Eight Steps to Building a Fan Base

A question that keeps coming up is how do we build audience for our indie films and content. Without the huge marketing budgets of Hollywood films, so few people get to hear about our indie films much less see them. Today I'm going to take you through it, with some free online tools to help, step by step.

Step 1: Identify your core audience
You might be sick of hearing this, but you'll keep hearing it till we get it right :) Us filmmakers like to think that everyone will like our film, so when defining audiences we are wishy washy with statements like "18 to 45 year old men, but, women will like it too, and my dad likes it and he's 65, so..."

Be specific: who do you know - absolutely know - will love your film? Think niche first - they are easier to target than the vagaries of "mainstream."

I tend to believe that age and gender are poor ways of defining an audience, and it's better to concentrate on shared interests or values. So identify what your film is about, what topics it covers, what values it expresses, who is it about?

A few weeks back Kelly Chapman was speaking about one of her projects, which is set in a drug rehab facility. She identified several niche audiences that revolved around this material: a) former drug addicts, b) friends and family of former drug addicts, c) current drug addicts d) friends and families of drug addicts, e) recreational drug users, and the vaguer f) mainstream.

It's easy to find ways to connect with an audience if you've really clearly identified them, while you'll flounder if you try to go after everyone in general. That's not to say your film won't have mainstream appeal, but begin with the subgroups who will have the greatest connection to your material, they will become your dedicated fanbase who then help you to reach a larger audience.

Step 2: Identify influencers
Going one-to-one with every single person in your core target market is obviously too time consuming to be practical. Instead, work out who the main influencers are - the people who will disseminate information to your core audience if they think it is of value to them. 

There are two primary types of influencers:

a) Professional/specialist - someone who your audience considers an authority on a topic. They might be an individual 'guru', or a trade magazine, etc.

b) Peer leader - in every community there are a minority who fall into leadership roles: they are not specialists on a topic, but are respected, liked, and listened to. They might write a blog, have engaged twitter followers, lots of facebook friends, be an active forum member, or frequent contributor to a recommender community.

There are a lot of cool free tools to help you find where your audience hangs out online, and who they listen to. First use key words and phrases that relate to your film and core audience to compile a long list of relevant blogs, websites, and forums, using one or more of these tools:

• Google Search (or your preferred search engine)
• Forum Search Engines: Board Reader, Board Tracker, Omgili
• Blog Search: Technorati  Google Blog Search Twingly
• Twitter Search & WeFollow 

Then evaluate this list of sites and people to determine which have the most influence with your core audience. Note how many friends, followers, members, and unique visitors these individuals, organisations, and websites have. Some tools to help you with this (or a more comprehensive list here):

• Compete lets you compare multiple websites and find out their number of views and visitors.
• Alexa gives you information on the rank of the website and some basic demographic information of the visitors.
• Twitter Analyzer and Tweetalyzer  will show you  a twitterer's metrics in a lot of detail, such as how much influence they have (this is more important than the number of followers).

Step 3: Stalk your audience
Not in a creepy way... ;) It's important that before you jump in flogging your film, you watch, listen, and learn. Get to know the personalities and opinions of the key influencers, and how your audience responds to them. That means reading the blogs, the comments, the articles, and learning the etiquette of the community.

Step 4: Engage with the community
Once you've got a good handle on it, begin interacting on their level. Prove your value by contributing in a way that shows that you 'get' them, building a relationship:

• Commenting on blogs, and sharing them with others
• Be active on forums, asking and answering questions
• Tweeting and retweeting
• Voting/liking people's comments and content
• Sharing information, jokes, links, points of interest

Thus far you still haven't mentioned your film or tried to 'sell' anything.

Step 5: Present your content
Now that you're friends (or at least acquaintances), present your film to influencers in a way that fits within the conventions of the community. Bloggers often like the sense of a 'scoop', as do community leaders. If you're talking to multiple people, try to give them each a different angle on your story, so their content has something unique about it. Your content needs to be clearly of value to their audience and peers.

Plus - it is really important that you give content to these people in the easiest, most usable format so that they can publish or pass on the information without effort. This means emailing them what they need, with a link to further information should they want it.

On your website you should have the equivalent of a press kit that is easy to access. Content should be available for download as a zip, individual file download, copy and paste, and as links. Flash sites can be a pain for this, as can some video players. Items for inclusion:

•  Poster image, art, logos, video
•  Stills & behind the scenes photos
•  Logline, blurb, bios
•  Press releases with different story angles
•  Code for embedding the video, and links spelled out.
•  They may want to cut and paste text verbatim, so make it okay for them to do this from the website, and also supply as a .txt or .doc file (not pdf).

Step 6: Maintaining fans
Let the influencers break the news, then follow up soon behind with a public thanks to them for blogging about you. Make sure you appreciate the influencers, and keep the communication lines open: they can be your best friend or your worst enemy depending on how you handle yourself.

Respond to questions and feedback from the target audience, but also continue contributing value as a community member. Don't think your job is done just because the word is out!

Make it easy for fans to connect with the project and share content - a Facebook Fanpage, Twitter, Youtube channel, blog, forum, merchandise, membership to your website, and 'share' buttons. There are several benefits to this:
- they are empowered in their ability to seek a closer relationship with the content they like, helping them turn into a stronger fan
- you want to have a direct line of communication with them so you can keep them updated and upsell them
- their interactions with your content will be shared with their network, thus increasing it's reach

Find ways to give these fans extra value.

• behind-the-scenes content
• first access to information
• online Q&A
• preview screening
• competitions & rewards
• interactivity : let them have voting power over elements such as artwork, merchandise, auditions
• crowdsourcing : can they contribute to the project in some way? e.g. a poster or trailer competition
• discounts
• exclusive merchandise
• autographs
• unique event or experience
• blog, podcast, or vlog
• transmedia extensions 
• information on things they like - this might have nothing directly to do with your film, but involve being a thought leader or trend setter in an area they're interested in. If they're environmentally conscientious, you might have regular tips on eco-friendly products, services, technology, documentaries, and so on.

Don't be afraid to ask your fans for a helping hand. The Age of Stupid got fans to screen the film in their own homes, The Cosmonaut is being financed by crowdfunding, Star Wreck was crowdsourced, and Paranormal Activity got one million people to 'demand' to see their film. Let them know what you need, set some milestones, and ask them to help you meet them.

Push your content out for distribution on a variety of social media platforms.

And remember, don't get snarky if someone says something you don't like. People respect transparency, and distrust defensive behaviour. Make sure you keep on the right side of your fanbase.

This is also the time to tell all your other friends, family, and colleagues via email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. You should have about 500 people who personally know you (or another team member), have an interest in your work, and will be willing to pass on a trailer or video to others.

Step 7 : Going viral

Okay, let’s face facts: you can’t make content go ‘viral’, and anyone who says that is their plan is partaking in wishful thinking. Online media is not ‘broadcast’ like TV -  the power is completely in the control of users who choose where they go, when they like, what to click on, and what to recommend to friends – or not. If your video happens to be one of these, fantastic, but you can’t make it happen.

However, if you've followed the above six steps, and your content meets the needs of the audience, then they will be viewing, liking it, and sharing it - thus they will make it go viral.

You can also help them, by making your content shareable (e.g. at the bottom of this post is a 'share' button so you can add my article to Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, and dozens of other options. hint hint...). Each of the above have their own communities, and some have the ability to get your content 'profiled' on the main page if enough people vote for it. One strategy to increase the chances of this is by becoming involved in the, for example, Digg community, voting up other people's Diggs, leaving comments, making friends, and letting them know when your web content has been Dugg so they might vote yours up too.

There are additional marketing techniques that will help the right people find your content online. It's best to read a dedicated book on this. A good one is "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott, another is "Think Outside The Box Office" by Jon Reiss.

Step 8: Going mainstream
Now that you've got a dedicated online fanbase, you're ready to approach mainstream media and spokespeople. The mountain of online activity will give your project more respectability than you would previously have been afforded.

Some newspapers will find interest in stuff like how your trailer gained  one million hits on Youtube in a week, others will write similar stories to what your influencer-bloggers did, or want a new angle. Continue to use the same strategy as before: begin at the centre, with the core media most relevant to your project, rather than wasting your time chasing every publication.

Make use of any professional organisations you or other team members are a member of (such as MEAA, SPAA, ASDA, AWG, MetroScreen in Australia) to spread word about the project on their website and newsletter. Some of these may be interested in a screening, Q&A or panel event for their members.

Similarly, contact the local media with stories about the local team members who were involved, contact school networks, and any one else who might have more than a passing interest due to proximity to cast and crew.

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Do you have any extra tips? Cool tools to help?