Fan economy is the hottest thing right now. Anyone that can attract clicks are thinking about how to profit from the flow of visitors. The key to be able to develop economies from the scale of your fans relies on whether you have the correct concept of “fans”.
Once you mention “fans”, many always think of Otakus or fangirls, but you should detach from such a superficial viewpoint and look into the deeper essence of a fan. They don’t just want their beloved celebrity or brand, they want the right to direct what they love more actively than previous consumers.
Fandom culture is the most effective tool to realize from the social media. Fans are like nodes in the social media network. The more nodes the faster information is spread, and the connectivity between nodes are extremely high. In other words, compared to public media, fandom culture can more accurately access a highly correlated audience.
In regards to crowdfunding, which is going extremely well in Taiwan at the moment, Aaron Glazer, points out “The success of crowdfunding does not require three million fans, but you need potential superfans to see your idea and to form intimate exchanges with potential superfans.” We can discover that the crowdfunding business model does not actually come from nowhere, but it is an activation of existing community or group demands. It also offers fans a chance to express their support and not a chance to purchase its product. If you find that your idea philosophy’s cannot gain fan’s support, then the crowdfunding campaign will mostly end in failure. Zoe and Aaron further spoke about the best part of fan rewards is the experience and not the prize.
Fans appear to be concrete, but it is actually an abstract concept. Authors Zoe Fraade-Blanar and Aaron Glazer are co-founders of Squishable.com, Inc. One example after another they shared their company experience and viewpoints on how they used crowdfunding management as a mean and plush dolls as a product in friendly and local experiences and cases. If you want to develop a fan economy, and even manage yourself into a self-media with fans, then this is a must-read. Every chapter is a full treasure trove of knowledge.