My guest today is David Meerman Scott. He is one of the few repeat guests I’ve had on the show — and I’m really excited to have him back on the show today. When he was on the show the first time, we discussed framing your work around what you love doing.
David is a digital marketing strategist and author of several books on marketing, most notably The New Rules of Marketing and PR with over 300,000 copies sold to date.
As of 2020, he has published a brand new business book called Fanocracy. Here’s the premise: The most powerful marketing force in the world isn’t social media, email, or even those annoying commercials on stuck right in the middle of YouTube videos. It’s fandom.
And the good news? Fandom isn’t just for celebrities and influencers anymore! It can be the fuel for any business that chooses to focus on inspiring and nurturing true fans. Fanocracy means turning fans into customers and customers into fans. Fanocracy means an organization that puts the needs and wishes of fans first.
Now, let’s hack…
David Meerman Scott and Fanocracy.
Highlights from the interview
- [8:45]: David talks about motivation and regret, explaining that as he’s gotten older, he’s realized a need to motivate himself to do the things he’s dreamed of doing. He calls it the “rocking chair test.” When you’re in your 80s or 90s, sitting in a rocking chair in a retirement home, you don’t want to look back on your entrepreneurial life and regret the things you didn’t do.
- [20:19]: Ads weren’t working for connecting with customers, so David shifted his focus to cultivating a fan base. People connect with other people. A brand with a real human face and presence behind it can offer people a sense of personal and group identity by becoming genuine fans. These social processes behind fandom, as a phenomenon, were key to his ability to genuinely reach people.
- [24:59]: David discusses how choice of language can help humanize your brand. Tech companies, in particular, like to use buzzwords and what David calls “gobbledygook language.” Thing is, it doesn’t really resonate or connect with consumers. He emphasizes the importance of talking naturally to audiences, as one human being to another.
- [34:34]: “Fanocracy turns fans into customers, and customers into fans.” Fandom and brand loyalty create a sense of group identity, something that people latch on to and that’s important for them.
Links and resources from the interview
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