Paying for Fans?

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This post is also available in: French

Someone sent me a link to this piece in the Guardian yesterday, “Is there any point in ‘buying’ your fans?“. It’s a pretty open and shut case really, they mention a few companies who, for a nominal fee, will boost your social media numbers up, even chart sales. I’m not going to re-write the article, it’s worth a read so you should check it out, instead, I’m going to explain what really is going on here and why you shouldn’t do it. It has to do with psychology.

Social Proof

It boils down to social proof. A lot of you will know the concept but might not have heard it called that before. An example of social proof might be, when you see an unusually big crowd gathered together as if something is happening. You instinctively want to check it out. Celebrity endorsements are also another good example of how marketing companies use social proofing to get us interested in products or services. You think others find this interesting, there’s a chance you will too. The closer someone can identify with the crowd/person for e.g. with the celebrity endorsement, the more of an impact social proofing has. Facebook uses social proofing to the nth degree, too much for me to detail now in this post but it’s ability to continually update you with what your peers, friends and family like, the companies, the products, even the music, has a profound influence on you whether you realise it or not.

The enemy of social proof is congruency

So a band has paid a company to get them x amount of followers/fans on Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. Maybe you have thought to yourself, ‘wow, these guys have 90k people following them, I wonder what the fuss is all about’. A surplus in fans will never make up for the quality of your music and that’s why the enemy of social proof is congruency. If people do check your music out, they’re going to asses the music from the benchmarks of their tastes. If they listen, they’re probably going to tell themselves they’re not sure how 90k people like this music. If your music isn’t deserving of a significant fan base, it won’t be congruent with the numbers and it will eventually put people off.

Surely it’s worked out by getting people to listen?

You could accept the argument that social proofing created intrigue or interest and indeed encouraged more plays. Something, I can’t dispute. But if a band were to invest their time and energy into cultivating their own fan base they’re going to reap larger rewards. Fans are passionate people. They love telling their friends about great new music and that passion is contagious. Social proof would be at work once more, but this time authentic. If you were to buy your fans, they would be passive not passionate. If people were paid micro pence to be a fan of your Facebook group, they’re not doing it because they like you, they’re doing it for the money. They sure aren’t going to wax lyrical to their friends about you and this is why ultimately buying a fan base is a dead end.

Further reading:
If you’re interested in reading more about social proof and other methods of influence, you should start with this book: “Influence: the psychology of persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini.

This post was written by Anthony Herron.

Copyright 2011 Help for Bands.  All rights reserve.