© 2009 Vinny Ribas
If you are a true singer or musician, you love what you do because you get to express yourself through your music. When you really believe in your music, as opposed to performing songs just for the money, you attract loyal, dedicated, in-it-for-the-long-haul fans. Fans like that are hard to come by, but can make your journey so much sweeter. To keep them happy you need to ‘show them some love!” Here are a few ways to do that! [private_member]
- Learn their names. Obviously you can’t know every fan personally. But you can get to know your biggest fans through your website, social networks, Twitter etc.
- Mention fans by name in songs. They will shout it to the world!
- Write songs for or about them. If you don’t write songs yourself, find songs that you can dedicate to them.
- Host a private, intimate fan-appreciation concert. Make it free and invite your biggest fans – the ones who spend considerable money on your products, attend your shows, spread the word etc.
- Start a fan club. It doesn’t matter how new the act is. You can still provide free downloads, special videos etc. Give them 1st option to buy your new CDs, merchandise etc. before anyone else. Give membership away to the 1st 100 or 200 members so that they start spreading the word about the club. After that, you can charge a little bit for these exclusives.
- Offer free downloads often. They don’t need to be full productions of songs. You can post ‘unplugged’ acoustic versions of some of your popular songs that you recorded on the fly on your computer.
- Meet them after your shows. Spend time talking. Don’t just rush off while someone else sells your CDs and merchandise. Note who comes to more than one show! Let them take pictures.
- Ask them to send you copies of the pictures they take during and after your shows so you can post them on your website. Be certain that you have written permission from them to use the pictures. They will drive all of their friends to the website to see them – especially if they are in one or more of them!
- Chat live with your fans online. Post the time that you’ll be online on your website and on your social network pages, and tweet it to your followers. There are many online chat programs that you can use, or use your favorite IM service (Skype, Yahoo etc.).
- Host a free ½ hr. conference call for ‘the 1st 25 people who respond to this email (or tweet).” Use a service like FreeConferenceCall.com, which won’t cost you anything at all.
When your fans know that you appreciate them and care about them, they will think of you more like a friend than a celebrity. And when you reciprocate that friendship, their loyalty and support will be stronger than anything all of the marketing dollars you could spend could ever buy! [/private_member]
