or blog.
Being regular and consistent with your content isn't the only thing you can do to maintain your fan loyalty. Here are some other top tips to help you build your community around fan loyalty:
These are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling with your community, but remember - each community is different. What works for one community may not work for yours and vice versa, so be sure to ask your superfans what they would like to see from you as a creator so you can understand the way fans engage with you, your content, and your community.
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