Searching for 1,000 true fans

I'm not sure how many of you have already read this article but it's been on my mind non-stop. Being a host of a podcast that's underground (and has hundreds of listeners worldwide) I want to truly achieve this 1,000 fans status so I can just focus on having them build word of mouth.

How are some of you (who have shows & creative content) dealing with acquiring new fans?

Tags: fans, podcast

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Permalink Reply by Gaetan Giannini on April 21, 2008 at 9:33am: Outstanding article. As you probably know, you need to give them something to talk about. This usually means supplying content that is truly useful, and not a veiled ad. It also helps if you can give the fan a platform for their 15 minutes of fame. (With the evolving internet we may get more like 15 hours, but in very small bursts.) Oh-don't forget to make spreading the word easy.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by dhaval mehta on April 21, 2008 at 10:16am: That makes a lot of sense. All of it. Giving them ownership of the show is what needs to happen.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gaetan Giannini on April 21, 2008 at 10:20am: There is a person who has emerged (IMO) as a master of giving ownership to a podcast. In this case it is a video podcast. His name is Gary Vaynerchuk and is a wine critic and seller. You can subscribe via Itunes or go to his website www.winelibrarytv.com He does lots of stuff right-I thinkmuch of it is by accident, but he's good.

Gaetan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by funDiva on April 22, 2008 at 3:09am: What a great article, thanks.

It made me think so much I rambled out a huge reply, that I will share but it went all over and mostly just helped me think about how I can improve on what I'm already doing.

Let me know if you want to hear it!
:) Christy; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by dhaval mehta on April 22, 2008 at 6:51am: Yes, totally want to know what you thought of. The great things about writing rants is that it's like you're thinking out loud.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by funDiva on April 22, 2008 at 1:21pm: I jumped in to social networking 2 weeks ago with facebook & twitter, but have been branding myself for about 5 years on & offline. And keep in mind that I have yet to produce anything that I have sold! I plan to write ebooks and info mp3s, done some freebies so far, others in the works. But the connections I have made with hundreds of people will serve me well when I am ready to launch.

The article points out do you want to be the one connecting or do you just want to be the artist? For me, I love both, I have the time and the geekiness to do it online. It was recommended to me to start a fan page at facebook which as you can see here http://fb.funDiva.com I have done nothing with yet!

But facebook, myspace, email lists, RSS feeds are limited by the info overload that people get from the marketers trying to use them. So that tweaks the ratios, 1000 friends or fans on myspace or facebook is probably only 100 people (if that) who really care about keeping up with you. Is it reasonable to keep a higher touch level of contact with 100 people? I would be willing to spend 20-30 minutes a day to call or write 5-10 people which would allow me to keep in contact with 100 people every 2 months. And either personal, non-form email or actually mail a note in the old fashioned postal mail.

For example, I have been building my friend list at facebook and sent a friend request to a big name marketer I met a few years ago. He sent back a note of hey hows it going, and we messaged back a few. Not a big deal but the fact that I know he is very busy and he took the time out to see how I was as a person and not promote anything was really neat. And I have visited his blog more frequently and started reading his new book since then!

So it's kinda like I want to be a fan of my fans, we connected for a reason so that should be natural. And it is easier for me right now to operate without the ulterior motive of generating revenue because I have nothing to sell yet! As well as that I have a job job so if the transition takes me a few years thats ok by me too. Of course I wont be disappointed if I launch and have instant success and end up on Oprah in a month, but I gotta finish my book first!

Oh and one thing I couldn't find on your site was email newsletter, there are plenty of people who aren't into RSS yet, I just use the free version of feedblitz, but like Gaetan said above make it easy.

I warned ya : ramble :
;) Christy; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sheila Bocchine on April 22, 2008 at 10:22am: I read this last week. I passed it along to all my friends who are running their own business or have dreams of running their own business.

I thought it was a fascinating article and it made so much sense to me. My thought patterns were very similar and I work out numbers that way in my head all the time, but this article gave me some good reasons of why those numbers will work.

I look forward to finding my true fans.; ▶ Reply to This