Growing Your Fanbase Naturally
Posted on October 17th, 2009 in Music Promotion & Marketing, Online Marketing & Promotion.
Tags: building a fanbase, contact lists, contacting fans, growing a fanbase, newsletters
As a musician you really need to be collecting information from those people that enjoy what you do. As a performer, you should be collecting contact details from people that turn up to gigs or that have enquired about booking you (providing they are happy for you to contact them with updates). Furthermore, there is plenty for you to be doing with that information as well.
As a brief introduction for those who are new to collecting such information there’s a lot you can be doing to promote yourself with these fans and followers. For a start you could be sending out a regular newsletter informing everybody of upcoming gigs, releases or related news. That way you are interacting with your fans and contacts and keeping in regular contact with them, making you more likely to be remembered.
Why else would you collect a database of fans? Well, how about to promote an upcoming album by giving your contacts a free download of one of the tracks from the album? Maybe offer discounted tickets to your next gig or tour. Your fans would value that and will look forward to upcoming announcements and newsletters and will read them to see what’s being offered each time. Done the right way, you can have them eating out of the palm of your hand.
So, assuming you have a fanbase already, what can you do to build it? Well, you need to add value to it. In reality, only hardcore fans are going to sign up to your newsletter to see where you are playing next. I do exactly the same thing. I like hearing my favourite artists but that doesn’t mean I follow their every move – even the ones that inspire me. Maybe I’m hard to please but getting willing fans isn’t about just adding a signup forms to your website. If you add value to your offerings you will get more followers, fans, signups and an overall larger contactbase.
Again, falling back to the free downloads example. Once news spreads that you offer items of interest to anyone that follows your movements (in any sense) people will start signing up to your blog, newsletter, Twitter feeds and befriend you on MySpace just to get the freebies. And once they’re in they’re in. You can promote, cross-promote and give them a reason to stay interested in what you do.
Don’t overdo it with contacting them – they probably won’t last too long otherwise. But regular and brief contact should keep them interested enough to stay signed up and you can continue to push yourself to them for as long as you can keep them interested.
So the key really, is to offer value and keep things interesting. There’s no harm in making references to other bands or related news if it’s interesting. It’s providing value to your readers and is keeping them signed up. An uninteresting post may just trigger them to unsubscribe so bear that in mind and keep offering something of value, whatever it is you choose. One newsletter that doesn’t promote yourself isn’t going to hurt and will help add depth to your campaign.
What approaches have you tried with people signed up to your fanbase, blog or newsletter? Share all below.
Leave a Comment