This post is one in a series called Man Your Virtual Merch Table, looking at how music artists can best use marketing practices to share their work and make life long fans. You can read the rest of the posts here or follow the #ManYourMerch hashtag on Twitter for more.

Earlier this week we looked at the intersection of placement and people who love music, finding where your people go and meeting them there.

Today we extend that to delve into the different types of listener that you’ll happen upon and how their varied levels of familiarity with your music affect the way you should approach communicating with them.

Different Strokes For Different Folks

Even before we get into how familiar someone is with your music, it’s important to accept that some people will inevitably dislike what you create. Trying to go after every listener is a losing battle, as you’ll waste time on those who will never be convinced and miss opportunities to nudge those who will towards a closer relationship with your music.

Effective marketing in any field defines the ideal customer and different segments in which they can be grouped. Taking the time to understand the types of listener to whom your music is most appealing will set you up to build much more lasting relationships with your fans.

But which types of person should you generally be watching for and how best to communicate with them?

The Spectrum of Music Fans

Below are the broad categories of listener/fan with whom you’ll come into contact. When thinking about them, utilize again the analogy to a live show and the types of people that will pass by your merch table.

Although there will be more to each and every individual, these delineations will help to understand where your efforts are best focused and how your approach should differ in each case.

• The Hostiles – They flat out don’t like you. Be it your genre, lyrics, fashion, or haircut, haters are everywhere. Pleasantly dismiss them and move on.

• The Unconvinced – These folks have heard of you but something  hasn’t clicked for them, meaning there’s a barrier to overcome.

• The Neutral – No opinion on your music as yet, either because they haven’t heard of you or are too new to have made a decision.

• The Motivated Listener – Consumes more music than the average listener and is open to new sounds. May not have heard of you but has more passion than the neutral in finding a favorite new artist.

• The Convinced – Those who are already on board with your sound and actively seek you out to listen.

• The Lifelong Fan – More than just a fan, this person is a passionate advocate for everything you create.

Delving deeper into each of these categories, let’s look at the subtle differences in communication that you can employ to build better relationships with them online.

Hostiles

Again, you have next to no chance of overcoming hostile attitudes towards your work. Online, trolls and hostiles are a common occurrence for anyone with any degree of recognition. Go by the old adage that it’s better to be loved and hated than to be ignored and don’t waste energy on haters that could be better spent on more open-minded listeners.

Unconvinced

If someone has heard of you but has reservations, the key is to understand what they are and how deep they run. Ask open questions about their feelings towards your music to find this out, then zero in on the underlying concern.

Perhaps it’s something as simple as having heard the wrong song, in which case you can point them to something that more suits their style. Find out, from their social profiles or general comments, which artists are their favorites and recommend something from your repertoire that more closely matches their taste. If it becomes obvious that the point of uncertainty is something deeper, such as disliking a particular element that is central to your sound, recognize that they’re unlikely to be converted into a real fan, thank them for listening, and disengage.

Neutral

Every merch table sees a few visitors who haven’t heard of the support band. In that setting, you can only really guide them to check out your set and hope they like it. Online, however, the “blank slate” is more frequent and you have more ways to connect with them via social media touch points.

This “blank slate” listener is, of course, neutral to you until they have something to judge… so serve them up some music! First, though, take some time to build a personal familiarity, preferably based upon similar music or artistic tastes.

We’re more likely to listen to something recommended by someone we like, so build a little trust before serving up your finest slice of songwriting. Even then, make sure that you have the listener’s tastes in mind, first and foremost. Getting to know them and what they like, whether via a Twitter or Facebook conversation or checking their listening habits, will give you more understanding of the best song to recommend. Relate via lyrical subjects, preferred instrumentation, favorite genre, or whatever emotional music connection you can make that increases the likelihood that the individual will move from neutral to convinced (and beyond).

To get good listeners, you need to listen good… err, well – - – - Image Credit: Quinn Anya on Flickr

Motivated Listeners

This is a breed of listener who is more of a fan of music in general than a specific genre or artist. Inevitably they have their favorites, but they also tend to be open minded when it comes to trying out new sounds and are able to talk widely about different styles of music. This person tends to show up early to gigs to catch the support acts and is a step above the neutral for you, as you can connect more deeply around musical tastes and the likelihood that they will share what they enjoy is far greater.

Probing the motivated listener’s depth of knowledge is an excellent way to connect with them, opening a window for your music to enter. Allow them to do most of the talking – or typing, for our ends – and genuinely seek to learn from them as a music fan yourself. Find out which blogs and music sites they read, as these may be useful outlets to meet similarly motivated folks. Often these individuals will be music writers themselves, to some extent, and have the potential to be a great advocate for your art, even at these early stages of familiarity.

Convinced

This group turns up to the show to see you. Even if not specifically there as your dedicated fan, they won’t miss your set and have a firm interest in getting to know you better. Online, this means fans of your Facebook page, people on your mailing list, and anyone that has shown a clear signal of interest beyond just spinning a song or two.

For those you’ve convinced already, the skill lies in building that relationship still further via many individual touch points. There will be less need to ask open questions about who and what they enjoy, with more direct communications about specific songs, shows they’ve been to, what they’d like to see from you in future, and other subjects directly related to what you create. Even so, you should remain interested in their wider music tastes and current listening, so that you have a better understanding of both the individual and the broader groups in which they travel. The latter is, of course, a potential route to new listeners, whether by recommendation from your convinced contingent or jumping into those groups of your own accord.

In every instance you should be looking to forge deeper connections with those folks that you’ve already convinced. As they feel closer to you, they tend to be more invested in your career and move towards becoming…

Lifelong Fans

Every musician needs at least a handful of lifelong fans to have anything approaching a career. Whether following the idea of 1,000 true fans to reach a steady income, or simply because you need a third party to effectively represent your music without obvious bias, these fans are the cornerstone of making money from your art. At a show, they will be the person buying a t-shirt, poster, and your entire back catalog on vinyl.

Lifelong fans are rarely developed overnight. They are the product of nurtured relationships, born of your music but brought to fruition by regular, one-to-one connections. As they will go above and beyond for you and your music, you need to be constantly on the look out for opportunities to do the same for them. Share things close to their heart, check in with them frequently, give them insider access to your next work, think up creative ways to reward them when you’re out on tour, anything that strengthens that bond. As you do this, the effect will ripple out to their network of friends, as they listen and talk about you more often. This then feeds the earlier categories, with listeners just waiting to be converted from neutral to  convinced and motivated fans.

Social media has made it even easier to identify your deepest fans and to feed their appetite for connection to you.

Use the channels that they frequent to engage, excite, and reward them in creative ways and you’ll build the basis to make a living doing what you love.