I keep noticing a hesitation when people talk about growing a fandom, especially from smaller businesses. There’s this underlying fear of going too viral or reaching too far because they’re worried about attracting the wrong people. People who will never become customers. A local business can feel like they don’t need someone three states away to pay attention, so why spend energy?
But this is where I think we’ve misunderstood what fandom actually is (not a customer segment or a demographic you can pinpoint). Fandom is a big ball of energy, attention, affinity, and the feeling someone has about you that makes them care. You unfortunately don’t get to control where that shows up.
If someone 1,000 miles away loves your business but never buys from you, is that wasted? I don’t think so. That person still watches, still engages, still shares, and still contributes to how visible and relevant you are. They travel, they recommend, they influence people who are actually in your area, and they talk about you in ways that stick. If we want to get really woo woo (or hell, even scientific?), I think they create energy that’s positive and necessary for success.
But you won’t always see the return directly…which is why it’s easy to assume there isn’t one. But fandom doesn’t work in straight lines. It moves through people, relationships, and moments you’ll never be able to track. And that doesn’t make it less valuable, it actually makes it really really expansive.
I was talking to someone recently whose 4-year-old is obsessed with Tommy’s Car Wash. He’s had his birthday there, has gotten a behind the scenes tour, and talks about it constantly. He has no buying power but he’s convinced family members to switch from a competitor to become a member at Tommy’s. That makes him a meaningful part of their growth whether the business realizes it or not (they do).
There’s also this assumption that going viral or building a broader fandom somehow dilutes your business or brings in the wrong crowd. That it won’t translate into anything meaningful. But as Rachel Karten has shared over on her Substack Link in Bio, attention compounds, and the more people who know you and care about you, the more opportunities you create for that attention to turn into something. She featured The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills and here’s an excerpt from her post and interview with the owner:
“We’ve had people visiting from the Philippines come by and say they saw us online and take cheese back on their plane ride home. Some of the cheesemongers have been recognized outside at bars and things in their everyday lives outside of work. We have people coming in and wanting to take selfies with them, it’s been pretty cool to see,” Greg tells me.
Sales are also up. When I ask Dom about the impact of social media, he said it has been “a complete game changer.” He goes on to say, “I bought this iconic brand that has been around since 1967. To see how it is evolving is literally because of social media. We are entering a new evolution of business.”
You can’t optimize fandom the same way you optimize a funnel, and when you try to, you end up shrinking something that actually wants to expand.
