We all want new friends and fans online, but oftentimes the best prospect is a customer who has already demonstrated a willingness to pay for your content. Keeping current customers happy and paying is far easier and more effective than finding new customers.
Here are some tips for keeping those current fans happy within your online universe.
1. Build a Connection with your Fans
This is the most fundamental part of a successful retention strategy. Offer your fans a sense of connection. Be personal in your posts. Talk to your fans like they’re real human beings. Give them your attention as often as you’re reasonably able.
One mental strategy when writing to faceless masses is to imagine one fan and write as if you’re speaking to that one person. It’s likely your tone will feel more personal and relatable.
2. Build Trust
When you make a promise to your customers, do your best to keep it. Offer your content at reasonable prices. Be consistent. Give your customers what they’re paying for. There are a few niche spaces out there where the bait and switch is part of the fantasy and thrill, but the vast majority of online content creation is pretty direct: provide what you advertise.
Your relationship with your fans is technically transactional, but you’re selling the illusion (and maybe the reality) of a real human connection. The moment a fan questions your motives, that illusion is shattered.
3. Offer Live Shows
Loyalty can grow when your fans see you live on camera and can chat with you. Your shows don’t have to always be elaborate — you can offer “hang out, chill & chat” sessions intermixed with more event-type live shows… but you have to offer them! Make a real connection by showing a real peek at your online self.
4. Direct Engagement with Subscribers
Many of your fans want one-on-one engagement. So if you’re willing, you should offer that to them. There’s no better way to ensure someone will remain a paying customer than to offer them the feeling of real friendship and connection.
And by offering one-on-one video chat, you can earn that loyalty while also earning more money. It’s a double win.
5. Requests from Fans
Some creators may choose to take direct requests from fans. If you’re uncomfortable setting that precedent, there are less intrusive ways of going about it. Field requests and choose the ones that make the most sense. At the least, use your fans’ responses to gauge their interest in different types of content. You can use the polls feature on LoyalFans to test the waters and get feedback or suggestions… and you can set goals to fund whatever it is that fans are asking for!
6. Create Custom Content
While this certainly isn’t required, developing custom content can be a great tool to build connections with fans and increase your revenue.
7. Tease Upcoming Content
This one is powerful. Imagine you have a subscriber who is ready to move on. But when they go to cancel, they notice a compelling video that you plan to post next week. They decide to stick around at least that long. And by then, perhaps they’ll change their mind about canceling at all.
8. Make Subscribers Feel Special on Anniversaries and Holidays
Send them a thank you on certain anniversaries of their subscriptions. Send birthday wishes on their birthday. For your most valuable customers, a personalized message is better. A gift, like a custom image or video, is even better.
9. Give Out Random Freebies to Individual Fans
Some large companies have done this to great effect. The idea is to occasionally give something away to someone—an individual, either randomly chosen or based on some criteria. The seeming spontaneity of this makes the person feel special and builds feelings of loyalty. This could be a bit of work, and obviously, it has a small reach in the short-term, but over time, you may be surprised at the effects.
Image via Unsplash here.
—
About LoyalFans.com: LoyalFans.com is a premium social media fan club that enables influencers, creators, artists, public figures, and all types of compelling people to interact with and share various forms of original content with their most loyal fans. Creators’ loyal fans can become supporters in exchange for exclusive benefits offered via the platform, facilitating an opportunity to turn individual ingenuity and influence into a thriving business.
LoyalFans invites all people and personalities to create, share, and connect via the platform, thereby manifesting opportunities to earn revenue and grow. LoyalFans welcomes and supports all forms of positive, consensual, creative expression.