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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!
View the single list of all 2000 items at this location.
2000 Things to Generate 20,000 Fans Challenge
47. In Studio VIP Package
While in Nashville talking with a client we talked about how he had brought a number of radio program directors into the studio to watch a song being recorded. The radio program directors loved seeing the process to make a song they will be playing in the near future. In a passing comment I said, it won’t be long before a band brings fans into the studio to watch a album being recorded, but… like a VIP meet and greet charge the fans. Inside the studio may be the last remaining “velvet curtain” that fans have not been able to go through. What if you were able to create a experience that fans would love and value, and at the same time helped you to finance the recording of the album?
Sure there are things you need to plan and accommodate for; how many fans can you accommodate, how much space is available, how to ensure fans don’t interfere with the recording? Nothing that you couldn’t address.
You could even look at this as something similar to or part of a Kickstarter program. Pledge a certain amount and you can be in the studio watching the recording.
Watching a album being recorded, ask some questions, take some photos, what fan wouldn’t love a experience like that.
Awesome idea…what number would suffice for this idea (in regards to fans in the studio)?
i did something similar to this. As part of the kickstarter campaign to raise money for my debut EP…I included a group vocal in one of the songs and invited people to earn places in the group vocal by how much they pledged. If they pledged £25+ they earned two spaces (I.e., them and a friend), and if they pledged £50+ they earned three spaces (I.e., them and two friends). I ended up with around 20 people coming along to the studio for an hour to help record some “whoa-oh’s” and everyone seemed to have a blast. These were mainly friends as I’m not established enough to have proper “fans”, however this did work very well, and a lot of people really enjoyed getting that sneak peek behind the “velvet curtain” of the recording process, even if it was only for an hour.