I’ve been extremely thankful for Patreon allowing me to be able to make videos and make a very modest living off of it. It’s never been a huge amount but it has been just enough that I can get by with that as well as commission work on the side.
However, over the course of the past few months, I’ve been losing patrons, including several generous ones, but haven’t been gaining much. I went from $389 this time last year to $281, not by any massive exodus but just small drops from people whose financial situation doesn’t allow them to support it anymore.
I’ve looked at some Patreon growth/success stories and I’ve considered a few things, but a lot of the advice I seem seems specific towards certain kinds of content (artist, musicians, streamers), but I haven’t seen anything that is useful for my kind of content (video creation). I know slumps are natural, especially this time of year, but this whole year has been sort of a slump and it seems that “waiting it out” just isn’t working.
What are some things that worked for you when your Patreon is in a slump?
Hello @SoberDwarf! Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m looking forward to hearing from other video creators as well, but wanted to chime in with a few ideas from the Patreon Creator Success team.
There are a few things that come to mind that can help boost your earnings. First, I’m curious how often you talk about Patreon, and whether you’re trying new things? It might be time to re-up on bringing on new patrons from your fan community. Is your Patreon link available in all the places your fans consume your content? On all social media? How often do you talk about membership? You can also share the benefits each time you fulfill them, or talk about cool community experiences you’re having in Discord. Maybe you could ask patrons for testimonials to share out.
Another thought is you could run a Special Offer for the holidays. We recently added an “offers” tab in your page editor, and there are links there to livestreams, a handbook, and a ton of info to get started and set a plan in place. A limited-time promotion can significantly boost earnings, and the end of the year/holidays are a great time to try this out. Maybe do a “year in review” and thank all your patrons, past and present, highlighting the projects you’ve completed, the videos you’ve made, and what their dollars have contributed to.
As far as benefits themselves- maybe feature patron names in the credits of your videos? Offer behind-the-scenes or extended takes, or host Q&A sessions, or just let your patrons ask questions and get more involved, or vote on content to create. Community engagement and patron recognition go a long way. Or, have you ever made stickers? That could be a great special offer!
Hope this is helpful- I’d love to hear if any of these feel like a good fit.
Hi @SoberDwarf! Fellow video creator here. I think plateaus or even slight slumps are the default state of being for most creators. It’s helpful for me to realize this because then a slump doesn’t mean I’m doing something wrong as much as it indicates that I’m not actively inviting/enticing people to join. Looking back at the past two years, you can see that my own earnings very much follow a “plateau then jump” pattern:
Aside from the serendipity of receiving support from a high-tiered patron, the other increases in revenue were a direct result of a lot of work where I promoted and invited as much and as often as I felt like I could. The things that seem to have worked the best for me personally (educational worksheets exclusive to Patreon) probably aren’t going to be as helpful for a gaming channel, but as @laurab mentioned, shoutout/thanks to patrons in credits of every video are super valuable because they both educate your current fans about Patreon and are a simple and effective way to connect with and thank your current patrons.
Refining your content on Patreon so that it’s something your fans will value/appreciate is important too. Personally, I haven’t found exclusive videos to be much of a draw - when I put an unlisted video with a link on a patron-only post so I can see how many people view the video, the numbers are very low–only about 2-5% of my total patrons. I follow a few other larger YouTubers on Patreon and from what I can tell from their feeds, most of their patrons don’t watch their bonus patron-only videos either. This doesn’t mean I don’t ever do patron-only videos, I still do – but only if it’s something easy that doesn’t take much time on my end. Sharing an outtake or alternate version etc.
Tone is another thing to consider too. When you mention Patreon in videos if you can do so with enthusiasm (thanking current patrons) or a sincere recommendation (“If you like these videos you’ll love the bonus content on Patreon”), I think that will be much more effective than a request of “Please support me.” Not that there’s anything wrong with requests – I just notice that I’m much more likely to consider pledging to another creator if my introduction to their Patreon campaign falls into the former two categories rather than the latter. I hope some of that is helpful!
Wow @ScienceMom - awesome advice! Thank you so much for sharing! I love that you highlight the potential need to revise your benefits and entice patrons in a new way. That’s a great strategy!
Also completely agree wit you about the tone. Enthusiasm and authenticity in the invitation are so crucial!
Very helpful! As a new creator, I feel bad when I lose people, feeling like I’m not doing enough. But reading this helped me understand it more. Thank you
Thank you