Crowd funding is a great way to get the money you need to keep your business successful, but there are some things to keep in mind before you jump in.
1. Don’t come across as desperate.
Put yourself in the shoes of the people who may consider signing up for your crowd funding program. How do you think they will respond if you are begging them to join? What will they think of your business if they feel pressured into joining? The impression is not going to be a good one, right?
It is the value of the opportunity that is going to convince people to sign up. It is seeing what you have to offer and recognizing the chance to participate in something good, artistic, or profitable that is going to convince them to sign on.
Begging, whining, and sound desperate is only going to turn them away, even if what you have to offer is really great.
Click here to raise Crowdfunding money!
2. Don’t talk about money, money, money.
The fact that you need money is not why anyone signs up for your crowd funding project. They will sign up when they read what you have to say about the project and catch your enthusiasm and passion for what you are doing. Rather than just sending out tweets asking for money or stating how much more money you need to raise to meet your goal, tweet things that will inspire your crowd and make them want to give more.
Some things you can tweet about include:
- Progress on the project and how excited you are to see it coming closer to the end.
- What you are currently doing with the project and where you will be going with it next.
- Your qualifications and experiences that make you the perfect person to complete this project.
- Your reasons for being so passionate and dedicated to the project and what you see coming from it when completed.
Don’t tell them you need money. Tell them who you are, what your project is all about, and why they should be just as excited about it as you are.
3. Help others out and they will help you in return.
When using Twitter and Facebook to promote your crowd funding project, don’t just rely on people finding you. Find related tweets and posts by other people and re-tweet or re-post them to your own account. You come off as recommending high value opportunities and thoughtful ideas to your fans and the original poster will then re-tweet or re-post something of yours out of appreciation.
You will get many friends and followers on your own, but you can collect even more by helping others out and receiving their help in return. You are then out there to all of their fans and followers as well as your own.
4. Don’t limit yourself to one tight focus.
You may be collecting crowd members to fund a project concerning autism, but that doesn’t mean you cannot attract people who are out there fighting for sexual abuse victims or who are anti-bullying. Put out posts and tweets about a variety of events and resources that you know will be of interest to others and you will be appreciated by your followers and friends.
It doesn’t matter whether the people you help out are using crowd funding or not. They will appreciate the exposure they give you and will be more willing to give you some exposure as well. They will see you as someone genuinely out to help others, rather than just someone trying to raise money for their own needs. People are more willing to help the generous than the greedy.
5. Get to know your crowd and potential crowd members.
If you didn’t need anyone else to fund your project, then you could keep going without thinking about anyone but yourself. Unfortunately, that is not the case. You need a solid crowd of growing numbers to get where you want to go. That means you need to get to know them. This is the only way to ensure you continually give them what they need and want from your project.
A simple Facebook poll could show you exactly what your crowd would like to receive in return for their donation. Some may be willing to fund your movie if they get to see their name scrolling down the screen at the end. Others may be willing to fund your business if they get some type of educational material online or perhaps a game that that is fun for passing time.
Click here to raise Crowdfunding money!
You can then make sure to deliver what most people want in return for their investment. Tweet about it and send out posts on Facebook about it. Fill up your blog with all the benefits crowd members receive for joining with you.
Social media is a great way to keep your crowd growing, but you have to make them feel valued and appreciated rather than harassed and pressured.