A forever fan is someone who gets what you do and loves you for it. It’s never too early to bring these people into your creative and business journeys.

Doing this makes them feel like they’re truly involved in your process, and generates a strong loyalty.

Creating an army of forever fans pretty much makes the sky the limit. Over 90,000 Forever Fans made the Veronica Mars Movie a reality, while Rooster Teeth have raised over $2 million dollars for a feature film through theirs.

With a potential pool as large as the internet, it’s entirely possible to find that comparatively small portion who adore you.

They are the ones that will become forever fans, and they are the ones that will help you bring your big goals to life. Here are six strategies to engage and build a base of forever fans.

1. Create awesome products

This is by far the most important step.

Whether you make actual products like Magnus MacDonald, or great content like Rooster Teeth, you don’t need to appeal to a broad audience.

In fact, I’d highly recommend you don’t. Your audience will love you because they appreciate that thing you do best. Stay true to yourself and your audience will find you.

2. Invite them to be a fan

Every time you create a piece of content, ask the viewer to do one thing. When you’re starting out, it should be to subscribe, like, sign up, follow… whatever is appropriate for the particular platform. Obviously, for crowdfunding, it’s “pledge”.

Just stick to one action after every major piece of content. More than one action can cause overwhelm and lead the audience to just close the window. In the beginning, the aim is to hold on to as many of your fans as possible.

3. Build a fandom

Behind every good movement is a fandom. Sometimes they have names: Ze Frank had “Sports Racers”, while Veronica Mars had “Marshmellows”.

Sometimes they don’t: The Oatmeal has no particular name for his fandom, but 33,000 of them helped him build a Tesla Museum and bring the Exploding Kittens card game to life.

Whether you name them or not, those people who send you replies and comment on your videos or posts are your fans.

Keep in mind that maybe 2-5% of the people who watch your content will actually engage in it. Collectively with all the other (more silent) fans, they become a fandom.

Cultivate it by talking to them as a collective, and make it a two-way process.

4. Invite them behind the curtain

Remind your audience that you’re human, and invite them along on the journey with you. Share your failures, and allow open Q&A.

Twitter and Instagram are excellent mediums for providing small glimpses of your life, or updates on your journey.

You can use this strategy to come up with the best content or product for your audience by actually asking them what they want to see, or use in their lives. These strategies begin building a connection with your fans beyond just enjoying your content or products.

5. Let them follow the journey

Whether you are an individual or a company, you need to know that what you are doing right now inspires people. That thing that you just have to do is the same thing someone else wishes they could do.

Take your fans on the journey and show them what it takes to do what you do. Inspire them to follow your lead with small snippets of your life, and the events you experience.

6. Be secure in your insecurities

There is a fine line between confidence, and over-confidence. A successful crowdfunding campaign requires confidence, but it also requires a little vulnerability.

The simple act of running a crowdfunding campaign opens up your insecurities – it’s part of the emotional rollercoaster.

Be honest, and humble. Take comments and suggestions, and use them to improve your content or product.Do it right from the start and encourage it in your fandom.

It’ll help people understand that you want to make content and/or products just for them, and encourage them to stick with you.

Conclusion

Forever fans make a crowdfunding campaign significantly easier. They’re more likely to jump on board the moment you launch. In fact, with many fandoms, the projects fund on the first day!

The key is to find that small group of people who think you, or your products, are pretty awesome. Then build loyalty through sharing your journey with them. Then, once they’ve backed you, they’ll also promote you to their own networks, building your momentum as fast as possible to ensure crowdfunding success.

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