I’ve had an absolute slowdown - not complaining, since my first couple of days exceeded my expectations, but yesterday I had zero movement, no new patrons or tier upgrades. I’m following the calendar in the handbook to the letter - I find it really comforting to just be following a plan and filling in my own text, rather than trying to generate AND execute a plan.
So yesterday I focused on updating Lens throughout the day, which I had actually never done before. It was fun! I happened to have a wacky travel day that started at 3:45 am in Austin and ended with a concert in Connecticut, so there was a lot to post about along the way. Even though it didn’t bring in any new subscribers or updates, I like the fact that I was providing some content to existing supporters.
I am a little scared that it’s Done; that I’ve shaken loose everyone who cares to join and that for the next 10 days I’ll just be annoying people online. But I know that’s just my insecurity gremlin coming along trying to hold me back, so I’m going to shake it loose and keep following the promo plan in the handbook.
I’m about $20 a month up, but wary that most of this is current supporters upgrading from $2 to $3 to get the special order plus ONE $10 supporter which is lovely but those always feel precarious, like they’re more likely to disappear than all the $1s
I’m deliberately taking this weekend off to regroup before I do another full week of promo, and we’ll see. I definitely could see myself doing a Special Offer once or twice a year, and I have better ideas about how I’d utilise it in the future. I think it might be better for me to do that than to have a lot of milestone-unlocking future features because I’m already pouring so much into my Patreon, content-wise.
Hey @tansyrr, I totally hear ya. My first few days went very well, but I haven’t had a new patron or upgrade since Wednesday night. I feel kinda stalled out.
I like the thought of taking the weekend off from heavy promo and re-grouping before the final push. Here are the things I’m thinking about trying/focusing on:
Sending thank you notes to all my new patrons/upgrades (focusing on gratitude and building those relationships)
Setting up an ad through my music FB page targeted specifically at people who subscribe to my newsletter
Since I’m following the schedule laid out in the Handbook and it advises a “preview” of the upcoming milestone for tomorrow, I’ll probably post a screenshot of the enamel pin design proof, just to show that it’s underway but more as a progress report than a super hard plug
On Monday, I’ll re-send my newsletter to everyone who didn’t open it last week (this is a feature that MailChimp and MailerLite offer that I’ve found to be useful)
In the first few days, I had an almost equal split of new subscribers and folks who jumped from $1/$3 --> $5. It’s a HUGE jump. If even half of them stick with me, I’ll be psyched. I’m planning to make sure my October content is extra compelling and to communicate clearly how much the support helps me make new music, etc, in an attempt to keep people on board. Fingers crossed
I’m currently a little disheartened. I have been spruiking daily across several social media platforms since last Sunday and beyond one person ask me about the content of a particular tier in a way that sounded like they might be keen but nothing has come of that yet, I’ve not a peep of an additional patron since. [sighs]
I’m taking this as a “At least it has kicked me forward with projects I have wanted to do for ages and it has motivated me to setup and begin twitch-streaming my desk when I draw.”
I shall chirp on into the void with optimism. Though the lack of response thus far is a bit fatiguing. I’m updating my banner every few days and using that to help promote on different platforms.
If anyone would like to vote for a duck design please do! You would make my day to see which one is favoured
Most of my current patrons will tell me in person or message me on other social media. Crickets chirp a lot in my Patreon community - which is one of the things I’d hoped to alleviate through my campaign.
I was thinking about telling y’all about my broken hand, because it’s keeping me from being as active as I’d like (typing is a little aggravating with a cast!!), but it also just dawned on me that I should share this post I made on my Patreon page about how my patrons’ support helps keep me moving forward financially and energetically. A couple of fellow creators said they appreciated what I put into words here, so I thought y’all might appreciate it too! It all happened at a perfect time to make this post to remind current patrons how valuable they are before I launched my special offer.
I’ve been launching across all my platforms - it’s taking me some time to make all the banners. So far, three new patrons, woohoo!
This took me to a new milestone goal, so I will also be launching a new weekly livestream this week! Ack!
Today, I did a FB live, an IG live, greeted my new patrons on Bonjoro, and tested YouTube live for the first time. Phew!
here’s my Patron home page https://www.patreon.com/nancyshanteau - I’m not in love with my graphics, but I did all this by the seat of my pants, and “my byself” as my friend Susie used to say.
Thanks for all the support Laura and Patreon-crew! I’m excited that this is going to make a big difference to widen my audience beyond my current 1:1 clients.
NEWEST UPDATE: Re-sends in MailChimp to all the members of my email lists that didn’t open the first email, Several contacts with patrons by phone, email, and FB , another new patron and VERY CLOSE to the next milestone goal! That has me scrambling to get ready to deliver those benefits!
Hang in there, everybody! You’re all doing so great.
Promoting is HARD. My favourite thing about this Special Offer format is the limit of 2 weeks because that helps a lot, knowing you can go all-out (or as all-out as we are comfortable with) and then collapse and not do any promotion for a while.
Running month-long Kickstarters is exhausting and full on but at least (if it succeeds) you end up with a massive result/finance for a major project, and then you can STOP. I’ve struggled a lot in the past with how and when and how often to promote my Patreon because of that lack of deadline. It’s easy to let it slide completely. So I definitely see myself doing occasional bursts of Special Offer in the future if this is to be a regular feature.
Kameron Hurley and Tobias Buckell are two authors I follow on Twitter already because they’re great, but I love the fact that they regularly put Patreon promotion tweets in their feed – it inspires me to see other writers doing this as a matter of course because it makes me feel better about doing it myself.
Hey all! Adam here from Patreon’s Product Team! I’ve noticed a few folks have mentioned that they saw some slowdown in momentum after the first few days. As someone who has worked in/around marketing for 15+ years I can say that this is pretty common – typically limited time offerings tend to follow a graph that looks like a smile. In the first few days you get a lot of action… then as things get close to expiring you get a lot more action. It’s why retailers send emails when they launch a sale AND a big push at the end of the sale (“Time is running out!”). All this to say – keep talking about it. Remember that 10-25% of your audience will see any given post on social media and that’s a generous estimate. This is the last week for many of you and you should see more momentum towards the end if you keep reminding folks that time is running out. Best of luck everyone and can’t wait to share what we’ve seen from Patreon’s side after this first push ends!
I’m so sorry to hear about your broken paw! Are you able to voice-dictate any posts? That might be helpful? If you’re as shameless as me, you could super-impose your countdown numbers onto your X-ray (5 more days! 4 more days! etc
In seriousness, though, that’s a bummer about your hand. It’s such an unsettling feeling when the native structure of your body is compromised. I hope you’re feeling alright and mend up smoothly and quickly!
xo
Becca
Hello @rebecca and @thegaytheistmanifesto - at the moment, there isn’t an automated way to gather Patron addresses when it hasn’t been a requirement of a tier previously. The best way to do this now is to group message them in the Relationship Manager, and ask them to “update their pledge.” Here’s an article from our Help Center that clearly walks them through the steps that I recommend you share: https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000126286-How-do-I-edit-my-membership-
I hear you, have complete compassion, and am incredibly impressed with your optimism while experiencing the feelings of being disheartened. So glad you shared with us.
. I got three new patrons right away, and none since. I’m not despairing as I’ve been discussing what I’m doing with a bunch of folx and I’m pretty sure more people are going to take me up on this offer.
Thanks for helping with this process, I never would have thought to do this on my own, and it really inspired me to change my tiers and create a new way for folx to engage with my material. I reached a milestone, and will be launching a weekly livestream this Friday! It’s happening!
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