Growing Brand Fandom with Video
Fandom.
The word is defined as a subculture composed of fans who feel a sense of empathy or camaraderie with others who share a common interest. You may think of this word in terms of popular entertainment or sports teams with huge, passionate followings. Fandoms pack stadiums, sell out tickets, pack theater seats, and draw in viewers week after week.
But did you know that fandoms also help businesses grow? Indeed, building a fandom is just as important for brands looking to attract and retain a solid base of loyal customers as it is for a sports team hoping to fill the stands.
When you have a marketing strategy aimed at growing fandom, there’s no limit to the success you can reach. While there is no one way to build a fandom— after all, every group of fans is different— there are a number of mediums that every brand can use to engage and connect with their audience. One of these tools is video.
We’re here to show you why building a fandom is an effective marketing strategy and how video can help you accomplish your goals.
Why Build a Brand Fandom
Growing your fandom means gaining customers that are emotionally invested in your business, which can generate buzz around your brand and revenue for months to come. Fandom is great for two aspects of marketing: attracting new customers and retaining the ones you have.
Attracting New Customers
Humans are wired to connect with one another. “We may not like the fact that we are wired such that our well-being depends on our connections with others, but the facts are the facts,” said author and scientist Matthew Liberman in an interview for Scientific American.
Building fandom not only gives your audience a chance to connect with your brand and its employees, but also enables them to find camaraderie in other fans. It’s more than advertising; it’s about creating meaningful relationships and satisfying people’s innate desire to be a part of something larger than themselves.
Retaining Your Current Customers
Your fandom doesn’t have to be large for it to be effective. This is because retaining your most loyal customers costs far less than acquiring new ones. In fact, it can cost up to five times more to attract a new customer than it is to hang on to your existing ones.
There are several reasons for this:
Existing customers already know who you are: There’s no need to waste time and effort explaining what you offer and what makes your business special. They are already familiar with what you do!
They trust you, to some degree: It takes time to win the trust of a new customer. If a customer has used your services or bought your product before, you have already laid the foundation for a trusting relationship.
Retention also brings acquisition: Technology hasn’t made word-of-mouth obsolete. It remains one of the most credible forms of advertising, and there’s no better group to recruit new customers than your existing ones.
Brands Who Have Built a Fandom
Think about brands that you know of that have a passionate following.
In his book Fanocracy: Turning Fans Into Customers and Customers Into Fans, online marketing strategist David Meerman Scott discusses several companies who have succeeded in creating memorable experiences for their customers.
The best thing is, any type of company can build a fandom— even ones you wouldn’t expect, such as insurance companies. Scott uses the example of Hagerty Insurance, an auto insurer who has built a fandom using their vintage car YouTube channel, a magazine, and a car auction app. These three things aren’t necessarily related to their product, but they have built a following behind the Hagerty name.
When crafting your fandom strategy, don’t be afraid to look at brands that you know to have a passionate following behind it. Look at their strategy for inspiration and ideas to integrate into your own tactics.
Why Video is Effective at Growing Fandom
Video is such an effective marketing tool for growing fandom for a few reasons. For one, they trigger our brains’ mirror neurons. The medium also has an incredible ability to simulate proximity and show others how your business fulfills purpose.
Triggering Mirror Neurons
Neurons are fundamental units of the brain that allow us to receive sensory input from the world around us. They transmit that information to other nerve cells, muscles, or gland cells and send commands throughout our body. Mirror neurons are a special type of unit. Not only do they perform when we receive sensory input, but they also fire when an action is observed. For example, watching two people hug triggers our mirror neurons to respond as if we are being hugged.
Video is one way to trigger these mirror neurons. By showing people on-screen socializing and having fun with one another, you can evoke those emotions within your audience. This strengthens the bond between your business and audience. Video brings people in virtual proximity with your brand and the rest of your fandom.
Simulating Proximity
Have you ever watched a TV show for a couple of seasons and you feel like you really know the characters personally? This is because we invite characters on screen into our personal lives. They’re in our living rooms weekly and become part of our routine.
Video takes a concept, product, or service that seems far away or unattainable and brings it into someone’s personal space. The closer you get to others, the more powerful their emotional response to the thing will be. The medium lays the foundation for trust and loyalty, two cornerstones of fandom.
Honing in on Purpose
Fandom is also about finding your customer’s purpose for making the purchase decisions that they do. Once you determine that, video gives you an opportunity to show how your business fulfills that purpose.
For example, if you are a social club, your audience is probably looking to socialize, network, and unwind after a long day. Video can showcase this in ways that listing amenities on a website can’t accomplish. Instead of saying what you are, you can show how you fulfill their reason for wanting a membership.
Conclusion
Fandom is a powerful concept that companies can use to bring customers in and keep them loyal. If your business is looking to build a solid fan base, utilizing video in your marketing strategy is a great step in the right direction.