PDF Summary:Superfans, by Pat Flynn

Have you ever wondered why some companies have legions of die-hard fans but most companies don't? Superfans explains the process that turns ordinary customers into passionate, lifelong fans.

Author Pat Flynn is an entrepreneur, podcaster, and blogger, with over 300,000 subscribers on YouTube. His podcast, Smart Passive Income, was named one of Forbes’s top podcasts for entrepreneurs. He draws from personal experience to let you in on the strategies he's used to create a thriving community of superfans. He argues that the quality of your fans' devotion matters much more to the success of your brand than the mere quantity of customers.

In this guide, you'll find a collection of strategies you can start applying today to build community, engagement, and enthusiasm around your brand. Along the way, you'll learn about the value of staging live events, the importance of word choice in your marketing, and why you might want to hire your biggest fans.

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However, take care in how you use fear—it's only motivating if there's a clear "safety" position a person can move to. If you don't provide a safe alternative, fear can actually paralyze people towards inaction or avoidance. This could even motivate them away from your brand. Furthermore, fear-based marketing may turn customers away because this is a commonly known marketing tactic. They may lose trust in your brand if they feel you are trying to manipulate them.

Value Add #3: Provide Fast Results

Flynn argues that one of the best ways you can provide value to your customers is by offering a few quick and easy wins—that is, immediate improvements to a customer’s life that will make them feel a sense of excitement and success. For example, if your company provides financial advice, don't lead your pitch with a budget strategy that saves your customer money over a year.Instead, find something that most people overpay for without realizing it, which could save your customers money right now.

The quick win doesn't have to be your core product—you can still sell regular products alongside your “quick win” product. The quick win is a great way to generate interest and attract new customers. Flynn explains that he typically includes quick wins like these in newsletters, blog posts, or other forms of communication that are easily accessible for customers who are not yet deeply engaged with the company.

(Shortform note: Neuroscientists shed some light on why fast results are so attractive and motivate customers to come back to a brand. Your brain's natural reward system evolved to reinforce behaviors that contribute to your well-being and get you to do them over and over again. If you do something that creates a feeling of “success,” your brain will naturally compel you to repeat that action in the hopes of repeating its result. Therefore, when you give your customer an easy win, the feeling of success will cause the same kind of reinforcement, motivating your customer to come back to your company again and again.)

Strategy #2: Provide a Personal Connection

Flynn asserts that your fans will also have a positive experience with your brand if they feel a sense of personal connection. This includes feeling like the company and its staff understand them, want them to feel welcome, and even want to get to know them as people. When people feel like their relationship with a brand is more like a person-to-person relationship and less like a strictly business relationship, they will be more willing to come back to the brand for more positive experiences. This creates opportunities for positive emotional experiences that will help them ascend the levels of fandom. Flynn provides four strategies for creating a personal connection with your fans: learning their language, sharing authentically, reciprocating when people reach out, and getting to know your regulars.

(Shortform note: While it might be surprising that Flynn suggests a relationship with a brand can feel like a personal relationship, this is actually quite common. Psychologists have even given this phenomenon a name: a parasocial relationship. This is when one party invests time, effort, and emotion into the relationship, while the other party is scarcely aware of the other’s existence. People typically enter into parasocial relationships with celebrities, social media influencers, or content creators. However, parasocial relationships have become much more widespread as social media has made it easier for people to follow others online, and many companies have learned how to leverage the potential of these relationships for their brands.)

Connection Creator #1: Learn Their Language

Flynn's first connection creator is to match your language and word choice to your desired customers. Recall that Flynn advises you to solve a problem for your customers. As you research, he advises you not just to find a problem, but also to find out what language your potential customers use to talk about this problem. Using the same language as your customers demonstrates that you understand their needs—because you create a more personal connection with someone when they feel their problems are understood. Recall that Flynn asks you to search for problems to solve online. As you conduct these searches, pay close attention to the specific language people use and the main themes of their discussion.

For example, let's say your brand’s value lies in providing a service faster than your competitors. When customers complain about the time this service generally takes, how do they refer to the problem? Do they typically call it "lag-time," "down-time," "wait-time," or maybe "delay?" If you notice a pattern, try to use their terms. This will not only make it easier to market your product or service, but it will signal to your customers that your brand really "gets" them, creating a positive impression.

(Shortform note: Research in sociolinguistics sheds light on why it's so important to use specific wording—like slang, jargon, regional dialects, or educated diction—when connecting to others. Humans use word choice to interpret whether a message is coming from within their “group”—their tribe, so to speak—or outside of it. People are much more likely to trust messaging that sounds like it's coming from within their group. Therefore, word choice plays an enormous role in whether customers will trust your message.)

Connection Creator #2: Share Authentically

Flynn argues that sharing your authentic self and interests online can foster a strong connection with your customers, leading them to treat their relationship with your brand as a personal relationship. This happens because when you share your interests—even those not related to your brand—your customers are more likely to find something they have in common with you—or whoever is the face of the brand. For example, sharing things about your background, like your hometown, extracurricular activities in high school, or favorite childhood movie could all provide points of connection with your customers.

How Sharing Builds Trust

Psychologists have found that, as well as highlighting commonalities, sharing authentically creates connections because it builds trust. In The Power of Vulnerability, Brené Brown explains that being open with others creates trust because it gives others a sense of your feelings and motivations. The more someone else feels like they understand these feelings and motivations, the more likely they are to consider you trustworthy, and therefore buy into your messaging and brand.

However, you should decide for yourself how personal you are willing to go in sharing things with your audience. Some entrepreneurs have successfully made personal struggles part of their brand, but business experts caution this works best when the struggle is somehow aligned with the goals of your fan community. For example, someone selling fitness advice might discuss overcoming their past struggles with weight loss.

Connection Creator #3: Reciprocate When People Reach Out

When customers make an effort to reach out, Flynn argues that it is very important to acknowledge them. People experience a personal connection when they feel seen and heard. If someone reaches out to your brand and their attention isn’t reciprocated, this can leave them feeling rejected and ignored, decreasing their willingness to emotionally invest in your brand. Your reciprocation could take the form of a handshake in a conference, a response to an email, or simply a “like” or comment on a social media post.

As your brand grows, you may not have time to do this for everyone, but you can also hire people to help manage the load. However, Flynn warns against having your staff members pretend to be you, if you are the face of your brand. Your fans may experience this as a betrayal of trust and turn against your brand.

(Shortform note: Psychologists have found that one of the most important reasons to reciprocate attention is not just the positive feelings you can instill in your customers, but also the deeply negative feelings you can avoid. When someone reaches out to you and their attention isn't reciprocated, this can leave them feeling ignored. Psychologists have found that feeling ignored can be profoundly painful, causing feelings of self-doubt and a questioning of personal worth. They find it can even change your sensory perceptions, causing the world to feel "quieter," and that many people even prefer confrontation and argument over being overlooked. Clearly, these are not feelings you want people to associate with your brand experience.)

Connection Creator #4: Get To Know Your Regulars

Flynn recommends you identify customers who keep coming back and learn about them to show them what they mean to the company. People feel especially seen, heard, and welcomed when someone remembers who they are. When people are already loyal to a brand, recognizing and remembering them will create the positive experience of a personal connection that may help them continue up the levels of fandom.

If you're running a store or a restaurant, you’ll know who keeps coming back. However, if your business is online, keep an eye out for customers who frequently engage with your social media or respond to surveys. Of course, you won't be able to get to know every customer on a one-on-one basis, but you can still make the effort to remember regular customers.

How Do You Remember All Those Names?

Dale Carnegie (How To Win Friends and Influence People) explains why remembering someone's name can have such a powerful impact on their loyalty to your brand. He argues that everyone wants to feel important. By remembering someone's name and small details about them, you show that they are important to you. This gives them a positive emotional experience, which—as we’ve discussed throughout—can accumulate with other positive experiences and deepen their loyalty to your brand.

However, remembering all those names and details can be challenging, especially in industries where you have a high volume of customers, or sell something purchased infrequently. Therefore, customer service experts recommend these four tips for remembering your customers’ names.

1. Make an effort to notice people's names. You can’t remember it if you don’t notice it.

2. When you first hear a customer's name, repeat it back as soon as possible.

3. Associate each name with something your customer tells you about themselves.

4. Write the names down. Keep a list of names you'd like to remember.

Strategy #3: Foster Community

In addition to forming personal connections with your fans, Flynn argues that you should work to help your fans form personal connections with each other—by building a vibrant fan community. In fact, he argues that the connections your fans form with each other may actually be more important than the ones they form with the brand.

Communities create positive experiences with your brand because they give people a sense of belonging. They also provide social stimulation and the opportunity to create meaningful relationships based on their shared interest in the brand. Your fan community will also draw customers into deeper and more sustained engagement with the brand as people are naturally drawn to thriving, vibrant communities. Flynn offers two strategies for building communities: coordinating a live event and giving your fan base a name.

(Shortform note: Flynn argues that a thriving community is essential to building a base of engaged superfans. However, business experts caution you to focus on creating communities that first and foremost fulfill the needs of their members. They argue that many failed efforts to build communities around brands start from the premise that creating a strong brand will draw in a community. This leads companies to treat community building as an exercise in marketing, rather than placing the needs of community members at the center of the business strategy.)

Community Builder #1: Coordinate a Live Event

Flynn explains that one of the most effective ways to get your fans connected to each other is to schedule a live event. Live events create opportunities for fans to meet each other, find things in common, and bond over their shared interests in the brand. They also provide fans with a lot of excitement and stimulation, which can be a positive experience in itself. Flynn suggests that your live event could take the form of a conference, a live Q&A session, or even something fun like a concert or a festival—so long as it makes sense for your brand.

(Flynn explains that large gatherings provide opportunities for your fans to bond with each other. Chip and Dan Heath (The Power of Moments) explain why shared experiences can create such a powerful bond. They write that human nature compels people to naturally synchronize their emotions with the people around them. Therefore, if you are with a group of people who feel excited and enthusiastic about what they are experiencing together, you will likely feel more excited and enthusiastic yourself.)

Community Builder #2: Give the Fan Base a Name

Flynn argues that giving your fan base a name makes people feel like they’re part of a team, deepening their sense of community. Ideally, your fans will come up with a name organically, but if they don't, try one out and see if it sticks. For example, Flynn dubbed his fan base, "Team Flynn."

Feeling like you're on a team not only creates a shared sense of identity and belonging, but it also gives fans a reason to root for the company's success. Much like sports fans who feel personally victorious when their team wins, fostering a team mindset in your community can reward your fans with the positive emotional experience of feeling the company's successes.

(Shortform note: Social psychologists explain why something as simple as a team name can exert a powerful influence on people's behavior. Humans are hardwired to strongly identify with groups. Psychologists have found that even when test subjects are divided into groups randomly—even when they know the process was random—they will still prefer members of their groups and form closer connections with them than with test subjects assigned to other groups. In The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene explains that this stems from our universal need for belonging. Humans feel safer, more secure, and more comfortable whenever they feel they belong to a community or group.)

Strategy #4: Create Memorable Experiences

Flynn also argues that you can instill positive emotions in your fans by creating memorable experiences. When your fans have fond memories of engaging with a brand, their time and energy invested in the brand will feel more meaningful. This creates a strong incentive to continue investing in your brand and accumulating experiences that propel them up the levels of fandom. Flynn recommends three methods for creating meaningful and memorable experiences: breaking up the routine, giving fans a challenge, and offering exclusive perks.

(Shortform note: Consumer behavior experts explain just what makes an experience memorable. People remember experiences not because they were satisfying or pleasant, but because they stand out as emotional peaks against ordinary emotional experiences. Emotional peaks are moments of extreme emotion beyond what people can experience on an average day. They can be positive or negative, but to create a positive experience you want to focus on moments of extreme excitement or delight. Some researchers call this "the wow effect.")

Experience Creator #1: Break Up the Routine

Flynn argues you must add variety to your fans' experience of the brand. Even the most effective and exciting strategies to engage fans can become boring when repeated endlessly without variation. Shaking up the routine will look different depending on your engagement strategies, but in general, Flynn encourages you to be spontaneous and try new things. Try hosting a fan art contest, incorporating humor into your weekly newsletter, letting customers vote on a new product, or testing out a new format for your content. Even if your experiments don't work, they will, at minimum, prevent your best ideas from becoming boring through endless repetition.

(Shortform note: Psychological research can shed some light on why letting fans get bored can be destructive for your brand. Boredom is a powerful motivator: When someone experiences boredom, it's like a subconscious alarm going off that tells them to start doing something else with their time. Therefore boredom has an enormous power to motivate customers away from your brand. Keeping things stimulating as Flynn suggests can lower this risk.)

Experience Creator #2: Give Fans a Challenge

Flynn argues that you can give your fans a memorable experience by offering them a difficult challenge to overcome. People often find challenges meaningful and rewarding because they have to push themselves, activating reserves of motivation and drive they might not generally use. People usually remember rewarding experiences because of the emotional high that accompanies a feeling of "success." As an example, a bookstore could create a book club where customers had to read a new book every week, or a gym could create a rigorous training challenge.

(Shortform note: Motivational experts can help us understand why it's important to make your challenges difficult. They highlight that people find challenging projects more rewarding for two reasons: 1) They develop their skills and abilities, and 2) achieving something difficult can become a source of pride and self-esteem. However, writing in Atomic Habits, James Clear cautions against making something so difficult that it simply frustrates your fans. He writes that our brains seek an optimal level of challenge: too easy and we're bored, but too hard and people will often give up. As you develop your company's challenge or tweak it year after year, consider soliciting feedback on how difficult or easy it was, and whether your fans need a change of pace.)

Challenges also provide an opportunity for fans to bond more deeply with the fan community. When someone has to struggle jointly with other people, their shared experience of struggle becomes something important they have in common.

(Shortform note: In The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath concur with Flynn's idea that shared struggle creates important bonding experiences. However, they add one important guideline in crafting challenges. People don't just bond with each other when they're doing something hard, but also when they're working together to contribute to an important purpose. This is one of the reasons why so many people participate in charity marathons. In planning a challenge, also consider your company's mission and what purpose your fans can contribute to.)

Experience Creator #3: Offer Exclusive Perks

Flynn recommends that you can also give people memorable experiences by offering exclusive perks to your most invested fans. This creates positive and memorable experiences by making fans feel special and important. For example, many conventions and live events offer "VIP access," which offers guests access to exclusive spaces or chances to meet personally with celebrities.

People not only look back on these exclusive experiences fondly, but they also like to talk about them with others because it elevates their status. This also shows other fans what they could experience, creating a draw towards these exclusive perks, and with it a draw to deepen their fandom and invest in the brand.

(Shortform note: Many psychologists argue that status is a universal human drive. They assert that while not everyone desires the same source of status (money, popularity, attractiveness, authority, etc.), everyone desires status in some form. This is because status is tightly linked to feeling valued by others. People tend to value those with status. So a lack of status can be extremely painful because it makes people feel like they have no worth to others. This explains how offering exclusive perks can be a draw: By treating someone as if they have a high status, you make them feel socially valued as a person.)

Strategy #5: Get Your Fans Involved

Flynn explains that fans will become much more attached to your brand if they feel like they are somehow part of the company, that is, they identify with the company and feel a sense of personal ownership. This motivates them to continue investing emotionally and financially in your brand. Flynn offers four methods for making your fans part of the company: letting fans make decisions, giving them a look behind the scenes, sharing the spotlight, and hiring your superfans.

Involvement Opportunity #1: Let Fans Make Decisions

Flynn argues that people love a chance to make decisions for a company. When they help steer the direction of the brand, even in small ways, your fans will feel like they have contributed to the company. This sense of contribution gives fans a feeling of ownership of the brand and its successes. You could hold a poll to let fans vote on a new product, logo, or live event. Even small decisions like fonts and website designs can instill this feeling of contribution.

Flynn explains this tactic has two other added benefits.

• This also helps build the “team” mentality in which your customers see themselves as being on the company's side.
• This also gives them the feeling that your company listens to them and that their voice matters.

(Shortform note: Flynn explains how letting customers make decisions can make them feel more attached to the brand, but this practice also leads to a stronger connection by creating a reciprocal sense of trust. When you let your fans make decisions, this shows people you trust them. Studies have shown that people are much more likely to trust those who trust them first. Researchers have found that trust is usually subconscious, and has to be earned. However, once you earn someone's trust, they are hardwired to continue trusting you. Letting your fans make a decision shows them that you trust their judgment, thereby showing them that they can trust your brand.)

Involvement Opportunity #2: Let Fans Look Behind the Scenes

Flynn explains that fans love knowing how things are made. This is why factory tours and "behind the scenes" movie documentaries are so popular. Seeing the process gives customers a sense of connection, not just to the product or service, but also to the people and organization behind it. You could achieve this by guiding a video-tour of your office or production space, highlighting some of your employees on company media, or creating a chart of your production process. This will give your fans more reason to emotionally invest in the company.

(Shortform note: Understanding the neurological nature of curiosity can explain how “behind the scenes'' knowledge creates positive experiences for your customers. Though not all scientists agree on a working definition of curiosity, most describe it as a state where knowledge-seeking becomes active. Studies have found that when we are in a state of curiosity, obtaining the desired knowledge activates our reward centers—releasing chemicals that provide positive feelings. Therefore, by arousing your customers’ curiosity and then satisfying it, you provide the positive feelings that move your customers up the levels of fandom.)

Involvement Opportunity #3: Share the Spotlight

Flynn recommends prominently featuring success stories of loyal customers in your online presence. People will feel more involved with the company when they have an opportunity to represent it. Find enthusiastic customers who have stuck with the company and feature their pictures and stories on your website, advertisements, or social media accounts. Making superfans the face of your company provides four key benefits:

1. The fans who are featured will feel like they are part of the team and become even more attached to the brand.
2. The fans who use the service but aren't featured may find these stories of success with the product more relatable than conventional advertising.
3. This will give other fans a reason to invest more, because they think someday they might be featured, too.
4. This will reinforce a sense of community. When you show your fans that it's not all about you and your company, but instead it’s about the entire community of fans, this will instill a stronger sense that your fandom really is a team.

Creating Roles for Your Fan Community

Brand community experts confirm Flynn's assertion that the strongest communities are not those centered on their leaders, but those that center members and provide them with important roles. Researchers build on Flynn's ideas for community member roles by identifying many ways members contribute to brand communities. Here we’ll take a look at a few common roles in fan communities, and how they relate to the benefits of making fans the face of your brand.

Evangelizers are your brand's fan ambassadors. Making them the face of the organization will give them a larger platform to spread the company message and convince peers who may be skeptical of conventional advertising.

Customizers try to improve the brand and community by bringing new ideas to the table and calling attention to problems that need to be addressed. Making them the face of your community can show other community members that their input is welcome and important.

Supporters are team players and facilitators. They are attentive to a community's needs and move as needed to fulfill them. Making supporters the face of the company shows fans that there are many ways to contribute, and that their contributions will be recognized and appreciated.

Involvement Opportunity #4: Hire Your Superfans

Lastly, Flynn writes that your fans will feel very involved if you hire them to actually join the company. In fact, your superfans may become some of your best employees. Because they are already committed to the success of the company, they can translate that passion into meaningful contributions. You can start looking to hire superfans by identifying those who are eager to contribute to the company and reach out to them when job opportunities open up. Or you can simply advertise your openings on channels that superfans would follow and see who shows up.

Hiring your fans also shows other fans that you are serious about fan contributions and open to really making this a team effort. This will remind fans that their emotional investments in the brand will be rewarded, inspiring them to continue investing and moving up the levels of fandom.

The Value of Employee Alignment

Hiring experts agree with Flynn on the importance of hiring people who want to contribute to your company. They stress that one of the most important considerations in hiring is alignment: whether an employee shares the company's goals, mission, and business philosophy. When employees aren't aligned with your company's mission, they will put in less effort and leave the company faster, requiring you to spend even more on recruitment and training.

However, some business experts advise that this consideration doesn’t end at the hiring stage. In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras argue that successful companies continuously invest in building their workplace culture. They immerse employees in their leadership philosophies and goals to maintain alignment and devotion year after year.