So Just What Are True, Regular and Casual Fans?

Imogen Heap has arguably one of the strongest and largest collection of true fans, built up through her dedication and hard work

Photo Credit: Pop!Tech

In the previous post in this series, I posted an infograph depicting The Long Tail Of Fans. It has been quite popular, so be sure to have a look at it before you start reading. It lays the foundations for this entire marketing plan.

Firstly, True, Regular and Casual are all just categories. They help organise fans into recognisable and targetable groups. However they are by no means explicit or definitive categories. They are in fact quite arbitrary, a fan could be casual one day and true the next. You may not find someone who calls themselves a Casual fan or a Regular fan, but you can market to each. Chances are if you find someone who calls themselves a True fan of your works they probably are.

The Long Tail Of Fans series splits your fans into three groups, casual, regular and true. Then into a further two groups, the Top 20% (true and regular), and the bottom 80% (casual). Associated with power law distribution curves (long tails or Pareto distributions) is the Pareto Principle or 80-20 rule. That 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. So your Top 20% is the most valuable to you both economically and socially (they influence others).

Casual Fans

They know who you are, they know what you sound like... but you haven't yet grabbed them with anything. Chances are you haven't yet managed to make a meaningful connection. Think of the artists you know of that may have a cool song you have heard but you haven't really looked into them or purchased anything. You're a casual fan of that artist, even if you bought their album. Unless you actually care about them or their music, your just another casual fan.

Casual fans are the most likely to pirate (unauthorised downloading) your music or videos. Get over it, it is never going to stop. There is a good reason for this though, most times they are 'trying-before-they-buy'. The old music industry profited amazing off the bait-and-switch. Hyping up an album which was 13 fillers and 1 thriller. No-one likes a bait and switch, and in the music industry they are everywhere.

A casual fan that pirates your music has the potential to connect with you through your music. If that happens there is a good chance they will rise up into the category of regular fan. The category where they are willing to give you some hard earned cash.

Regular Fans

The majority of your valuable fans will most likely fall somewhere in this category. They will have purchased either some music or merch from you, and feel good that they did. They have almost certainly followed or have friended you. Most of all, they love your music.

They are proud to associate themselves with you and your brand. Unlike casual fans who may have followed or friended you on impulse, regular fans actually care. They are the ones who want to know what you are doing.

The easiest way to gain a Regular Fan is by connecting with them through your music. It's an accepted fact that online you need to bring your A-game to the table. Your best songs should be the easiest to access and hear. If you can connect to a fan with your music you can completely bypass the Casual Fan stage.

True Fans

The top 5-10%, in terms of loyalty and intensity, of your fanbase are true fans. Tend to them well, they are willing to spend an entire weeks wages (or more) a year on your brand/works alone. They are demanding, but valuable. They want to, and will try to connect with you wherever they can. They want to be a part of your world.

The most important aspect of a true fan, is that like regular fans they are influencers. They will help your with marketing and PR. Let me say that again, they will market you. Don't be afraid to ask them for help spreading the word. They are itching to help.

True fans will buy anything you produce, because it was you who produced it. Take Amanda Palmers recent twitter success. She ended up autographing and, selling (for $320) the wine bottle she was drinking out of. Her fans knew it would help pay her rent, help her make more music, and was something left her mark on.

I'm going to expand on casual, regular and true fans more in the Long Tail Fan series, in the next few days and weeks. Were going to have a closer look at what each category of fan is, and how we can successfully market to them.

To help with that, we will also take a look at what other artists like, NIN, Imogen Heap and Amanda Palmer to name a few. To analyse what they are successfully doing to gain more regular and true fans.

Make sure you don't miss a post in this series, subscribe RSS or by Email. It's free so you have nothing to lose. If you haven't already had a look, sit back and ponder over the Long Tail of Fans infograph.

Read the next post in the series How You Can Make Your Fans Work For You, For Free. Or the previous post What You Should Know About The Long Tail Of Fans.