How to strengthen connections with and amongst your fans

Creators and fans need to have a place where they can build community together. Not the manufactured type of engagement that comes from fragmented conversations and ranked comments, but real community grown from meaningful connection and defined by the people who are actually a part of it.

With community chats and member profiles on Patreon, that’s finally possible! Now, creators and fans have dedicated spaces for group conversations outside of DMs and comments.

Creators can offer up to ten chats to their Patreon community and customize them by name, topic, emoji, and member tier. Creators and fans can share text, photos, and emojis, and creators can also share previews of Patreon posts to share as soon as they upload something new.

Get a chat started for your community today on Patreon by sending your first message!

Chats in Action

When podcast hosts Sophia and Cinzia launched a Patreon for The Girls Bathroom podcast, they wanted fans to feel like they were hanging out with their best friends, so it only made sense to call their community The Group Chat. Now their fans are spilling secrets, getting advice, and gossiping in the chat at all times. In the past month, more than half of The Girls Bathroom's members have been active in their community chat. Says Sophia and Cinzia, hosts of The Girls Bathroom:

"Chat on Patreon has helped our podcast community truly come to life. We get to chat directly with our incredible audience and watch friendships blossom between listeners. They're sharing stories and talking about everything from dating advice to shopping tips.”

Ideas for using community chats

• Let your fans get to know you: Enjoy direct, immediate communication with your community! Offer a Q+A or AMA to share more about yourself and your creativity.
• Get to know your fans: Ask questions about your fans... likes, dislikes, content recommendations! Try an icebreaker like:
  • If you could have dinner with 3 people living or dead, who would you choose?
  • What’s one thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime?
  • What’s one great piece of advice you’ve gotten, and who gave it to you?
  • What’s something you hope to get out of this community?
  • Let your fans get to know each other: Encourage fans to introduce themselves to
    one another, so that they can connect!
• Share your work: Promote new and upcoming posts! Generate audience excitement for what is to come and receive feedback on the latest.
• Develop a routine: Spark a weekly trend! For example, ask your community to share something they’re grateful for on Wednesdays.

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