Idol shows, Talent shows, Survivor, Big Brother, Project Runway and hundreds of other reality shows create FANS! Fans for the contestants, fans for the judges and fans for the host.
Who was Ryan Seacrest 10 years ago?
An important thing that one must do when building a business is to build a fan base. A group of people who love you and just 
go out and buy your product, promote your service and build fan bases and followings because they think you are fabulous.
And blog contests, like the ones from Blog Engage, are a great way for you to build that fan base.
Skeptical? Think about these common stories you read daily in the your newsfeeds both online and off.
The female tweenies love Justin Bieber or One Direction. They like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and buy their music releases, their promotional goods, their concert tickets and generally talk, talk and talk about them to their friends.
The tweenie boys are a little more reserved but they have their favorite singers and actors or movies too. How else did Transformers, Hungry Games and even Harry Potter grow to be so successful?
As adults we still have those we follow. In the entertainment world there are fans of Michael Jackson, Michael Buble, Antonia Banderas, Pavaroti, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Cats……… and so on.
Sports fans are fanatic about following their teams and players. They buy clothing, gadgets, widgets, books and attend events where their teams or heroes are featured, playing or just might drop by.
In business we have products from Apple, Microsoft, CokeCola, Pepsi, Sony, Guicci, Tag Hauer and Nike that we can be fans of.
People love or hate one of the competitors and only buy their favorite. Often they will go out of their way to slam the opposition product both on line and in person.
Advertisers and sponsors look to their fan bases to support their causes and interests. They link with and support the causes because they believe in them but also because they know that it helps them build a fan base.
Sponsors of this blog contest I am entering include :
Dragon Blogger Technology Blog, Jamie Northrup Web Consultant, Free Twitter Chat Custom Branding, Think Security, Greenhouse Accessories, Best Gardening Gifts, Our Crazy Deals, Commercial Greenhouse Kits, HCG Diet, SEO Company, E-Cigarette Products, Orchidflowerhq.com, US Gardening Directory and Home and Garden Web Directory.
Why are they sponsoring a blog contest?
To BUILD THEIR FAN BASE
A company like Dragon Blogger Technology Blog is looking to build up his fan base by reviewing technology and entertainment products. The more fans and visitors he gets to his site, the more products he can sell from his recommendations. And since his business depends on people trusting his recommendations, this is a wonderful way to provide service to his readers. It takes effort to review products and services intelligently and takes a great deal of passion in your topic to continue to give trusted information.
Another sponsor looking to build fans is Mini Greenhouses Kits. They want you to become a fan of their kits and talk about how you love their kits and use them. They have products to sell directly and need the fans to sell to and to refer and tell others about their great products and service.
And then there are 3 other garden and plant related sponsors (maybe even the same company) getting fans with different but related needs.
Products like Ecig Puff which promotes both a product and a social cause at the same time are keen to build an alternative for smokers. From a business point of view though, they are a product bought once and rarely bought again. After all once you quit smoking hopefully you will stop forever. So Ecig Puff needs raving fans to get new sales.
And HCG Diet Drops sponsors a blog contest like this because weight loss is one of the highest volume sales product range online today. Everyone knows someone who needs to lose some weight and in the plethora of weight loss options available, you need to make yourself seen and sponsorship is a great way to up your visibility.
Then you have the online experts like Jamie Northrup, Web Consultant, Social Media Optimization, and Think Security who are all helping you build that fan base safely and effectively and hopefully efficiently. And the better they are at their jobs, the better your business can be. But they need fans to make their business grow and sponsoring a competition on a site like Blog Engage helps them to help YOUR business.
And the Social Web Cafe is all about building that traffic through fans.
And then there is Guest BlogIt and it needs fans to help your business get fans. As a membership site, it is aimed at helping build the fan base in a different way. Membership sites and fan building is a discussion I will leave for another day.
Fans bases are the past, present and future of business.
Movies depend on fans. Stars depend on fans. Authors depend on fans. And all successful businesses have FANS.
Wave your fan. Like the businesses you believe in on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. Engage with them in other forums like LinkedIn and Pinterest.
One more lesson – the other day, Entertainment Tonight commented on the Twitter followers of Taylor Swift, and how she understood the importance of engaging with her fans. Talking to her fans is one of her most important activities.
Remember how Princess Diana had the ability to engage with the people and build a fan base. Her son, Prince William and his bride, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge are changing the global opinion of the British Royalty by their contact with their fan base.
Build your fan base. Write for competitions, Guest blog.
And remember, until people know you, even a little, they are unable to love you. Until you have a fan, you will be unable to build the relationships that lead to many transactions and growing your business.
And if you lack a fan base, contests and other sources are a great way to find someone who does have fans.
People became fans of Britain’s Got Talent and because they were watching the show, they heard Susan Boyle. She became a star and built her fan base because people followed Britain’s Got Talent first.
Will you get your blog into a contest soon? Note – you can miss getting into the contest because you find the rules too complicated but the message here is effective anyway.
Let me know what may be holding you back?
What are you doing today to get more fans?
Roberta
Passionate, Purposeful Performer
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May 18, 2012
Probably because we consider it beneath us to beg for fans. We think what we offer is fantastic and everyone should recognize same- even if they can’t find the site without someone ELSE recommending it- someone they know.
We need to reach the tipping point- where folks can find our stuff organically. Until then, network, build a fan base, and offer the best you have.
Roy A. Ackerman, PhD, EA recently posted..Tribute
Fair point Roy but either way it is still about a fan base – grown organically because we are good or grown with fertilizer because we are on America’s Got Talent for business
This is great, Roberta …. and the post is well written with the get-fans-now concept. I will consider joining the contest — or finding one at some point. If I’m writing, might as well get paid and rewarded for it
But then, having my fans read my posts — and share them — is enough of a reward.
Thanks for visiting PeggyLee. Fans are great
Hi Roberta, I’ve been on all sides of the fence when it comes to contests. I’ve done every job from contestant, sponsor, judge, media partner, host you name it – and I totally agree with you about how effective they are in winning fans. My favorite jobs are sponsor and media partner. The judging job is the worst because you don’t get as much visibility unless you were also a sponsor. Plus it’s really hard to judge bloggers on content. Especially with the Blog Engage contests when all of the content is so good, it’s hard to pick one contestant over another. Wonderful post Roberta, thanks for exploring the topic.
Ileane recently posted..How to Run a Successful Twitter Ad Campaign
As someone nominated as a top blogger for 2012 Ileane, I am grateful for your praise Ileane. I enjoy you blogs when I catch up. And looking at all the different blogs out there, fans maketh the success.
I agree Roberta we do need to build a fan base. That is the core of our business. However, I have participated and have had my own contests. While you can attract many new people that would not otherwise know you or have heard of you, many do fall off the ‘lists’ after they learn they didn’t win.
But I do think your message is a good one. Anyone wondering why they have a small list or wanting to get a larger following should consider contests as a way to build their visibility. Just be prepared to build a relationship with the new list of people. Maybe even coming up with another contest
Lynn Brown recently posted..Best Practices For A Successful Facebook Fan Page
Thanks Lynn. Great wisdom in what you say. People can be a bit fickle when they fail to achieve what they want. Hare and tortoise syndrome sometimes
Great post, Roberta. I have not particpated in very many blog contests but I run book giveaway contests on my blog. I ask the readers to leave a comment and follow my blog in order to enter the contest. I usually get a few new followers and it is a great way to share my wealth of books.
Yes I know because I got one of your giveaways Janette. The big thing with the contest is getting the fan base and you seem to have a pretty solid one of those that grows regularly.
Hello,
.
Thanks for sharing this. I do often think about competitions, but I’m curious as to how can I incorporate that into a website that already offers everything for free!! Also, I wish you had gone a step further and explained how we can format the competition, i.e how to introduce it, how to draw them in and how what sorts of things make it a competition (for example, is it how many times they re-tweet, etc.). I’m genuinely curious as I would love to apply this to my own website. Thanks again for drawing my attention to this
Zena Wehbe recently posted..The Best Fat Burning Foods and Techniques
Thanks Zena for dropping by. Formatting the competition is not yet in my expertise but if you join Blogger Engage, I am sure Brian will explain. What I really wanted people to understand with this blog was the importance of having a fan base. And competitions are one way of getting a fan base. Thanks for visiting