I’m sure you have some idea who your fans are…but do you REALLY know your fans? And I mean, REALLY, REALLY?

By that, I mean…

Do you know what other bands they like? Which places they usually go? What brands they buy?

What makes them happy?

What makes them sad?

It’s always a good idea to indulge them at times, and to do that, you will first have to know your fans by heart.

If you’re on a mission to really know your fans, here are 10 ways for you to do it.

Table of Contents

#1. USE ANALYTIC TOOLS

If you’re looking for shortcuts, this is it.

A quick and technical way to know your fans is to use the analytical tools that websites, social media, Spotify, Youtube, and e-commerce stores have to offer.

You’ll know which content/ items they’re viewing, their demographics, and many more.

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#2. HAVE A MEET AND GREET EVENT

Analytics are cool but to really get a feel of your fans, you have to be with them—or at least some of them.

A meet-and-greet is always a good idea.

This is the time you get to talk to them and they get to talk to you face to face. You get to know your fans individually with how they interact with you and from there you get a general idea of them.

Aside from gathering data about your fans in general, you get to build a connection through this very interactive event.

This is an avenue for you to make them an even bigger fan of you. Just make sure you make a good impression on them.

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#3. HAVE AN INTIMATE GATHERING

After meeting them and establishing that connection, you might want to spend time with them to get to know them more.

There are a lot of ways you can do this and they will be mentioned in this list. However, let’s focus first on the face to face part of it.

You can do what Taylor Swift does with her fans where she celebrates her birthday with a few lucky ones. Or you can go and set up a listening party event and invite fans to it. Or better yet, celebrate milestones with them.

Depending on how your fans respond to such events, you get to know what draws them in.

Additionally, you get to have other people wanting to go too. People love it when they see artists being as casual as if they’re not hella popular.

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#4. HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM

Talk, talk, and talk some more.

As mentioned, spending time with fans is not limited to face to face. You can do this online too. Go online and do a “live” on any social media platform you want and just talk.

Going on a live doesn’t have to be all conversations though. You can also play or sing covers, or maybe ask them what song they want you to cover. Give them a small performance.

From that you get to have another set of information about them.

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#5. ASK THEM QUESTIONS

We all know how fans are the main interviewer when it comes to artist-fan conversations. So if you want to get to know them more, you have to ask your questions, too.

Have interesting ones that would entertain them, as well as allow you to get a glimpse of what your fans are like. Their answers would help you gauge what they want (and most importantly, what they want about YOUR MUSIC).

It’ll be easier if you do this through Twitter or Facebook, wherever your fans are more active, since you can tweet or post a question and have your fans reply under it.

This will make it easier to gather their answers and you’ll have a longer time to read them.

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#6. DO A SURVEY

Surveys are cool.

If you’re planning on releasing merch, for example, you can ask your fans their opinions about the designs or the actual products they want.

This is another way for you to know their taste on things.

These kinds of polls for them would also make them feel that their opinions are important to you.

Posting these polls on all of the social media platforms you have would be the best thing to do. But if you don’t want it to be public, you can simply contact a hundred of your superfans. This is a good strategy as this will make them feel truly special.

It will help you reach all your fans instead of just one demographic that spend most of their time on one platform.

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#7. PARTICIPATE IN ARTIST-FAN CONTENT

Another way to spend time with your fans is to participate in artist-fan created content like what the YouTube channel Hello82 does.

In this channel, they bring fans and artists together to just talk and spend time with each other.

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#8. READ THROUGH THE COMMENTS

Reading through the comments is another way you get to know your fans.

The comments they leave on your posts will tell you something about themselves. Their reactions in the comment section will tell you if they like or dislike something about your post.

If you’re too busy to do that, hire someone who can!

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#9. LURK IN YOUR CHOSEN SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM

Another way to get to know them is to look through the posts they make. You can go and look through a hashtag of yours and see what fans are talking about.

There you will surely see lots of varying posts.

There might be different portraits of you created by fans, a video edit of your moments, an analysis of your past album, and many more.

It will be a rollercoaster ride that I am sure you will enjoy. It will give you an idea of how you look in your fan’s perspective. Additionally, you get to see them critique your work as well as see their aspiration for your career.

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#10. VISIT YOUR FANS’ ACCOUNTS

Another way is to simply lurk.

There will definitely be a lot of fan-fan interactions there that would help you see how they see you.

You will also likely see other information about them—the places they go, the concerts they’re looking forward to, the kind of movies they watch.

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After doing most, if not all, of the things listed above, I’m sure you can make a more detailed sketch of what your average fan looks like.

This will eventually give you a clearer direction on how to make them happier.

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James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD/vinyl and merch company in LA.

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