Stuck in a Traffic Jam? Let Your Hobbies Shine!
Keeping your content fresh and exciting for fans while still staying on brand can be tough. On one hand you don’t want to stray too far from what works for your fans, but on the other hand you want to make sure they don’t grow bored with what you have to offer. Even more important? That you don’t get bored with what you’re offering! If you don’t have 100% passion for what you’re selling, you’re going to see fewer people wanting to buy it.
Another big element of keeping things fresh is your ability to pull in new traffic. Sometimes you hit a roadblock, and the new traffic you’re searching for seems to be driving down a different road. So what can you do? We consulted with FanCentro’s expert success coaches to find out how incorporating some of your outside interests can perk up your content while still staying true to your brand.
Got Hobbies?
In last month’s article, we talked about using your fanbase to help you reach specific goals. In the same vein, incorporating your personal hobbies can help draw in new fans who share similar interests and also keep you excited about what you’re producing at the same time. Everyone loves to talk about their interests and doing so can inject some new fire into your shows. The problem, for many influencers, is how to seamlessly combine their usual content with something that might go a bit off-brand. Fitness may seem like an easy niche to incorporate, but if you’re a fitness enthusiast with 100% hardcore content, it could be a challenge to marry the two. Fortunately, there are ways to unite two different areas of interest, and if you do it right you might just attract new traffic at the same time.
So let’s say you are really passionate about fitness, or cosplay, or even something less physical, like writing erotica. You can easily incorporate your interests into your weekly content by only producing that content one day a week or during a certain time of day. Consider Fitness Fridays as an add-on to your usual weekly content or doing an “After Hours” segment where you chat about your dive into erotica (and maybe even act out some of the scenes!). The point is, you’re going to be using these niche times dedicated to your particular hobby to draw in new traffic with similar interests. You can introduce your new passion to your old fans, while also advertising it to new traffic.
Promote, Promote, Promote!
Sharing a particular passion via your content is the first step toward getting new traffic that is also interested in that area. A wonderful way to introduce the new branch of your brand is with an official launch. Get the word out that Fitness Fridays is now a thing and get your fanbase pumped to participate. Not only will it create a sense of excitement about your new content, it may also convince your fans to share the news with their fitness-obsessed friends. That means new traffic!
Fans love to see things that are fresh and new, so don’t be afraid to take the first step and incorporate a hobby or pastime into your shows. You may think you’re upsetting your base demographic by going off-brand, but if you’re strategic in the way you present your content (All-New! Never Before Seen!) you’re going to get them interested. And if they’re not? You’re only dedicating a small amount of time to that particular branch of your content, and in that small window you may earn plenty of new traffic who will appreciate it. If it’s a hit, great! You can expand it to fill more time. If it fizzles out you can quietly retire it and try something new. Think of it like the pilot of a new show–you’re just offering a taste to see what the fans like.
Take Advantage of S4S
S4S is always an important promotional tool, but when you’re trying to pull in new traffic streams, doing more focused research is essential. The first step? Search for influencers who are already having success incorporating niche hobbies like yours into their content and do a S4S to introduce yourself to traffic who is enjoying that content. There are awesome S4S groups on Telegram that can help. (Yes, FanCentro has a S4S group, too!)
Diversify
Having different options for sharing your content is also helpful when you want to introduce a new hobby or niche. FanCentro, for example, offers multiple options for sharing content, so an influencer could have a dedicated weekly Feed post for their new content, or release a special free clip to introduce it (followed by pay-to-view of course!). Having more than one way to share your new passion is a great option for fans who want to dive in as well as those who aren’t so interested. Having a few specialized clips that fans can check out that incorporates that hobby is a great way to offer new content without doing a complete overhaul. Think of it as a supplement to your regularly scheduled content, not a replacement.
At the end of the day, fans are looking for what they love (you!) but they also want creativity, innovation, and excitement. The answer to all of those needs could be hiding in something you enjoy doing every single day but never considered sharing with your fans. So examine your hobbies and think outside the box. How can I use this to make my fans happy and pull in new traffic? Are there other influencers who are successfully working this brand? What connections can I make between this niche and my regularly scheduled content? Once you think about it, you may find a lot of overlap between work and pleasure!
