Author David Meerman Scott made a honest and realistic quote, “if you want 20,000 fans you must do 2000 different things that each generate 10 fans.” This was my favorite quote from 2010 and I am going to take this on as a challenge for 2011 for an ambitious project to give you 2000 different things you can do to generate 20,000 fans.
Some of these items will apply better for larger acts, some items will work for any act. Some may work for you, some may not… not yet. Some these can be done with little effort, some will take some web development, some might even require some significant development. Some of these have successfully worked for me over the years. The point is to create a list of items that would cover a wide range of acts and abilities.
The end result of all this will hopefully be more Facebook likes, Twitter followers, email list subscriptions, more sales and more traffic to your website… more fans!
2000 Things to Generate 20,000 Fans Challenge
21. The Girls of KISS, Find a New Segment of Your Fans
The Girls of KISS, what the hell is this and what does it have to do with my band? This a real fun content idea that I created and just exploded. This is a example of how you can identify a segment of fans and create something to excite them and put them in the spotlight.
In the late 90s when I was running my fan website about KISS, KISS Otaku, I was looking for new content ideas. It seemed to me that it was the male fanbase that was getting most attention on the website. But having attended many KISS fan expos I knew their were plenty of female fans, and good looking female fans. Taking a concept from Playboy where they always did these special issues such as The Girls of the South, I thought why not The Girls of KISS. So I had the name and concept, but what to do with it. I decided to have some fun with it. Girls could submit their answers to a few fun questions, along with some photos. The questions were fun and were geared at getting to know the girl, such as what KISS song best describes you. If you were in a hot tub with one member who would it be? Makeup on or makeup off? And the pictures could be whatever they wanted, from your photo at a concert to nudes.
From the moment this went live it was a hit and a bit controversial. Some fans had issues with nude photos, but regardless I had a backlog of girls who wanted to be the Girls of KISS for the month. This got so popular some of the Girls were attending KISS fan expos and signing autographs and taking photos with the fans. The girls loved that the site was letting them shine. I had no standards for being included, you just had to be a girl and a fan.
The Girls of KISS then spawned the Kids of KISS. Someone even suggested I do the Pets of KISS, lol. The point is don’t just focus on the most obvious fans, the most vocal fans. You have fans that are just as passionate and would love some attention. Look for them… the girls, the kids, from other countries. Have some fun and let them be heard.
Wow! It must’ve really paid to be a marketer with THAT campaign.
Do you have a list of the “Girls of KISS”? I was 1997.