You’ve prepped your page, told your fans, and pressed the big shiny launch button… so now what?

You’ve launched on Patreon! That’s super-fantastic-amazing! But what comes next may seem like the scary part.

How do you bring your fans to your page?

How can you increase the likelihood that they will pledge to you?

How can you ensure everlasting success and world peace?

Well, you’re in for a treat, because I’m here to answer those questions (except for the world peace part, that’s super hard).

My name is Maura and I’m on the Patreon data science team. In this blog post, I’ll dish out a few data-backed tips for your first month on Patreon. You down? Super down? Alright, let’s go.

First off, let’s define some things so you know the lingo.

All of this data is pulled from a correlative analysis. Who what now? Let me break it down: I looked at all the things a creator can do during their first month on Patreon — send messages, make comments, create posts, follow others, set up rewards, establish goals, have a video, etc. Next, I ran a predictive model to see which of those things are most important for a creator’s success. Lastly, I compared those top ranked things to a creator’s actual earnings, and tada — this blog post was born.

But success is kind of vague, right? Some creators want to achieve a certain level of funding, some want to have a certain-sized audience, and some just want to release their art for free and have people use Patreon as a tip jar.

So for clarity, I’m going to get specific. I’m defining success as processing (aka having successful pledges that you’ll later see in your bank account) $100 in your first month. Have you already reached that level? First off, wow, that’s awesome. Secondly, these tips apply to general engagement of your patrons in your first month, so keep on reading!

But enough about definitions — now that we know what we’re talking about, let’s get to the results!

1. Consider having more than 1 goal

High-earning creators tend to have multiple goals:

Having more than one goal increases your chance of success in your first month. Why? Goals keep both patrons and creators motivated, and help drive the momentum of pledges in your first month. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to have 15 goals (actually, please don’t, that seems excessive), but it does mean that having 3 goals instead of 1 makes you more likely to succeed in your first month.

Ready to turn your creative passion into a thriving business? Get started on Patreon today. Get started

2. Consider having more than 2 benefit tiers

High-earning creators tend to have more than 2 benefit levels:

Having more than 2 benefits increases your chance of success in your first month.

Why? Patrons are more likely to pledge along benefit tiers, so if you offer patrons a higher tier, some of them will go for it. If you’re going to try adding more benefits, make sure they’re easy for you to fulfill, as we never want you to spread yourself thin or spend more time fulfilling benefits than doing what you do best.

Looking for ideas for benefits? Check out some helpful examples here.

3. Make more than 3 unpaid posts in your first month

High-earning creators tend to make multiple unpaid posts in their first month:

Posting helps you engage with your patrons and increase that warm and fuzzy creator-patron connection. Making public posts can also help bring new patrons to your page and give them a glimpse at what your presence on Patreon is all about.

If you’re like me and you enjoy reading graphs (greetings, fellow nerd), you’ll probably notice that one more post won’t skyrocket you to fame overnight. But, each bit of engagement helps, and having little acts of connection here and there will make your patrons stick around longer, which means you’ll earn more in the long run. How’s that for a win-win?

4. Send some messages in your first month

High-earning creators tend to send messages in their first month:

Sending 4 messages instead of zero in your first month doubles your chance of success. Why? Engagement, people. Engagement. Send a message thanking a patron for their support! Your patrons will feel extra loved and you’ll help build long-term connection with your fans.

5. Spread the word on social media

Over a third of Patreon’s traffic is from social media:

Over a third of traffic to creator landing pages comes from social media posts. I’m talkin’ good traffic, not the kind you roll your eyes at. Make sure you’re getting the word out about your Patreon page by linking to it from everywhere else you live online. Put a link front and center in your bios and profiles to drive your existing fans to your shiny new creator page.

Taking my advice won’t guarantee success on Patreon, but if there’s one thing that will help, it’s this: engagement.

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