Whether you’ve been struggling to get your Patreon channel off the ground or are just starting your Patreon journey, there are some things to be aware of. Today, we’ll talk you through what Patreon is and discuss elements such as building your fan base, offering rewards and promoting your channel. Let’s jump into our top tips for building a successful Patreon campaign!
What Is Patreon?
Before we talk about how to build a successful Patreon campaign, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about what Patreon is.
Patreon is a platform where content creators who want to share their work reside. You can find fans to participate in your work by offering them memberships, which gives them access to exclusive access, community and insights into your work. As a creator, you get to share your work, monetize it and build a creative career.
With over 6 million supporters (or ‘Patrons’) on the platform, there are tons of potential audience members out there for creators to reach. So, how can you build a great campaign on Patreon?
Tips For Building A Successful Patreon Campaign
Without further ado, it’s time for our top tips for building a successful Patreon campaign that sets you apart from the rest!
1. Establish A Fan Base
Establishing a fan base is key! Patreon is, after all, a platform for your work, making is less likely to generate interest if people aren’t interested in your creations in the first place.
For this reason, it’s a great idea to create a base of potential patrons that are already somewhat inclined to support you financially to access your content. People are more likely to support your campaign and creations if they already semi-know you – whether that’s through social media, YouTube or other streaming platforms.
It is possible to build a fresh fan base on Patreon, but this will take longer and require regular posting (and some luck) to generate a lot of interest. It’s less likely that people will be randomly browsing through Patreon pages of creators that they don’t know – so it’s a long shot and can take a while if you go this route!
2. Get Posting
This is what Patreon is all about, so make sure that you get posting consistently. Crafting great content is the best way to persuade followers to part with their money, as they will want to see more of what you have to offer (and be involved!)
An introductory video talking about your campaign is a good idea to start off on the right foot. Think of it as an elevator pitch – clear, concise and friendly. Remember to stay personable, sincere and show that you are passionate, committed and exciting about your upcoming content. Quickly explain how the reward system works and what the different tiers mean to make sure that followers are on the same page.
Creating a content strategy/plan is a good way to set everything out and get organized. Plus, you can tease future videos and content for your followers!
3. Nurture Your Audience
Nurturing the relationship between you and your followers is highly important, as you need their support to monetize your work (and to make sure your content is seen and appreciated).
When you’re starting out, remember to interact with followers and passers-by on your channel. Respond to comments in a personable way, and consider sending personalized thank you messages to each new follower. They’re taking a risk on a pretty unknown creator, so it’s the least you can do to show your appreciation!
4. Look For Inspiration
As with many things in the creative field, seeing what’s going on around you is a great source of inspiration. Through looking at other Patreon pages, you can figure out what you like, what you don’t like, what followers engage with the most and so on. You can actually check every active campaign on Patreon, along with how many Patrons they have acquired.
Do your homework and study some Patreon campaigns. It’s important to stay original, but you can of course take inspiration from others and add your own spin on it. Note down what characteristics successful campaigns share, and what doesn’t seem to work on the platform.
5. Set Goals
Patreon doesn’t force you to set funding goals – but it’s still something you should do.
By setting a goal, you are letting your Patrons know that you intend to see your project through. You can also let them know what you intend to do with the money earned, such as purchasing new equipment to improve your future videos. In the same way as crowdfunding, people like to see success stories and be a part of helping others achieve their goals – so make the most of this and tell your followers about your intentions!
Set out a couple of goals at first and remember that you can always set new ones once you have achieved some.
6. Create Reward Tiers
Rewards are a great incentive for all Patrons, but mostly for Patrons at the $1-2 subscription level. This level will appeal to a larger amount of people, and bears in mind that they are likely supporting multiple creators. However, you should also set higher reward tiers for bigger spenders because there may be some that this appeals to – and you don’t want to miss out on those! Offer your potential patrons various options for supporting you so that you can appeal to every type of follower out there.
Top Tip: Be mindful about shipping fees when offering rewards so that you don’t get caught out. If you have overseas supporters, it could end up pretty pricey to offer rewards. A way to tackle this is to perhaps offer digital rewards, personalized videos, exclusive digital content and so on.
7. Promotion
As with anything, keeping your promotion limited to just one platform will not yield as good results as sharing and promoting it across various platforms.
If you have a social media presence, utilize this to reach more people and share your Patreon. Upload some clips, share stories, BTS clips and more to get people interested in supporting your Patreon. As mentioned earlier, people who already know you are more likely to support you, so you can use your social media accounts to both create and nurture your fan base whilst reaching potential new Patrons at the same time!
There is always the chance that your campaign could go viral if it is unusual, so it’s worth a shot!
How Audiosocket Can Help
If you need music for your content, our best option is to license your music properly through a company such as Audiosocket. Starting at $10 a month, you can have unlimited access to over 80,000 tracks! With various genres and moods, it couldn’t be easier to find music to match the content in your videos. Get started now!
