Seth Godin on the Value of True Fans
Successful web companies all seem to have two things in common: they have a passionate user base, and they have spent shockingly little - or nothing at all - on advertising to get them.
Some companies, like Google, Amazon and Flickr, have attracted their fans by building incredible tools. Others, like BoingBoing, by creating great content. However, no-one has done it by having an average product but running a great ad campaign. Ads and gimmicks can be good for a burst of traffic, but they're not scalable and they're not sustainable because they don't convert people into true fans and evangelists of your company.
In his new book, Tribes, Seth Godin speaks to the value of creating true fans:
Too many organizations care about numbers, not fans. They care about hits or turnstile clicks or media mentions. What they're missing is the depth of commitment and interconnection that true fans deliver. Instead of always being on the hunt for one more set of eyeballs, true leaders have figured out that the real win is in turning a casual fan into a real one.
