3 proven steps to double the size of your fan base
Getting fans for your music is hard. Growing a fan base takes lots of time and energy. You need to create music, post music, promote music, engage with fans and repeat all of this as many times as you can. ‘There isn’t enough time in the day!’ you may think.
But why is it that some artists seem to be growing their fan base at lightning speed?
How are they doubling and multiplying the size of their fan base over and over again? All of this with solid music – but still without having a huge hit?
How is it even possible to double or triple the size of your fan base in a short period of time? Are there steps you can take to do it, too?
Yes, there are 😉
Very important: We are talking about real fans only here. Please never ever get fake followers if you are serious about your music career!
Here is how:
Don’t think of yourself as the only one growing your fan base. Instead, think of yourself as being supported by an army of free promoters: your existing fans.
It’s all about finding simple ways to get each of your current fans to share your music with at least one or two people who take the same action and become your fan or follower. If each of your fans generates just one more fan for you, then you just doubled your fan base. It’s what digital marketers call “viral growth”.
Let’s break this down step by step:
Step 1: Make your music more viral
Each time a listener of your music shares any of your tracks with more people, you have viral distribution going on. This is one of the best forms of promotion that can happen for you. Music shared via word of mouth is extremely relevant to most music fans and it’s free to the artist.
The more viral you make your music, the more people will discover it, and the more fans you can grow. But how do you make your music more viral?
Most importantly: you need great music. The better your songs, the more viral your music will be. But this would be a pretty lame blog post if the message was “write more hits” 😉 It’s not. The reality is that there are always some of your songs that will get more fan support – and some others will get less. Just keep focused on creating your best possible music all the time.
But on top of that, make it easy for fans to share your music. Or even better: ask them to share it and automate it for them. This is what download gates can do (such as Hypeddit.com – shameless plug! :).
Share free downloads of your music with a repost-to-download function on your gate and you have a surefire way of making your music more viral. The automatic reposts you’re getting from your current fans will put your music in front of their followers. This translates into more plays, more downloads, and more new, real fans.
This is the beginning of faster growth for your fan base.
Step 2: Engage your current fans to promote your new music
This is an often-overlooked opportunity to accelerate growth of your fan base: vigorously promote your new releases to your existing fans.
I am not talking about just posting your track across social media in hopes your current followers will see it. I am talking about getting it delivered directly to them for maximum engagement. How do you do that? Set up a simple email newsletter and make it a habit to send all of your current fans each of your new releases – ideally as a download gate link.
Your fans probably follow many artists on SoundCloud, Youtube, Facebook, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Lots of new music pops up in their feeds and streams every day and chances are they won’t be able to check out all of it. Deliver it to your fans’ email inbox as well and you will reach a higher percentage of them.
If you combine this habit with the use of a download gate from step one, you’re getting a double boost. More of your current fans listening to your music means more of them will repost it and get it in front of even more of their followers.
In order to make this happen you need a list with your fan email addresses. A great way to build this may be included in your download gate. Hypeddit has an ‘email address capture’ feature that lets you get a verified email address from each fan who downloads your music. But its really more about the technique itself. Whichever tool you use, make sure it can capture verified email addresses so you’re not collecting fake addresses that won’t help you.
To send your newsletter, just check out Mailchimp or other newsletter platforms. Most have generous free plans that support newsletters to thousands of subscribers.
Step 3: Post more music to speed up this cycle
Step one and two create a virtuous cycle: Engage your current fans for each of your new releases to maximize their support. Make your music more viral with automatic fan reposts for each download to reach more listeners. Capture email addresses for all new fans and followers your growing. Now engage an even bigger fan base on your next release.
This setup gives you very good control over the speed of our fan base growth. Restart the cycle with each new release. That means the more music you release, the faster you should see your fan base grow.
But this is important: Do not sacrifice quantity over quality in your music. If you are trying to release so much music that your quality suffers, then your fans will notice and disengage. Try to release as often as possible – but only as often as you can release quality tracks that match or surpass your fans’ expectations.
Summary: Can you double or triple the size of your fan base in a short period of time – and without having a runaway hit?
Absolutely. It still takes time and effort, but by focusing your energy on the steps above you will get there much faster.
Give it a try and share your experiences in the comments below. We would love to hear from you!