Is any of this much different from pop boy bands of the 00's? You make generic, catchy songs that are hard to resist. Then have a group of four or five attractive teens perform the song. And then Highlight each individual so people form a parasocial relationship with the band members. The fanaticism follows quite easily from there.
Real reason for K-pop success: hire the best Swedish pop songwriters in the world and give them carte blanche to create any crazy songs they want. Same with Korean car companies and hiring the best German and Italian designers. Start with money, import talent, then cut them loose.
K-pop bands are really are great at building loyal followings, but this article doesn't feel to me like the right resource for learning how they manage it.<p>Eg, it's mostly generic 'focus on personal stories,' 'lower barriers to entry,' and 'foster a good community' advice advocated everywhere you look in the blog-o-sphere (is that still an expression?)<p>Does anybody have any other articles they would recommend on the topic? Eg, about the details that make these groups actually excel at this compared to say the average blogger?
> But activism on unrelated issues, even important ones, puts up barriers for no good reason.<p>It’s interesting framing. Some might view this as pure to your values, some might view this as lacking in values, but it certainly got my attention. Reducing this quote down, the claim is “activism on unrelated important issues has no value [to your business].”
No doubt the post is correct but I wish "make good products and show them off" was there. Quality of product should in an ideal world be what attracte people who support a company. In tech at least, that seems to be why people support products, you hear about a myriad of products for any vertical but which one is good and cheap?
Question about not getting involved with politics in your fandom: how does this apply to pop stars like Lizzo, Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X, Nicki Minaj? They all have huge, highly fervent fandoms too. And they're pretty darn political all the time.
Not as bad as I expected to read.<p>- Keep in mind these bands are disposable. They're typically tied to a generation, a slice in time, and then they fade away. Perhaps that's by design because sustaining such a high sugar diet isn't possible?<p>- That said, ultimately it's about connecting with your audience. Marketing is typically about awareness and/or driving sales. But these bands go further and connect with their audience. They give the audience what they want *and then some* and do that on the appropriate platforms.<p>- But easier said than done. There's a connection I have on LinkedIn. She's always posting - nearly always video - about her (SEO) agency. Dogs in the office, someone's birthday, etc. I don't remember a single time she's posted something of use to me. Maybe that would work if she was a K-Pop band? But for who I suspect her audience is, it often feels off target.
You missed use the most mentally ill teenagers you can find to work 24/7 into creating tweets with your hashtag so it reaches top 10 worldwide or at least in a few countries, K-pop bands do that, a lot: <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-stans-who-post-so-much-twitter-thinks-theyre-bots-and-shuts-them-down" rel="nofollow">https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-stans-who-post-so-mu...</a>
How about build a product people love? There are so many reasons listed in the article, and there are so many counter examples where companies did the opposite and still built a rabid fan base. The only unifying thread is that people will deify products they love.
It is easy to build fanbase.<p>Be young and beautiful. Stop being old and ugly.<p>If you are insist on your right to be old and ugly, then stop being poor and be rich instead.
"Each fandom has a name (Blackpink fans are Blinks, BTS fans are ARMY, TXT fans are MOA, etc.)"<p>And Slipknot fans are maggots. I know some of you motherfucking maggots are around here too.
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221002215004/https://lulu.substack.com/p/fandom" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20221002215004/https://lulu.subs...</a><p><a href="https://archive.ph/dEKil" rel="nofollow">https://archive.ph/dEKil</a><p>(For those not wishing to be smacked in the face with a wet fish pop-over registration modal dialog upon scrolling down the page; fku substk)
Everyone going to ignore the fact that these 'bands' are highly controlled. They can't have a normal social life. Forced plastic surgery, etc. I don't think it's very healthy to have so much fake social content from artists for both fan and artist.
><i>For a startup, it’s not enough to have followers. If you want people to evangelize for you, stand up for you, and stick with you long term, you need fanatics.</i><p>When did people start advocating deleterious to society suggestions, openly and shamelessly?<p>Not of the "I thought it was a good ideology" kind, which always existed, of the "everybody should recognize that this is bad", like here...
One of the original thinkers on this topic. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOpGXOrHc4" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOpGXOrHc4</a>
tldr: be consensual to mainstream tastes, jump on every viral bandwagon you notice, encourage frenzieness and addictive behavior. Thanks but no thanks. Thus article is how to destroy any kind of cultural diversity 101. And create vast rigid borderline fanatic groups that upend any systemic stability and routinely create unpredictable cataclysmic events.<p>I'm half-amused half-shocked that this article is so frank in explaining how this works, without a hint at any consequence.