We’ve just had the World Cup and I’ve noticed that football fans (and any sports fan for that matter) use the term ‘we’ a lot when discussing the activities of their team.  “We should have beat them on Saturday”. “We played well today”. These fans see themselves as part of the club and as part of the team. They consider that their support and their following makes them ‘one’ with the club and its players.

There is unity with themselves and the team, community with fellow fans not to mention lifelong loyalty to the club. I’m sure you know someone who is a massive fan of a sports club who goes to all the matches, spends lots of money on merchandise and replica shirts etc.

So how do you create that passionate following  for your own music? Well, sports fans are ‘tribal’ they need to feel like their are part of the team.  Does your band merch create a unified look? Do your fans have a collective name? Do you encourage your fans to chat and connect socially online either through a Facebook group or to meet up socially to build that bond between them?

Sports clubs do a lot for the communities they serve.  Do you ‘give back’ to your fans in some way showing them that you thank them for their support?

Team coaches and managers will brief the press so that fans can get insights from the people running the club about a team’s performance/progress.  Do you give your fans that same level of access? Do you keep them regularly informed?

Undertake some of these steps and you will be well on the way to make ‘sports fans’ from your music fans.

Further reading: Why fans stay loyal to their team 

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