In Superfans, Pat Flynn explains how to build an intensely devoted fan base for your brand. A podcaster, blogger, and entrepreneur, Flynn speaks from direct experience in building a devoted following. His YouTube channel has more than 300,000 subscribers and his podcast, Smart Passive Income, was named one of Forbes’s top podcasts for entrepreneurs. He argues that his superfans are the lifeblood of his business. Throughout this book, he shares the strategies he used to build "Team Flynn," the fan base to which he attributes his success.
Flynn argues that the success of your business depends more on the quality of your customers' emotional investment than the quantity of customers. Throughout his book, he explains the significant effect that fans' emotional investment has on a business and shares his methods for building a passionate fan base. Our guide takes you through his ideas in two parts.
Along the way, our guide will build upon Flynn’s strategies with targeted business advice and psychological insights from outside experts.
Superfans Drive Online Engagement
Most business experts largely confirm Flynn's assertion that highly engaged fans are an important driver of your company's success. In particular, they highlight the importance of social media in building recognition, authority, and long-term relationships with customers.
Research also corroborates Flynn’s assertion that the quality of customers’ devotion may have a greater impact than the quantity of customers—especially when it comes to engaging customers through social media. One study found that superfans are primary drivers of engagement on social media platforms, and therefore have the power to significantly boost your online presence. This study found that one superfan drives a level of social media engagement equivalent to 75 regular followers. In addition, it found that a brand’s top ten most engaged superfans received approximately twice as many likes and comments as less active superfans.
Flynn argues that superfans are the lifeblood of your company. In this section, we’ll discuss what superfans are and how they benefit your business. We’ll also cover how someone becomes a superfan, and the levels of fandom they pass through on the way.
Flynn explains that a superfan is someone so passionately devoted to a brand that they have made it part of their identity and daily life. Superfans travel miles for live events, buy closets full of merchandise, follow every new online update, and participate in a community of like-minded enthusiasts.
When most people think of superfans, they imagine a fan of a TV show, a celebrity, or a band. Flynn points out that companies—such as Apple, LEGO, and Harley-Davidson—have superfans, too. In fact, he argues that superfans are your company's greatest asset. Flynn asserts that the fierce loyalty of just 100 fans can be your brand's biggest asset. He gives four main benefits: ensuring company longevity, acting as brand ambassadors, standing up for your brand, and contributing valuable feedback.
(Shortform note: In understanding why people become so attached to brands, it's important to recognize that consumers don't simply buy products they want to use—they buy products that express their identities. Many of the brands with loyal superfans have succeeded in associating their product with an image or lifestyle. Fans of Harley-Davidson associate the brand with individual freedom and an outlaw biker aesthetic. Apple fans associate their brand with creativity and innovation. Researchers have even found that consumer preferences in America are now splitting along political divides, with Republicans and Democrats even wearing different brands of jeans.)
A superfan will not just buy your products once, they will do so year after year, even when products flop or recessions drive fair-weather customers away. By maintaining a core of devoted followers, you will protect your revenue against the typical ups and downs of the business cycle. Therefore, an investment in superfans is an investment in your company's longevity.
Superfans won’t just buy your products or services; they will gush about your brand to friends and family. This authentic and enthusiastic advocacy has the power to bring in new customers—ones who might not have heard of your brand otherwise or wouldn't have trusted your business on advertising alone.
Superfans often protect their favorite brands. You can count on them to defend your company's public image from outside critics and detractors who insult your product or question your business decisions. In the social media and chat channels where your online fan base gathers, superfans will also push back against people posting harmful or provocative content. This will maintain your brand's positive image and keep the online spaces where your fandom gathers welcoming to prospective fans.
The people who care most about your brand are often the first to bring you authentic feedback. They participate more readily in feedback surveys and engage with your social media, and they are more likely to bring problems to your attention since they care about the brand. As we’ll explore in greater detail later, they may also someday join the company and become your best employees, since they are already devoted to your company's mission.
Are There Any Drawbacks to Long-term Customers?
Flynn focuses on the benefits of cultivating long-term, deeply invested customers. However, business experts point out there are pros and cons to this approach. While it's unlikely that superfans will harm your company, you still need to be strategic about how much effort you put into cultivating a brand community, and knowing the cons can help you make that decision.
Here are four cons of developing long-term customers.
1. Flynn notes that long-term customers can improve your company's longevity. However, make sure they're not making it harder for your company to change with the times. Your most loyal customers may expect your products and services to remain the same over the years, even if it's no longer best for your business.
2. While long-term customers will spread the word about your company, this can also backfire if your superfans turn on the company. The sense of betrayal could lead them to attack your company's reputation and spread the word about company missteps as well.
3. Even though superfans may be protective of your brand, it takes much longer to cultivate devoted long-term fans. Therefore any strategies designed to build this fan base may have delayed benefits, making it difficult to assess their effectiveness.
4. Flynn argues that long-term returning customers deliver valuable feedback. However, it's important not to over-rely on their feedback. If you just listen to your long-term customers, you may start treating new customers as less important, and have a harder time growing your customer base as you fall out of touch with new customers’ needs.
Flynn argues that no one becomes a superfan overnight. He explains that as fans repeatedly have positive experiences with your brand, they tend to move through different levels of connection to your brand. In this section, we'll explain the different levels of fandom: discovering customers, interested customers, connected customers, and superfans. Then, we'll touch on the kinds of repeat experiences that encourage fans to move up through the levels.
These are your company's largest group of customers. They are just discovering your brand. They often have just heard of your company or discovered it through a search engine. These people are interested in learning more about your products or services, and may even make a purchase, but they don’t yet have personal investment or trust in your brand.
(Shortform note: To become a discovering customer, people must have already discovered your brand. Therefore, understanding how people discover brands is an essential first step to cultivating superfans. Market researchers have found that people most commonly discover new brands through search engines when they are actively looking for a product. The next most common means are TV ads, family and friends, and online ads, respectively.)
Interested customers know your brand, but are not devoted to it. They have usually purchased something from you before and liked it enough to take another look. When you offer new products and services, they will take the time to consider whether they want to buy your newest offering. Since they're not devoted to your brand, they're just as likely not to buy from you again as they are to buy from you.
(Shortform note: In retaining customers at this stage, it may help to know more about how people make decisions when purchasing in the first place. A recent study asked customers to rate the importance of a range of factors when making purchases. It found that when evaluating information about a product, customers relied most heavily on online user reviews, followed by recommendations from friends or family. Respondents most frequently cited cost as a determining factor, followed by brand familiarity and product durability.)
These customers regularly buy your products or services. They trust your brand and prefer it to competitors. They communicate with other fans of your brand on social media and other online forums, and may even attend a live event that you put on. These are the people who build your fan base into the type of vibrant, thriving community that naturally draws in even more fans.
(Shortform note: As Flynn points out, getting customers to this stage requires them to trust your brand, so it helps to understand why customers trust some brands over others. Business experts counsel that there are two important factors in earning customer trust: transparency and consistency. To be transparent, be clear about what you're selling and don’t try to mislead your customer about your product or price. Consistency is about being able to deliver the same quality product or service every time. These factors will let customers know that they can count on your company. In addition to these core factors, good customer service is also a plus, and consumers tend to trust small businesses much more than large ones.)
Superfans are the final tier: a small core of passionately devoted customers. The size of your superfan base will vary from company to company, but expect this to be less than 5% of your total customers. They buy anything you produce and eagerly look for new products, updates, and general company communication. Your superfans will attend live events, advocate for the brand, and take on leadership roles within the fan community, such as helping to organize live events, networking to introduce fans to each other, or leading conversations on social media.
How Should We Understand Passion?
As Flynn argues, the defining characteristic of a superfan is passion. A psychological understanding of this concept will help us better understand what superfans are and why people become them.
Broadly speaking, psychologists define passion as an exceptional devotion to an activity or goal. They identify two qualities that aren't necessarily always found together: intensity and duration. Intensity refers to the emotional high when one engages in the activity, and duration to the length of commitment—someone's willingness to keep doing the same activity year after year. A superfan may or may not experience an emotional intensity, but to fit Flynn's definition, they must keep coming back to your brand year after year.
Psychologists also point out that identifying with the activity strongly correlates with passion. For example, people who play a sport self-identify as athletes, those who play music identify as musicians, and so on. Therefore—as we'll discuss throughout this guide—many of Flynn's strategies involve building identities based on the fandom.
Flynn argues that people ascend the stages from discovering customers to devoted superfans through repeated positive and meaningful experiences with the brand. Thus, they don't become superfans by simply buying your products and liking them. Nor are there people who were simply born to be fans of your brand. Rather, your customers may start out skeptical or disengaged, but through the accumulation of these positive and meaningful experiences, they will become more and more engaged.
(Shortform note: Customers become superfans through accumulated positive experiences because through these experiences, they are building a relationship with the brand. This reflects a historically recent understanding of branding. Branding began as simply a means of differentiating one company's products from another, descended from the practice of marking livestock by burning letters onto their hides with actual hot brands. Since then, brand innovators have also conceived of brands as ideas and experiences and, today, see them as relationships. Business experts advise you to consider your relationship with your customers as something much closer and more personal than buyer and seller—more like guest/host or athlete/coach.)
The rest of the guide will focus on Flynn's five strategies for creating those positive experiences that will start your customers on their journey toward being superfans.
Now that we have a clearer understanding of what superfans are and how they benefit your brand, we'll turn our attention to Flynn’s strategies for cultivating a dedicated base of superfans. Flynn recommends five core strategies: creating value, providing a personal connection, fostering community, creating memorable experiences, and involving your fans in the company.
Flynn argues that the first thing you must do to create positive experiences for your customers is to offer them genuine value through your product or service. No matter how good your marketing or social media presence is, no one will be drawn to your company unless they first like what you are selling. Flynn offers four methods for creating value for your fans: solving real problems, aligning your business with fans' long-term goals, and providing fast results.
The Three Tiers of Value
As you consider the value your company provides, business experts recommend you think of value in three distinct tiers. This will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how your company creates value and what you are trying to achieve.
First, consider the value you are providing to the world: What is your company's greater role—how will the world become a better place because of your product or service? This is important to consider because customers will be more attracted to your brand if they align with your company's sense of social purpose—if they support your mission in the world.
Second, think about your role in the lives of your customers. This includes how they experience all their interactions with your business, including purchasing, messaging, and customer service. This tier includes your customers' unstated needs that they themselves might not easily articulate.
Third, think about your customers’ immediate needs. This includes any statement that would begin with "I want," "I need," or "Could you do this for me?" This is the tier that most entrepreneurs think of when they are trying to add value to their customers' lives.
When designing your product or service, Flynn recommends that you first identify the problem you are trying to solve. Your fans’ first positive experience with the brand should be a sense of satisfaction and relief that something bothering them is resolved. Flynn recommends looking online to find people talking about challenges, difficulties, and annoyances in their lives.
For example, if you would like to start a landscaping company, go online and search for things like "the worst thing about my lawn," or "the most annoying part of hiring a landscaper." Try to find online forums where people are airing their grievances about lawn care. Then, design your product or service to be the answer they've been looking for.
(Shortform note: As you identify a problem to solve, business experts argue that the surface-level problem you identify may actually be the result of a deeper-rooted problem that isn't immediately obvious. For example, if your car keeps running out of gas, the solution might be adding more gas, or it could be fixing a leak in the tank. Business experts recommend answering the following framing questions to clarify the root problem and help you arrive at a better solution: 1) What is the most basic need? 2) What is the desired outcome? and 3) Who stands to benefit and why?)
Flynn explains that you create value for your customers not simply by solving one small problem in the here and now, but by showing your customers how continued investment in your business will lead to the life they want. Think about your customers’ future lives. What direction do their lives move in if they begin engaging with your company? What direction do they move in otherwise? Present your customers with these two competing futures so that they can see how your company will add value to their lives in the long term.
For example, let’s say you're selling dental insurance. Show your customers a future where their teeth are healthy, clean, and strong well into their old age. Contrast this with a future where they need to wear uncomfortable dentures because their dental health has declined. Customers will be able to clearly see how your insurance does more than just cover their next checkup.
How Fear Can Motivate Customers Toward Your Brand—or Away From It
Flynn suggests showing customers a negative image of what might happen without your service. This will tap into your customers' anxieties and fears. Many psychologists agree that fear is the most powerful motivator. Fear is the brain's system for avoiding danger and staying alive, and therefore has the power to override many other desires and drives.
However, take care in how you use fear—it's only motivating if there's a clear "safety" position a person can move to. If you don't provide a safe alternative, fear can actually paralyze people towards inaction or avoidance. This could even motivate them away from your brand. Furthermore, fear-based marketing may turn customers away because this is a commonly known marketing tactic. They may lose trust in your brand if they feel you are trying to manipulate them.
Flynn argues that one of the best ways you can provide value to your customers is by offering a few quick and easy wins—that is, immediate improvements to a customer’s life that will make them feel a sense of excitement and success. For example, if your company provides financial advice, don't lead your pitch with a budget strategy that saves your customer money over a year.Instead, find something that most people overpay for without realizing it, which could save your customers money right now.
The quick win doesn't have to be your core product—you can still sell regular products alongside your “quick win” product. The quick win is a great way to generate interest and attract new customers. Flynn explains that he typically includes quick wins like these in newsletters, blog posts, or other forms of communication that are easily accessible for customers who are not yet deeply engaged with the company.
(Shortform note: Neuroscientists shed some light on why fast results are so attractive and motivate customers to come back to a brand. Your brain's natural reward system evolved to reinforce behaviors that contribute to your well-being and get you to do them over and over again. If you do something that creates a feeling of “success,” your brain will naturally compel you to repeat that action in the hopes of repeating its result. Therefore, when you give your customer an easy win, the feeling of success will cause the same kind of reinforcement, motivating your customer to come back to your company again and again.)
Flynn asserts that your fans will also have a positive experience with your brand if they feel a sense of personal connection. This includes feeling like the company and its staff understand them, want them to feel welcome, and even want to get to know them as people. When people feel like their relationship with a brand is more like a person-to-person relationship and less like a strictly business relationship, they will be more willing to come back to the brand for more positive experiences. This creates opportunities for positive emotional experiences that will help them ascend the levels of fandom. Flynn provides four strategies for creating a personal connection with your fans: learning their language, sharing authentically, reciprocating when people reach out, and getting to know your regulars.
(Shortform note: While it might be surprising that Flynn suggests a relationship with a brand can feel like a personal relationship, this is actually quite common. Psychologists have even given this phenomenon a name: a parasocial relationship. This is when one party invests time, effort, and emotion into the relationship, while the other party is scarcely aware of the other’s existence. People typically enter into parasocial relationships with celebrities, social media influencers, or content creators. However, parasocial relationships have become much more widespread as social media has made it easier for people to follow others online, and many companies have learned how to leverage the potential of these relationships for their brands.)
Flynn's first connection creator is to match your language and word choice to your desired customers. Recall that Flynn advises you to solve a problem for your customers. As you research, he advises you not just to find a problem, but also to find out what language your potential customers use to talk about this problem. Using the same language as your customers demonstrates that you understand their needs—because you create a more personal connection with someone when they feel their problems are understood. Recall that Flynn asks you to search for problems to solve online. As you conduct these searches, pay close attention to the specific language people use and the main themes of their discussion.
For example, let's say your brand’s value lies in providing a service faster than your competitors. When customers complain about the time this service generally takes, how do they refer to the problem? Do they typically call it "lag-time," "down-time," "wait-time," or maybe "delay?" If you notice a pattern, try to use their terms. This will not only make it easier to market your product or service, but it will signal to your customers that your brand really "gets" them, creating a positive impression.
(Shortform note: Research in sociolinguistics sheds light on why it's so important to use specific wording—like slang, jargon, regional dialects, or educated diction—when connecting to others. Humans use word choice to interpret whether a message is coming from within their “group”—their tribe, so to speak—or outside of it. People are much more likely to trust messaging that sounds like it's coming from within their group. Therefore, word choice plays an enormous role in whether customers will trust your message.)
Flynn argues that sharing your authentic self and interests online can foster a strong connection with your customers, leading them to treat their relationship with your brand as a personal relationship. This happens because when you share your interests—even those not related to your brand—your customers are more likely to find something they have in common with you—or whoever is the face of the brand. For example, sharing things about your background, like your hometown, extracurricular activities in high school, or favorite childhood movie could all provide points of connection with your customers.
How Sharing Builds Trust
Psychologists have found that, as well as highlighting commonalities, sharing authentically creates connections because it builds trust. In The Power of Vulnerability, Brené Brown explains that being open with others creates trust because it gives others a sense of your feelings and motivations. The more someone else feels like they understand these feelings and motivations, the more likely they are to consider you trustworthy, and therefore buy into your messaging and brand.
However, you should decide for yourself how personal you are willing to go in sharing things with your audience. Some entrepreneurs have successfully made personal struggles part of their brand, but business experts caution this works best when the struggle is somehow aligned with the goals of your fan community. For example, someone selling fitness advice might discuss overcoming their past struggles with weight loss.
When customers make an effort to reach out, Flynn argues that it is very important to acknowledge them. People experience a personal connection when they feel seen and heard. If someone reaches out to your brand and their attention isn’t reciprocated, this can leave them feeling rejected and ignored, decreasing their willingness to emotionally invest in your brand. Your reciprocation could take the form of a handshake in a conference, a response to an email, or simply a “like” or comment on a social media post.
As your brand grows, you may not have time to do this for everyone, but you can also hire people to help manage the load. However, Flynn warns against having your staff members pretend to be you, if you are the face of your brand. Your fans may experience this as a betrayal of trust and turn against your brand.
(Shortform note: Psychologists have found that one of the most important reasons to reciprocate attention is not just the positive feelings you can instill in your customers, but also the deeply negative feelings you can avoid. When someone reaches out to you and their attention isn't reciprocated, this can leave them feeling ignored. Psychologists have found that feeling ignored can be profoundly painful, causing feelings of self-doubt and a questioning of personal worth. They find it can even change your sensory perceptions, causing the world to feel "quieter," and that many people even prefer confrontation and argument over being overlooked. Clearly, these are not feelings you want people to associate with your brand experience.)
Flynn recommends you identify customers who keep coming back and learn about them to show them what they mean to the company. People feel especially seen, heard, and welcomed when someone remembers who they are. When people are already loyal to a brand, recognizing and remembering them will create the positive experience of a personal connection that may help them continue up the levels of fandom.
If you're running a store or a restaurant, you’ll know who keeps coming back. However, if your business is online, keep an eye out for customers who frequently engage with your social media or respond to surveys. Of course, you won't be able to get to know every customer on a one-on-one basis, but you can still make the effort to remember regular customers.
How Do You Remember All Those Names?
Dale Carnegie (How To Win Friends and Influence People) explains why remembering someone's name can have such a powerful impact on their loyalty to your brand. He argues that everyone wants to feel important. By remembering someone's name and small details about them, you show that they are important to you. This gives them a positive emotional experience, which—as we’ve discussed throughout—can accumulate with other positive experiences and deepen their loyalty to your brand.
However, remembering all those names and details can be challenging, especially in industries where you have a high volume of customers, or sell something purchased infrequently. Therefore, customer service experts recommend these four tips for remembering your customers’ names.
1. Make an effort to notice people's names. You can’t remember it if you don’t notice it.
2. When you first hear a customer's name, repeat it back as soon as possible.
3. Associate each name with something your customer tells you about themselves.
4. Write the names down. Keep a list of names you'd like to remember.
In addition to forming personal connections with your fans, Flynn argues that you should work to help your fans form personal connections with each other—by building a vibrant fan community. In fact, he argues that the connections your fans form with each other may actually be more important than the ones they form with the brand.
Communities create positive experiences with your brand because they give people a sense of belonging. They also provide social stimulation and the opportunity to create meaningful relationships based on their shared interest in the brand. Your fan community will also draw customers into deeper and more sustained engagement with the brand as people are naturally drawn to thriving, vibrant communities. Flynn offers two strategies for building communities: coordinating a live event and giving your fan base a name.
(Shortform note: Flynn argues that a thriving community is essential to building a base of engaged superfans. However, business experts caution you to focus on creating communities that first and foremost fulfill the needs of their members. They argue that many failed efforts to build communities around brands start from the premise that creating a strong brand will draw in a community. This leads companies to treat community building as an exercise in marketing, rather than placing the needs of community members at the center of the business strategy.)
Flynn explains that one of the most effective ways to get your fans connected to each other is to schedule a live event. Live events create opportunities for fans to meet each other, find things in common, and bond over their shared interests in the brand. They also provide fans with a lot of excitement and stimulation, which can be a positive experience in itself. Flynn suggests that your live event could take the form of a conference, a live Q&A session, or even something fun like a concert or a festival—so long as it makes sense for your brand.
(Flynn explains that large gatherings provide opportunities for your fans to bond with each other. Chip and Dan Heath (The Power of Moments) explain why shared experiences can create such a powerful bond. They write that human nature compels people to naturally synchronize their emotions with the people around them. Therefore, if you are with a group of people who feel excited and enthusiastic about what they are experiencing together, you will likely feel more excited and enthusiastic yourself.)
Flynn argues that giving your fan base a name makes people feel like they’re part of a team, deepening their sense of community. Ideally, your fans will come up with a name organically, but if they don't, try one out and see if it sticks. For example, Flynn dubbed his fan base, "Team Flynn."
Feeling like you're on a team not only creates a shared sense of identity and belonging, but it also gives fans a reason to root for the company's success. Much like sports fans who feel personally victorious when their team wins, fostering a team mindset in your community can reward your fans with the positive emotional experience of feeling the company's successes.
(Shortform note: Social psychologists explain why something as simple as a team name can exert a powerful influence on people's behavior. Humans are hardwired to strongly identify with groups. Psychologists have found that even when test subjects are divided into groups randomly—even when they know the process was random—they will still prefer members of their groups and form closer connections with them than with test subjects assigned to other groups. In The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene explains that this stems from our universal need for belonging. Humans feel safer, more secure, and more comfortable whenever they feel they belong to a community or group.)
Flynn also argues that you can instill positive emotions in your fans by creating memorable experiences. When your fans have fond memories of engaging with a brand, their time and energy invested in the brand will feel more meaningful. This creates a strong incentive to continue investing in your brand and accumulating experiences that propel them up the levels of fandom. Flynn recommends three methods for creating meaningful and memorable experiences: breaking up the routine, giving fans a challenge, and offering exclusive perks.
(Shortform note: Consumer behavior experts explain just what makes an experience memorable. People remember experiences not because they were satisfying or pleasant, but because they stand out as emotional peaks against ordinary emotional experiences. Emotional peaks are moments of extreme emotion beyond what people can experience on an average day. They can be positive or negative, but to create a positive experience you want to focus on moments of extreme excitement or delight. Some researchers call this "the wow effect.")
Flynn argues you must add variety to your fans' experience of the brand. Even the most effective and exciting strategies to engage fans can become boring when repeated endlessly without variation. Shaking up the routine will look different depending on your engagement strategies, but in general, Flynn encourages you to be spontaneous and try new things. Try hosting a fan art contest, incorporating humor into your weekly newsletter, letting customers vote on a new product, or testing out a new format for your content. Even if your experiments don't work, they will, at minimum, prevent your best ideas from becoming boring through endless repetition.
(Shortform note: Psychological research can shed some light on why letting fans get bored can be destructive for your brand. Boredom is a powerful motivator: When someone experiences boredom, it's like a subconscious alarm going off that tells them to start doing something else with their time. Therefore boredom has an enormous power to motivate customers away from your brand. Keeping things stimulating as Flynn suggests can lower this risk.)
Flynn argues that you can give your fans a memorable experience by offering them a difficult challenge to overcome. People often find challenges meaningful and rewarding because they have to push themselves, activating reserves of motivation and drive they might not generally use. People usually remember rewarding experiences because of the emotional high that accompanies a feeling of "success." As an example, a bookstore could create a book club where customers had to read a new book every week, or a gym could create a rigorous training challenge.
(Shortform note: Motivational experts can help us understand why it's important to make your challenges difficult. They highlight that people find challenging projects more rewarding for two reasons: 1) They develop their skills and abilities, and 2) achieving something difficult can become a source of pride and self-esteem. However, writing in Atomic Habits, James Clear cautions against making something so difficult that it simply frustrates your fans. He writes that our brains seek an optimal level of challenge: too easy and we're bored, but too hard and people will often give up. As you develop your company's challenge or tweak it year after year, consider soliciting feedback on how difficult or easy it was, and whether your fans need a change of pace.)
Challenges also provide an opportunity for fans to bond more deeply with the fan community. When someone has to struggle jointly with other people, their shared experience of struggle becomes something important they have in common.
(Shortform note: In The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath concur with Flynn's idea that shared struggle creates important bonding experiences. However, they add one important guideline in crafting challenges. People don't just bond with each other when they're doing something hard, but also when they're working together to contribute to an important purpose. This is one of the reasons why so many people participate in charity marathons. In planning a challenge, also consider your company's mission and what purpose your fans can contribute to.)
Flynn recommends that you can also give people memorable experiences by offering exclusive perks to your most invested fans. This creates positive and memorable experiences by making fans feel special and important. For example, many conventions and live events offer "VIP access," which offers guests access to exclusive spaces or chances to meet personally with celebrities.
People not only look back on these exclusive experiences fondly, but they also like to talk about them with others because it elevates their status. This also shows other fans what they could experience, creating a draw towards these exclusive perks, and with it a draw to deepen their fandom and invest in the brand.
(Shortform note: Many psychologists argue that status is a universal human drive. They assert that while not everyone desires the same source of status (money, popularity, attractiveness, authority, etc.), everyone desires status in some form. This is because status is tightly linked to feeling valued by others. People tend to value those with status. So a lack of status can be extremely painful because it makes people feel like they have no worth to others. This explains how offering exclusive perks can be a draw: By treating someone as if they have a high status, you make them feel socially valued as a person.)
Flynn explains that fans will become much more attached to your brand if they feel like they are somehow part of the company, that is, they identify with the company and feel a sense of personal ownership. This motivates them to continue investing emotionally and financially in your brand. Flynn offers four methods for making your fans part of the company: letting fans make decisions, giving them a look behind the scenes, sharing the spotlight, and hiring your superfans.
Flynn argues that people love a chance to make decisions for a company. When they help steer the direction of the brand, even in small ways, your fans will feel like they have contributed to the company. This sense of contribution gives fans a feeling of ownership of the brand and its successes. You could hold a poll to let fans vote on a new product, logo, or live event. Even small decisions like fonts and website designs can instill this feeling of contribution.
Flynn explains this tactic has two other added benefits.
(Shortform note: Flynn explains how letting customers make decisions can make them feel more attached to the brand, but this practice also leads to a stronger connection by creating a reciprocal sense of trust. When you let your fans make decisions, this shows people you trust them. Studies have shown that people are much more likely to trust those who trust them first. Researchers have found that trust is usually subconscious, and has to be earned. However, once you earn someone's trust, they are hardwired to continue trusting you. Letting your fans make a decision shows them that you trust their judgment, thereby showing them that they can trust your brand.)
Flynn explains that fans love knowing how things are made. This is why factory tours and "behind the scenes" movie documentaries are so popular. Seeing the process gives customers a sense of connection, not just to the product or service, but also to the people and organization behind it. You could achieve this by guiding a video-tour of your office or production space, highlighting some of your employees on company media, or creating a chart of your production process. This will give your fans more reason to emotionally invest in the company.
(Shortform note: Understanding the neurological nature of curiosity can explain how “behind the scenes'' knowledge creates positive experiences for your customers. Though not all scientists agree on a working definition of curiosity, most describe it as a state where knowledge-seeking becomes active. Studies have found that when we are in a state of curiosity, obtaining the desired knowledge activates our reward centers—releasing chemicals that provide positive feelings. Therefore, by arousing your customers’ curiosity and then satisfying it, you provide the positive feelings that move your customers up the levels of fandom.)
Flynn recommends prominently featuring success stories of loyal customers in your online presence. People will feel more involved with the company when they have an opportunity to represent it. Find enthusiastic customers who have stuck with the company and feature their pictures and stories on your website, advertisements, or social media accounts. Making superfans the face of your company provides four key benefits:
Creating Roles for Your Fan Community
Brand community experts confirm Flynn's assertion that the strongest communities are not those centered on their leaders, but those that center members and provide them with important roles. Researchers build on Flynn's ideas for community member roles by identifying many ways members contribute to brand communities. Here we’ll take a look at a few common roles in fan communities, and how they relate to the benefits of making fans the face of your brand.
Evangelizers are your brand's fan ambassadors. Making them the face of the organization will give them a larger platform to spread the company message and convince peers who may be skeptical of conventional advertising.
Customizers try to improve the brand and community by bringing new ideas to the table and calling attention to problems that need to be addressed. Making them the face of your community can show other community members that their input is welcome and important.
Supporters are team players and facilitators. They are attentive to a community's needs and move as needed to fulfill them. Making supporters the face of the company shows fans that there are many ways to contribute, and that their contributions will be recognized and appreciated.
Lastly, Flynn writes that your fans will feel very involved if you hire them to actually join the company. In fact, your superfans may become some of your best employees. Because they are already committed to the success of the company, they can translate that passion into meaningful contributions. You can start looking to hire superfans by identifying those who are eager to contribute to the company and reach out to them when job opportunities open up. Or you can simply advertise your openings on channels that superfans would follow and see who shows up.
Hiring your fans also shows other fans that you are serious about fan contributions and open to really making this a team effort. This will remind fans that their emotional investments in the brand will be rewarded, inspiring them to continue investing and moving up the levels of fandom.
The Value of Employee Alignment
Hiring experts agree with Flynn on the importance of hiring people who want to contribute to your company. They stress that one of the most important considerations in hiring is alignment: whether an employee shares the company's goals, mission, and business philosophy. When employees aren't aligned with your company's mission, they will put in less effort and leave the company faster, requiring you to spend even more on recruitment and training.
However, some business experts advise that this consideration doesn’t end at the hiring stage. In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras argue that successful companies continuously invest in building their workplace culture. They immerse employees in their leadership philosophies and goals to maintain alignment and devotion year after year.
Flynn argues that your fans will have more positive experiences with your brand if you keep things fresh for your customers by trying out new strategies for engagement. This activity will help you develop a new idea and shake up the routine.
Start by writing a list of what you already do to engage fans. Think broadly and write down everything—even if it feels obvious or small.
Now read back over your list. What's missing? Write a follow-up list brainstorming ideas you haven't tried.
Look back on your list of new ideas. Pick one activity you’d like to try and explain why it jumped out at you.
Flynn argues that one of the best ways to get customers involved with your brand is through live events. This activity will help you come up with an idea for a live event to bring your fan base together for an exciting, memorable experience.
Brainstorm three ideas for live events that would make sense for your brand: maybe a Q&A session, a conference, or even something festive.
Once you have three ideas, write down which one you think would provide the most value for your fan community and explain why.