How To Get Things Done (my tips on how to grow your patreon yay)

Get More Patrons
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Hi everybody!
It is my first time to post here. I am Kaila, a kawaii lifestyle blogger / content creator based in Japan. I make kawaii journaling and Japan travel videos.

I drafted a blog entry on my main website and thought it might be useful to any creator out there.

I started patreon last April 2018 (first official payout month was May) and from 300 USD per month, I was able to grow my creative business to 3,500-4,000 USD per month with the help of loyal patrons around the world. I wanted to convert the eyeballs I get from youtube (i don’t really earn there a lot, it’s more like community service lol) to something more financially helpful for me since I have grand dreams in growing my brand.

I have been creating content for a long time and my category is actually a niche one (kawaii journaling). Since many of my supporters love going to Japan, I also make Japan / Tokyo travel guides. Through patreon, I was able to afford and reach my studio goal (I did all content creation / packing of rewards in a tiny Japanese apartment) before.

These are the things that helped me:

  • Regular posts in a week + REPLYING to your patrons (i allot 5-10 minutes a day to just respond. I don’t respond at different times)
  • I created a non-patreon community for those who have a similar hobby and we’re 1,500+ people there now: fb.com/groups/kawaiijournaling
  • Social media breaks from instagram (to divert traffic from instagram to go to my patreon)
  • Livestream updates every month
  • Transparency with reward updates / shipping updates
  • Making use of the patreon stories
  • MONTHLY reward previews
  • Tweaking tiers once in a while (I used to only have like 4, but my patrons love different themes / kinds of rewards. They also have different budgets so it is best to have back-up tiers for them if they cannot afford a certain big reward)
  • I put limit in some of my tiers to prevent them from changing so often. If they leave that tier, they won’t have a slot anymore.
  • Poll / asking for honest feedback. It is very important to listen to them and to take constructive criticism nicely. My patreon improved a lot after I applied their tips too!
  • Updated Overview / index page every month
  • Thanking my patrons whatever the amount of their pledge after the payments have been processed
  • Using the money earned to reinvest and grow the business. I know have a good office printer, iPad Pro, lighting setup, and other things needed in the studio.
  • Basically being 100% dedicated and setting SMART goals & continuously improving my craft (trying to learn new video editing techniques, learning silhouette cameo, etc.).

These tips may seem like time-consuming but trust me, these will pay off.

  • If it is hard to do creative work full-time, have another non-creative job that will just financially support you FIRST. If it is an admin-related job, the better. You will learn from there (to have a successful creative business, it’s not only the actual creation / art that will make the support you… marketing / accounting / other aspects also count). If you demand your art / creative work to pay for everything, it will just cause you stress and discouragement. Be practical first and for now, make time for the job that you really want to focus on in the future (content creation, etc.). I recommend reading the book “BIG MAGIC”.

Anyway, I think I might have written too much lol but yeah, dedication is the key for patreon success.

To the curious, here is my patreon: http://patreon.com/rainbowholic

Thanks for reading and I wish you guys the best!
<3,
Kaila

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I think these are all great tips, but I’m especially curious about where you mentioned taking social media breaks. Would you expand on how you do that or share a couple example post links? There are times when I kind of have to take breaks and it would be nice to be able to spin those in a productive way. :slightly_smiling_face:

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hello! thanks for the response. i took a break on instagram before and i explained it here: http://the.rainbowholic.me/personal/how-ive-been-x-why-i-create/

i think it is effective to have breaks every after 3-4 months so that you can really just focus on your craft. instagram can be helpful but most of the time, it took my productivity time haha. ^^

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I think you should edit that line to make it more clear, as I was gonna ask you about it too.
Thanks for the tips. In my case, as an erotic content creator, it’s difficult to gain that kind of bond or relation with my patrons, but I’ll try to apply though.

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This is really helpful!

Can you talk a bit more about your livestreaming? What service do you use? How do you make use of the livestream?

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Okay, I understood it as you taking a break and somehow funneling people from Instagram to your Patreon. But breaks are definitely necessary sometimes.

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I just use Youtube! I prepare an unlisted video the day before and hype the livestream / ask Qs for the Q&A a week before. I just stream using an iPad / macbook. For journaling videos, I use my phone with setup.

Livestream is for updating everybody regarding rewards and how I plan to use the earnings for the next months (upgrading gear, etc.). It gets you closer to patrons which builds better patron-creator relationship in my opinion :slight_smile:

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thanks for the comment! i had a 2-month break on instagram and i became the most active on patreon (through stories, public posts, etc.) and managed to convert lurkers to patrons :slight_smile: i think it’s a good strategy to try and good for some mental health break! good luck!

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yes definitely! breaks are really needed so you can somehow pause and have chance to reassess everything. :slight_smile:

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Thank you. That’s helpful to hear how you do that!

And how do you make use of “Patreon stories”?

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Great tips! Thanks! I’m trying to launch my patreon by this May. Thanks for the inspiration

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thank you so much for sharing @rainbowholic :slight_smile: these are tips lots of people can benefit from.

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Thank you for this! I love these ideas and bullet points. I have a couple questions; if you don’t have time to answer I understand! If you do, I sure appreciate your time and sharing your learnings and insights!! What are MONTHLY reward previews? Thanking patrons – is this when they first pledge you send an individual DM via patreon or is this every month after payments are processed? What day of the week do you schedule your livestreams and how often or in advance do you notify patrons (via posts? via socials?) about the upcoming livestream? I created an index of my posts, do you copy that with updates and repost it every month? I’ve had some issues with Lens and it’s such a short-lived thing, how often do you use it and is it to preview posts, or in a much more spontaneous fashion? Thanks again, Kaila!! ~Kari (making music in New Mexico :slight_smile: )

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