Not all customers are fans. And not all fans are the sort of customers you can thrive with.
Cadres of supporters often migrate into one of two camps…
The generous stans (a more positive riff from a twenty-year-old Eminem track), are there for the work and the change being made, all the time. It’s a form of support, but more than that, identity. Tribes with leaders, making a difference supporting each other and spreading the word. (These are the ‘true’ fans.)
And the cranky fans, who know that they have found a place where they will be heard, and who use that opportunity to split hairs and find something to be disappointed with. They are cranky because they care, but they’re also cranky because it gives them power.
They’ll happily pirate the software, argue about a launch strategy, demand comp tickets to the event and reserve their conversations for other insiders, instead of spreading the word. They point out that the galvanic isolation in the new breakthrough product could have been even more sophisticated, or that the unreleased album is much better than this one… One of the most common complaints is that the hypothetical perfect imagined by a fan is so much better than the actually productive and powerful good created for them. “I’m your best customer” is what they might say, when they’re not at all.
Their status comes from their insider knowledge and longevity combined with an air of aloof superiority. (These fans are sometimes called employees, voters or critics).
One reason for the split is that some creators and small businesses respond to early fan response by doing things to the audience (cashing out) as opposed to working to do things with and for them (leading). It puts some fans on the defensive, even if this particular creator has made the difficult decision to stick with the mission.
When Kevin Kelly coined the term 1,000 True Fans fifteen years ago, he was describing more than fandom. He was articulating how the long tail could become a generative, resilient force for creators to create, and for fans to benefit. Without a mass market driving production, we could move toward a world of delightful niches, where small companies could thrive serving (relatively) small audiences.
This is the unheralded force behind important non-profits, tech companies, and creators of all kinds. Not mattering a little to the masses, but mattering a lot to a focused group, one that supports the work and spreads the word.
Choose your fans, choose your future.
I’m regularly amazed and delighted at how thoughtful and connected the readers of my work are. I learn from you every day, and I’m thrilled at the leadership my readers bring to their communities. I couldn’t ask for a more engaged, thoughtful and generous audience.
At the same time, I see small businesses and creators that I care about struggling, simply because their fans are not only taking them for granted, they’re becoming entitled and insular as well. When fans commit to a movement and help it grow, they benefit. Not every group is going to become a movement, but if we don’t bring others along, we’re not going to make a change happen. Movements move.
The problem with taking something we care about for granted is that we don’t get to do it for long.