Davey Havok, lead singer of AFI gets propped up by his fans in more ways than one. Photo credit: Kristina Loncar
Whether you like their music or not, dark / goth / pop / punk-rock heroes AFI are leaders in fanbase engagement, interaction, and reward. Back in 2003-2005 they ran an Alternate Reality Game that invited fans to solve puzzles, find clues, and interact with each other. The game was rewarding lucky participants with laminate All-Access passes, meet-and-greets, soundcheck parties and secret concerts long before ARGs like this hit mainstream with Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero. Plus, the band has been using the social and community-mobilizing aspects of online forums to great gain for years.
In fact, not once, but twice, the band have won awards on the MTV Video Music Awards. Once in 2003, and again in 2006. Not so uncommon, but the difference is, both awards recipients were decided by public votes. In both cases, the band mobilized their fanbase to help them win, but they did so by truly creating a feeling within their online street team and their official fan club that if fans helped the band win the award, it would be a victory not just for the band, but for all the fans as well.
It worked. Fans cried when this band won their awards. Fans felt as though they themselves won the award. How did they do it? AFI are not shy when it comes to rallying their fans, and asking them to unite to help further their cause. But, they are also not shy when it comes to rewarding their fans by acknowledging them, and sincerely thanking them. This truly helps create the feeling that the band and their fans are one team, working together. The key is the sincere acknowledgement. You can’t just ask your fans to do things for you without some acknowledgement for their time spent on your behalf. It doesn’t matter if that’s in the form of tangible goods like exclusive stickers, posters, t-shirts, what-have-you, or if you’ve got a point-system that keeps track of how much work a fan has done for a band, or if it’s just giving them a sincere and heartfelt thank you. Whatever it is, make sure it’s meaningful. And make sure you mean it. Those two things may sound similar, but they are different. The first one says to make sure your rewarding your fans with something substantial, that will make them feel their efforts have been worth their time. The second one says that if you ask your fans to do something that will benefit you, and they actually do it, then you had better thank them and you better be sincere about it. All this social community and networking can be undone if fans feel their being taken advantage of.
Check out these two videos, and you’ll see a perfect example of what happens when all this is done right. The first one is the AFI’s acceptance speech, from the second time they won a moonman, in 2006. Listen to the sincerity in the singer’s voice when he’s thanking the fans. And the second video is of a fan, watching the band accept that award on TV. It’s also important to read the video description on the second one. This is what it says: “this is me freaking out about AFI winning Best rock video! I voted 600 times for them! I am SOOOOOOO happy they won! I helped Davey get his moonman!”
Watch these videos, learn from them, and then make sure you do everything you can to inspire this level of community between your band and your fans. If you are one with your fans, amazing things can happen.
Social media, web technologies, mobile interaction… all of these are amazing tools that a musician now has in their pocket, most of them available for free. There is no excuse for a musician not to be using all these tools to the best of their availability to maximize their fanbase, enhance their fans experiences, turn fans into friends, and turn friends into evangelists. So much can be achieved simply by using these tools, and using them well.
This is a great example of a band doing a lot of things right.
In days gone by, it was much more difficult for a musician to get to know their fans, and even more difficult for the fans to get to know their musicians. I mean really get to know them. Like the way you know your friends. Sure, fan magazines would tell you little tidbits of info, like birthdays, or favorite colours… little tiny shreds of truth, the slightest little glimpses behind the curtain, to reveal some small bit of true humanity about your favorite stars. And fans clamoured to get that info, to know what their heroes and idols were like. Because fans inherently feel the need to connect on a more meaningful level with the people who create the music they already have that intense connection to.
