Wayne showing love to one of his biggest fans!
The one thing that I have always hated was to see celebrities always promoting themselves on social networks without ever communicating with their fans on a personal level. That's like saying I want you to care about me, but I could care less about you. You would not like being in a one sided relationship like that, so why would you treat your fans like that? Do you know how many celebs loose fans for not interacting with their fans? I've seen fans literally pour out their hearts on social media and get absolutely no response. I'm not saying celebs should or can respond to all of their fans because that would be virtually impossible, but they should make an effort to talk to them. They should also not just talk to them when they want to re-tweet or share something a fan says about them. Stop just using fans to promote yourself and stop promoting yourself so much is what I am trying to say darn it! Now, lets move on. While we are at it, lets talk about what real fans are. If you have 3 comments by the same 3 people on everything that you put out, you don't have fans, you just have 3 really dedicated admirers. Your potential fans want to see the real you. Stop acting as if you are bigger than what you really are. Getting real fans takes work and it won't be easy. Loosing a fan takes not effort and it happens all the time. You have to give them a reason to keep coming back to you. They must be addicted to your music and content. You want them to wake up and search for you everyday as if they cannot go a day without you. This is a fan! They will comment on all of your videos and constantly re-tweet you, etc. When you get a fan, try to keep them!
Let me give you an example. I was once a fan of this marketing expert guy on Youtube. I watched all of his videos and applied his techniques in order to drive traffic to my website and master the point of sale. I finally contacted him after I launched this website in order to invite him to place an AD on this site. I simply messaged him publicly (since Youtube no longer lets you send private messages lol) stating that I wanted him to contact with me because I wanted to share some knowledge with him, Well, he is a MLM guy and he thought I was trying to recruit him to join my MLM team. There is just one BIG problem, I do not have a MLM team because I do not do MLM. He responded to my Youtube comment quite harsh and told me basically to piss off. Guess what? He lost a fan, for life. He also lost the opportunity to be on the front page of what now is a popular website. He is arrogant and self centered . This type of attitude will not help you keep fans. His attitude will not take away from what he is teaches, but it will prevent me from leaving comments on his posts and engaging with him. I am not the type of person to blast people online (anymore lol) so I simply told him God Bless you and thank you for your time. I have a professional image to maintain, that is why I did not give him the business aka tell him off. But it just hurts when someone you look up to disses you, but anyway, let me stay on point. So, I'm telling you this so that you never get big headed and forget that fans make you who you are. You never want people to associate arrogance with your brand. Having a horrible attitude can get you blacklisted in this industry. Nobody likes an arrogant broke boy (or girl) with no real experience, just a bunch of fake followers and so called fans.
Make good quality music and respect them enough not to spam them with garbage music that will never go mainstream do to lack of quality. I am telling you to learn how to correctly connect with them. Instead of tweeting your new mixtape 20 times a day, tweet about it 10 times a day and dedicate the other 10 tweets to your fans. I don't mean tweeting them directly about your mixtape, but making an effort to get to know them. Ask them how their day has been or whatever you can think of to connect with them on a personal level. People want to know you before they buy from you. I am aware of a lot of people but there are only a few people that I actually know. You want your potential fans to think of you as family. Family are people that you can trust or at least people you think you can trust lol. If you just blast out tweets all day to your say 4,000 followers without getting to know them, when you drop a new album, don't expect them to buy it. You may sale 10 to 20 copies if you beg them to buy it, but what if you actually took the time to check on them daily and actually care about them? Re-tweet them when they are not promoting you, comment on their statuses, like their pics, just always be on their mind! The trick is to make it about them and it will be about you at the same time. If you do this, you could sale way more copies! Why? Because people buy from people they like, not strangers! Remember... IF THEY KNOW YOU THEY WILL BUY FROM YOU MORE THAN LIKELY, BUT THEY HAVE TO KNOW THE REAL YOU! NOT JUST THE MUSIC SIDE OF YOU.
Think of your brand as a restaurant for a second. You will be more likely to break even and make a profit faster if you own a well known franchise eatery than if you start a small mom and pop restaurant. Why? Because people would already trust the brand behind the food BECAUSE THEY KNOW IT! Don't see your potential fans as dollar signs! Provide them with good music, and give them some value! In order to be "famous" you have to stop being so selfish and egotistical. Learn to put emphasis on your followers not just you! In conclusion, you need to find a balance between promoting yourself online and getting personal online. Marketing yourself is good, but over marketing yourself will only make you look disconnected from your fans.-tiff
P.S, Try to follow some of your followers back on twitter. Nobody likes a cocky wannabe celeb that doesn't want to follow back, it's only right. :)
