So where did this idea of fandom and fanocracy come from?
The whole idea started because we
were thinking about social media and the promise
of social media.
And I've been talking about social media
and how to use it in marketing now for way more than 10 years.
And social media has incredible promise at that point.
It was all about how you can communicate with people
and how you can grow your business
and how you can engage with people.
And that is sometimes happening.
But what we've both noticed, and in talking with hundreds
of people around the world, everyone is saying to me
is that there's digital chaos out there.
There's cries of fake news.
There's yet more spam and more spam.
And then sometimes, you don't even
know if you're communicating on Twitter or Facebook
with a robot.
It's just incessant when people are doubling down on yet
another social media post.
We believe that the pendulum has swung too far
in the direction of superficial online communication
when people are hungry for a true human connection.
And so we came up with this concept
of fandom, the concept of true human connection
to reach people as an antidote to this digital chaos.
A fanocracy, as we describe it and define it,
is an organization that inspires extreme passion
for product, brand, or idea by putting
customers' needs and wishes at the center of everything
it does.
It's a force critical for massive success.
And this idea of fanocracy, of growing fans,
is how you take and create human connections,
true human connections, to move that pendulum back
from superficial online communications
to an organization that truly meets the needs of customers.
So to think about this idea of fandom,
it's important to be thinking about what you're a fan of.
So what are your fandoms?
So when I was six years old-- the same time
that you brought me to my first rock concert--
you also started reading Harry Potter to me.
It was about a few years after the first book came out.
And then you kept reading them to me as nighttime stories.
We enjoyed our time together like that.
Yeah, we did.
It was great.
We were sitting close to each other, like we are now.
[LAUGHS] Until the fourth book, where
I couldn't wait for you anymore because you thought it
was too long.
And I just wanted to finish it.
[LAUGHS] So that was my fandom growing up.
And the last movie came out when I was a freshman in college.
So my whole grade school life was Harry Potter.
So I've been to 788 live concerts
since the first one when I was age 15.
And I'm such a geek, I actually have a spreadsheet
that lists the concerts that I've been to.
And I am so, so, so into live music.
The most shows I've ever seen of one band
is 75 of the Grateful Dead, which is kind of nutty, I know.
I get it.
But I love it.
I love going to live music.
So what's interesting about this idea of fandom--
this idea, as we call it, fanocracy--
is that those things are great.
Live music is great.
Harry Potter is great.
But what's really powerful is the relationship
that we have with our friends who do the same thing.
And it's incredibly powerful, the shared emotions.
We humans biologically are hardwired for sharing things
with like-minded people.
And that's the idea of why growing fans of your business
is so, so, so powerful because that human emotion of sharing
is something you can actually develop within your core group
of people.
So we have a definition of fanocracy.
There's five things that are a part of this definition.
It's something you're incredibly passionate about.
It's something that makes you extremely happy.
You're eager to replicate it again and again and again.
You have friends or family who do the same thing.
And you devote significant time and/or money to that activity.
You're always looking for something
that you can do to celebrate that fandom with the people
that you're close to.
I have three.
I already mentioned live music-- huge fan of live music.
I'm a huge fan of the Apollo Lunar Program.
That's a really obscure fandom.
And I love to surf.
I have-- I actually tried to count,
and it got up to like 25.
Wow.
[LAUGHS] And then I was like, I don't think
I can really put them into boxes-- so infinite.
[LAUGHS]
Infinite number of fandoms.
But what's interesting is for you
to be thinking about-- as you're going through this course--
to be thinking about what it is that you're a fan of, why
you're so passionate about that, and how important that
is to your life because that can help you to better understand
how to grow fans for your business.
We've identified by asking thousands and thousands
of people that-- unlike you, Reiko--
the average person has 2.5 fandoms.
I have three.
The average person has 2.5.
And interestingly, the average person's
most passionate fandom, they started when they were age 12.
So fandom, a fanocracy, it's a fabulous way
to grow a business.
The more you think about your own fandom,
the better you are equipped to be
able to use this idea in your business.
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