Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Huge Fan!
Tuesday’s posts focus on how fandom fuels business and the people turning passion into something bigger. Fridays are for the heart. Stories from the fans. Why they stay, who they've met, and the love that keeps pulling them back.
I think about fandom a lot. I get frustrated when fandom is dismissed as a niche obsession or treated like a marketing afterthought. When you step back, fandom isn’t fringe at all. It’s an engine for belonging, brand building, creative expression, revenue, and joy.
Today’s newsletter is for anyone who has fans, wants fans, or wants to maximize a fandom.
For me, fandom isn’t about gawking from the outside. I’d rather spend my time getting curious, learning about what fills people with joy, and try to understand how fandom works. It’s multi-faceted and it’s really powerful. This week I’m zooming out in order to share more about how I view fandom: in terms business (today) and in terms of belonging (Friday).
And if you just want my advice…skim to the bottom!
Fandom as belonging
At the most human level, fandom answers one of our most basic needs: to belong.
Psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner called it social identity. We all define ourselves through the groups we’re in. As Tajfel and Turner established, our in-groups give us meaning. Our out-groups help us know what we’re not.
Fandom makes the journey into our in-groups a joyful one. We encounter:
Shared language, inside jokes, rituals
A sense that you’re not alone in your enthusiasm
The reassurance that your quirks and obsessions will be taken seriously
When you start to think of fandom this way, as a fan object (aka the person other people are a fan of), it sort of takes the pressure off. At some point, the fandom becomes bigger than…you!
Example | For anyone building a fan base, this is the first lesson: if you want loyalty, create belonging. Amanda said it perfectly in the Instagram reel above, “Love Island is a masterclass in community design.” Let fans build bridges to each other. Build some of them yourself. Encourage this world building!
Fandom as power
Fans are often called the “ideal consumers.” They’ll buy the books, merch, the deluxe edition vinyl. They’ll wait in line, refresh Ticketmaster (bleh), and support side projects or experiments.
But fans reject being treated only as consumers.
They want to contribute, they want to shape the story, and they want to know their time and devotion matter.
When creators or brands ignore this, fandom gets reduced to “social media metrics” or “sales.” But when they listen, the payoff is incredible:
Fans create archives, maps, playlists, and wikis
They make memes, write fanfiction, design their own merch
They build communities that outlast your marketing
A businesslike attitude toward that sort of thing is not appropriate. I want our band to deliver something you can’t buy.”
A fandom becomes sticky when fans give you their attention and their participation. The most straightforward way to measure a person’s fandom is time. How many hours do they spend creating, contributing, or simply showing up? The people who are always around, making things, sharing things, and sparking conversations are in it.
Example | Lucy Blakiston runs a media brand with 3.4M followers and says she “channeled the skills she learned from running a One Direction fan account as a teen.” One of the most intense fandoms I’ve read about are One Direction fans so I believe this! The time and passion that Lucy poured into this fandom led to amazing, powerful opportunities.
Fandom as architecture
What makes a fandom endure?
According to the book Superfandom, it comes down to:
Critical mass: enough people to keep the energy alive.
Emotional response: the spark that makes them care.
A platform: a place to gather and share.
I loved learning about Amazing Stories, the science-fiction magazine first published in 1926. It was groundbreaking because of the stories it printed but the real innovation was the letter column. Readers could see each other’s names and addresses, and suddenly strangers who loved the same thing could connect. One of the first organized fan communities was born.
TLDR: Fandom doesn’t grow from content alone. It grows when people have a place to find one another, to talk, and to turn shared enthusiasm into community. If you’re building your own fandom, welcome the moments when your fans are talking about you without you in the room.
Example | Amazing Stories is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 and was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction.
Take this back to work
Whether you’re a business owner, talent manager, or someone with fans of your own, here are the takeaways:
Create rituals. Small, repeatable touchpoints (inside jokes, catchphrases, traditions) give fans a sense of identity.
Make fans feel seen! Simple recognition like a comment, a reshare, or a thank-you goes further than anything else.
Identify your huge fans and give them ways to contribute. Look for the ones who show up consistently and spend time, not just money.
Choose the right platform. The best place for your community is where they already spend their time, not where it’s easiest for you.
Welcome off-platform activity! If fans are building spaces without you, that’s a sign of strength, not loss of control.
Set boundaries early. Clear rules keep the culture healthy and protect the space from toxicity.
Value moderators. Community stewards often do invisible labor. Support and thank them.
See you Friday where I’ll be walking through the fans’ perspective and what makes them feel a sense of belonging! We’ll be covering some major fan themes: public displays of affection, hearts at play, fandom as a verb, and fan spaces.
