Cheat Sheet
- If you have a list, a certain percentage will be your True Fans. It is crucial you learn how to identify them. They genuinely want to help you succeed. Help them help you!
- One way to identify them is through a private, application required, Facebook group. If someone is willing to take the time to fill out an application then they are probably willing to help you out.
- Size doesn’t matter… it’s engagement. Talk directly with your fans. Give them insider access and perks (Hint… it is fun! They like you and want to help.)
- Leverage technologies like UpViral and ThunderClap to increase social sharing and increase sales. Reward the top sharers.
About This Episode
Two weeks ago, Austin Netzley talked about the famous “1000 True Fans” article from Kevin Kelly.
The essence of 1000 True Fans is that if you cultivate a relatively small tribe of people who love your work and are willing to pay for it, you can sustain a career in almost any field.
You can even fund a Crowdfunding Campaign.
But the key is learning how to identify them and how to engage with them.
Kevin Kelly wrote 1000 True Fans in 2008 before Kickstarter and Indiegogo were founded.
And in that essay, he even mentions that building and maintaining a direct relationship with your fans can be a bit daunting.
But that was 8 years ago and technology has changed.
We have Facebook Groups…
UpViral…
Thunderclap…
Typeform…
…and a host of tools that happen to make speaking directly to your 1000 True fans really easy.
In this episode, Nathan Chan and I talk about the “Facebook Insider Group”.
Nathan is the founder of Foundr Magazine and recently finished up a Kickstarter Campaign for a coffee table book for entrepreneurs.
While that campaign was going on, he gave me a behind the scenes look at how it works and it is super cool!
It is the most concrete and concise example of implementing 1000 True Fan Theory that I have ever seen.
And it works.
After seeing Nathan use it successfully with his Foundr Campaign, I implemented it for the JamStack campaign and it has been a huge success.
- 474 Members
- Great feedback and social engagement
- And we raised 50% of our goal in 4 hours directly from that group!
I will be using Insider Groups on all of my campaigns moving forward and you should too.
Special Bonus:
In this episode, Nathan and I go over some key MISTAKES we both made in our most recent campaigns that cost us a lot of money.
Here’s the thing.
Experienced entrepreneurs make mistakes all the time.
If this is your first campaign then you will too.
Accept this NOW, and go have some fun screwing up and learning from it!
But save yourself some headache (and make a bunch of extra money) by learning from our mistakes.
Resources Mentioned
