If you are trying to figure out how you can get paying Patreon supporters and build an audience that actually supports you and your art, I’ve researched this thoroughly and made this article to help you out.
The best way to get Patreon supporters is to first build an audience and community around your art or creative endeavor off of Patreon and to freely provide that audience and community with overwhelming value.
When you have an audience with an engaged community, you’ll be able to successfully grow your Patreon by offering them membership tiers that are easy to understand, priced effectively, and have perks and rewards that continue to provide overwhelming value.
To learn how you can get Patreon supporters by growing an audience and community and exactly how you can offer effective Patreon tiers, simply keep on reading this article, my friend. 🙂
P.S. If you don’t want to use Patreon and would like to see how Patreon compares to other alternatives, check out my article called Patreon Alternatives: How To Pick The Right Membership Platform.
How To Promote Your Patreon & Get Patreon Supporters
When first figuring out how you can promote your Patreon page and get real paying supporters, you need to first understand that Patreon is a membership and monetization platform and is in no way a discovery platform.
Because Patreon has no features for potential patrons or followers to find your Patreon page, it is completely up to you to do ALL of the work bringing people to your Patreon page and convincing them to sign up.
…so what is the best way to do this then?
The best way to get Patreon supporters is to first build an audience and community around your art or creative endeavor off of Patreon and to freely provide that audience and community with overwhelming value.
Remember that Patreon won’t bring in new fans but instead will simply allow your current fans the opportunity to choose to support you financially.
When you have an audience with an engaged community, only then will you be able to successfully grow your Patreon by offering them membership tiers that they actually want to join.
Let’s figure out how you can start doing this yourself by starting with how you can build an audience by using something called a recurring content strategy.
1. Build An Audience With Recurring Content
The best way to build an audience that wants to support you and your art or creative endeavor is to consistently release new content by combining a recurring content strategy with a content calendar.
A recurring content strategy is simply a defined structure of different content types that you release on a regular schedule (ie: posting performance videos on Mondays, unreleased songs on Wednesday, and promotional content for new releases on Fridays).
A content calendar simply takes the content you have mapped out with your recurring content strategy and plots out when each piece of content should go live (and where) on a calendar so that you actually follow your plan.
By releasing content on a regular schedule with a defined structure, you can make sure that the content you create is both relevant to your ultimate goal as a creator and keeps your audience hooked and wanting to come back for more.
How To Create A Recurring Content Strategy For Your Creative Project
To create a recurring content strategy you simply need to decide on what content you want to create and what content will be most valuable to your audience.
The very first step that you should do is to take the time to clearly define your ultimate goal as an artist or creative.
Do you want to perform often in front of a loving audience of thousands of fans?
Do you want to release new music and have it supported and streamed thousands of times?
To make sure that you don’t feel like you are wasting your time and energy on creating content, you should take a moment to make sure that the content that you do create is always supporting your ultimate goal.
If your goal is to perform live then your content should be of you performing live in different ways (ie: performance videos, live jams, improvisations, cover songs, etc).
If your goal is to successfully release new music your content should focus on your music (ie: clips of unreleased songs, live jams, etc)
In addition to having 2 or 3 types of content that you release often that supports your ultimate goal, I’d also recommend releasing some content that will help your audience connect with you like photos/videos of you, stories, behind-the-scenes, and things that you are interested in outside of your main creative project.
Once you have an idea of what different types of content you want to make, you can simply map out when these content types will go live (and where) on a calendar to make sure you are held accountable for your strategy.
From here you can tweak your strategy as you carry it out based on how your audience reacts to your content and how much you enjoy creating different types of content.
It’s important that you look for a balance in your recurring content strategy between what your audience enjoys and what you can realistically create over and release over and over again without burning out or hating yourself.
Why Recurring Content Is More Important Than You Think
In addition to organically growing your audience on a social media platform that will potentially support you on Patreon, regularly releasing content can:
- Be a great way to tease the kind of content that a potential Patron can get when they become a supporter (ie: posting clips to social media with the full thing on Patreon)
- Help you learn what kind of content you should provide in your membership tiers (ie: by seeing what types of content your social media followers engage with the most or by having audience that you can simply ask for ideas)
- Be a great way to practice fulfilling the tiered content you plan to offer before launching your Patreon so that you clearly know the costs (both time and money) and so that you don’t overpromise and under-deliver
Remember that Patreon is a membership platform where your patrons pay you monthly to get access, so it is expected of you to put out new content regularly on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis.
This means that content is both king when it comes to getting supporters on Patreon and making sure that they stick around.
Just like a gym membership, if supporters don’t feel like they are getting any use out of it they will eventually stop paying for your Patreon or unfollow you on social media and never get around to supporting you on Patreon in the first place.
Recurring content allows you to build your audience, learn what to offer, and make sure your supporters keep coming back for more.
2. Create A Community For Your Audience
Many people will support a Patreon page because they are looking for a space where they can feel connected to people that like similar things as them in addition to the actual creator themselves.
This is why creating a community where your audience can engage with you and your tribe is so important.
…so how do you create a community and a sense of community with your audience?
You can start by simply engaging back with the followers who are already engaging with your recurring content on social media.
You can also take things to the next level by having a dedicated community space like a Discord server (in fact, these can be linked to Patreon tiers as part of your rewards with integrations for Discord Memberships & Subscriptions).
P.S. If you want to check out some examples of thriving Discord communities, check out my article on the Best Discord Servers For Music Artists. 🙂
Lastly, you can create a sense of community around your creative project by having visible fundraising goals and being transparent with how you plan to use funds.
By being open with how you plan to use the money for new gear, ambitious projects, or simply being able to live while making your art, you make it clear to potential patrons what your vision is and the fact that it does cost money to be able to continue doing what you do.
3. Create Effective Patreon Tiers
At the end of the day, the main reason that anyone in the world is going to sign up for your Patreon is if they completely understand how being a patron benefits them and they feel like they are getting overwhelming value for the cost.
Although some patrons may want to become a supporter because they feel good supporting you and want to help you achieve your vision, this is still an example of how they are benefiting and getting value from your Patreon.
This is why it is important to make sure the membership tiers that you offer on your Patreon are:
- Easy to understand
- Have perks and rewards that provide overwhelming value
- Are priced effectively
The best way to create highly effective tiers for your Patreon or membership is by leveraging a concept used in marketing called ‘Marketing Funnels’ or Funnel Mapping.
A Marketing Funnel is visualized as an inverted pyramid and is used to break down what you offer to your audience into 3 specific parts:
- The largest part at the top is called “Top Of Funnel” aka “TOFU” and represents the cheapest but most easily accessible offerings.
- The next smaller part is called “Middle of Funnel” aka “MOFU” and represents more expensive offerings that less of your audience will take.
- Finally, the smallest part is “Bottom of Funnel” aka “BOFU” which represents very high-ticket offerings that very few of your audience will take.
By leveraging a marketing funnel, you can simplify what you offer and organize it in a way that is very easy for both you and your potential patrons to follow.
When starting out, it can be a good idea to only offer 1 tier for each of the funnel steps so that is easier for you to manage the different membership experiences and so that your potential patrons aren’t put off by having paralysis by analysis.
...so what should you offer at each of these different levels?
Your TOFU offer should be something simple priced around $5 for support or simple access, your MOFU offer should be priced around $30 for more access or content, and your BOFU tier should be priced around $300+ for exclusive access, content, or services.
For a closer look at each of these funnel steps in more detail below and what you can consider offering for each specific level, check out my full guide to tiers, perks, and rewards called Patreon Ideas For Artists & Musicians. 🙂
6 Tips To Get Patreon Supporters As An Artist Or Musician
Here are 6 tips that you should consider when trying to get more Patreon supporters as an artist, musician, or creator.
- No Direct Selling: Don’t be pushy by directly asking people to join your Patreon, instead you should allow potential patrons to make the decision to support you themselves based on the value you are already providing to the world with your freely available content.
- Mention Your Patreon Everywhere With A Light Touch: Lightly mention your Patreon at the end of your content, durring your content (if relevant), and in things like at the bottom of email signatures, YouTube descriptions, and the captions in social posts.
- Personalized Messages: When having natural conversations with your supporters, it can be a good idea to lightly mention your Patreon if signing up is relevant to the conversation you are having and can actually be valuable in someway to that person.
- Limited Time Promotions: You can consider offering a special bonus for anyone who signs up over the next few days or a giveaway for a prize for anyone that is signed up for your Patreon page for the month.
- Ask Your Audience For Help: A really useful way to figure out what you should do or offer on your Patreon that will make potential patrons want to sign up is to simply ask your current Patreons or any potential patrons that currently engage with you on social media, email, etc.
- Facebook Advertising: Although you can use Facebook Ads to reach people who may be interested in supporting your Patreon, I’d recommend using ads to target people who have already showed an interest in you by retargeting ads to “Custom Audiences” based on Instagram and Facebook Page engagement to name a few.
Common Questions About Getting Patreon Followers
Here are some common questions (and answers) about getting supporters on Patreon:
Is it easy to get followers on Patreon?
It is not easy to get followers on Patreon because potential followers need have both a good reason and a way to follow you since Patreon is not a discovery platform and has no features for potential patrons or followers to find your Patreon page.
How do I get noticed on Patreon?
It is not possible to get noticed on Patreon because Patreon is a membership platform and is in no way a discovery platform, this means you will need to do ALL of the work bringing people to your Patreon page and convincing them to sign up.
What Patreon Plan Is Right For Your Project?
When reviewing Patreon’s plans, it can quickly become clear that you need to join the Pro or Premium plan to make the most out of the Patreon platform.
Although the creator fees are lowest for their “Lite” plan, when comparing Patreon Lite Vs Pro the huge difference that you will find is that you can’t actually create individual membership tiers with the Lite plan.
So, for a full breakdown of the 3 different Patreon plans available to you, what features you get, and which is the right plan for your unique project, check out my full article on Patreon Pricing, Plans & Fees Explained. 🙂
