WHAT IS A FAN PROFILE AND WHY DO I NEED ONE?
What the heck is a fan profile? And why do I need one?
If you haven’t heard the term “Fan Profile”, certainly you’ve heard “know your audience”. It means the same thing. It’s the same thing that any startup business includes in their business plan. If you are going to start a fashion boutique, you would want to figure out who is most likely to walk into your store and make a purchase. You would direct all of your marketing to that “typical” customer. Likewise, you are going to figure out who your current and potential fans are and then figure out how to turn them into superfans. Superfans are the ones who llloooooovvveee you and your music, buy all your merch, travel 500 miles to see you in concert and stream all your music regularly. They would even buy a vinyl record if you released it.
The best part about superfans is that no matter what your genre or style, you will find people who are absolutely passionate about your music.
But first of all, why do you need to do a Fan Profile? I mean, can’t you just put your music out there and hope your superfans find you? Remember this blog where I compare that approach to going to the airport and hoping to find a plane that will maybe take you to Japan? Yeah...not a good strategy. You need to find them and find ways to connect with them. This is why we need to know all about them. We need to know how to connect!
Get out your notebook and answer these 7 questions by selecting a group of your current fans, start with 5 of them. If you don’t have any fans at all except your mom, then make your best guesses as to what your “future dream fan” will be like. Yes, this means researching your fans just a bit. Anything you can’t figure out, make your best guess. Do your best but most importantly, don’t get hung up on any one particular question if you can’t figure it out. Make a guess and move on. We are just getting as close as we can to establishing a profile.
Describe who these people are:
Gender
Single/couple, with/without kids
General age group within 10 years
What is their occupation? Student? Freelancer? Entrepreneur? Stay at home parent?
Average income
Living situation - apartment with roommates? Homeowner? Couch surfer?
What do they like to do? What are their hobbies and activities? What do they do with their free time?
Restaurants
Movies
Entertainment
Outdoors
Yoga
Golf
Coffee and coffee shops
Concerts
Books and magazines
Sports teams
If you were hanging out with them, what would they be talking about?
Music
Kids activities
Politics
Shopping
Fishing
Where do they vacation?
camping
glamping
cruises
beach
cabin
Where are they hanging out online?
Who do they follow
What bands do they like
What bands/artists/personalities do they engage with online
What twitter feeds do they follow
What hashtags do they follow
What podcasts do they listen to
What do they connect with in the music they love?
Lyrics
Live events
Live streaming events
YouTube videos
The music
Unique/different
The persona of the band/artist
Why does this fan love your music? What do they love the most about it? Where did they find you?
Now that you have answered these questions, browse through your answers and circle common themes and words.
Describe your super-fan using the commonalities you’ve found as if you were describing your best friend;
My super-fan is female, 23 years old and works at a clothing retailer store. She lives in an apartment with 2 roommates but she doesn’t seem to hang out with them much. She loves to bike and swim and basically anything outdoors. She loves Starbucks but hates zucchini pretty much more than anything. Her favorite artists are the ones found on indie pop playlists. She loves the artists that are “real” with their fans and engage with fans as if they are best friends. Her favorite types of posts are the ones where the artist sings live clips of original songs that haven’t been released yet. She doesn’t ever watch music videos but has Spotify premium so she can listen to her favorite songs over and over. She normally doesn’t buy albums but she loves band T-shirts. She’ll buy hoodies and shirts for days. She loves my music because the lyrics really speak to her.
I would suggest buying “Social Media Tune Up” from Ariel Hyatt as she is the marketing for music guru and will help walk you through the next steps after you’ve created this profile. It’s only $7.99 and will help you shape up your entire online presence to be where it needs to be. And no, I don’t benefit from this at all. She doesn’t even know who I am and that I’m sharing her book ;-)
Keep rocking this indie artist gig, guys! It’s so worth it. Nothing worth it ever came easy, just remember that! And as always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or comments.
