How can I get patreon supporters?

[Acerthorn]

How can I get people to support me on patreon? I can't offer them regular prizes, because federal sweepstakes law requires that there be no purchase necessary for that. I would ideally prefer to offer my talents as a video creator and youtube personality for sale, as that's what my channel is supposed to be for in the first place.

And don't tell me that I'm not good enough to offer that in exchange for patreon support. Because yes I am. I'll attach a total of 32 different comments to prove that people do indeed find my content engaging.

I have already offered the option to decide on a video topic. Apparently, that's not working.

So how do I get people to pledge money?

 

[Min/Max Munchking]

What do they get in exchange for, say, $10? What's the perceived value important to your target audience?

 

[Acerthorn]

What do they get in exchange for, say, $10?

I answer that question on my patreon page.

What's the perceived value important to your target audience?

Huh?

 

[Min/Max Munchking]

I can tell you what sort-of worked for me -

I offer files for D&D character builds which I use as pseudo-scripts for my videos. The viewers see those on the screen, but in order to download them and have more convenience using the information within, they have to pledge $10/month. I release 2-4 new character builds every month and I plan to speed that up and introduce more value for that $10/month pledge. The other tiers aren't nearly as popular as that one.

I don't see anything like that on your page - you have to offer something that's going to directly, momentarily matter to the person paying $X or $XX every month. Just saying you'll offer some half-defined custom service that THEY, the patrons, have to provide proof of purchase for places way too many obstacles in their mind. They have to come up with an idea first, then they have to pay you, then they have to further prove they paid etc. You have to be very specific with what exactly it is you offer. It's basically about making a sale, which ties to that perceived value that matters in the mind of your average customer, so you have to treat your Patreon page basically like a landing/sales page.

The second thing I do is I DM weekly sessions. 4-6 hours for 6-7 people every Sunday. That's $200/month total and I have to spend 25-30 hours/month taking care of that. Even with all this activity and specific things I offer, the Patreon income is slowly dwindling down in the last 2-3 months. I hit $500 in July/August, now it's back to $400 and probably even less when a few patrons leave at the beginning of December, as it usually happens at the beginning of each new month.

EDIT: I checked you out on YT and Socialblade. Your channel has 440 subs while mine is almost at 3k and you receive 130 views/day while I am hovering around 1.1k views/day.
I struggle to break 800 clicks/month to my Patreon page, so that means you probably won't get even 100 clicks/month.


I'm just trying to demonstrate a realistic perspective to you - don't count on Patreon to blow up. In fact, I'm still not sure if starting Patreon was the best thing for my channel's growth either. I had less than 1k subs when I opened up Patreon, but I needed the money badly so I just pulled the trigger. Looking back, my channel's growth has stagnated ever since monetizing it with Patreon.
If you don't need the money, don't even start monetizing yet.

 

[Acerthorn]

EDIT: I checked you out on YT and Socialblade. Your channel has 440 subs while mine is almost at 3k and you receive 130 views/day while I am hovering around 1.1k views/day.
I struggle to break 800 clicks/month to my Patreon page, so that means you probably won't get even 100 clicks/month.

Getting any patreon backers at all would still be infinity percent greater than my current patreon performance.

I can tell you what sort-of worked for me -

I offer files for D&D character builds which I use as pseudo-scripts for my videos. The viewers see those on the screen, but in order to download them and have more convenience using the information within, they have to pledge $10/month. I release 2-4 new character builds every month and I plan to speed that up and introduce more value for that $10/month pledge. The other tiers aren't nearly as popular as that one.

Huh? I don't even understand that. Do you mean the tabletop D&D, or the MMO? Because I don't play tapletop RPGs on my channel.

you have to offer something that's going to directly, momentarily matter to the person paying $X or $XX every month.

My analysis & discussion videos are the most popular series on the channel. How is getting to decide a video in that series a valueless offer?

As I demonstrated with the nearly three dozen comments I provided in my OP, people do indeed enjoy that series.

then they have to further prove they paid

That requires nothing more than a screenshot. How is that an obstacle?

The second thing I do is I DM weekly sessions. 4-6 hours for 6-7 people every Sunday.

The hell is DM?

 

[Min/Max Munchking]

Aight, listen here mate, you asked for help. I offered you my advice based on more than a decade long experience selling all sorts of weird s**t online, you shot down literally everything I said in a dismissive manner. Take it as you wish, I can't and frankly won't help somebody not willing to listen at all.

Good luck.

 

[Tito Tims Videos]

Huh? I don't even understand that. Do you mean the tabletop D&D, or the MMO? Because I don't play tapletop RPGs on my channel.

He was obviously giving an example of something he offers to his Patrons. What do you offer them? In your niche, what can you offer them? Some will support you - just to support. Most people will not give, unless they get something back in return. It could be D&D sheets, as in the previous example, it could be some behind the scenes footage, A Google Hangout, more direct access to you... up to you what you offer.

 

[Acerthorn]

What do you offer them?

I already said that in my OP, when I linked you to the patreon page.

In your niche, what can you offer them?

Well, aside from what I'm already offering them, I have no idea! What, you can't offer me any suggestions?!

 

[Tito Tims Videos]

I already said that in my OP, when I linked you to the patreon page.


Well, aside from what I'm already offering them, I have no idea! What, you can't offer me any suggestions?!

I don't know your niche, so I do not know what you can offer... and from the attitude you have shown, I am not inclined to investigate your channel for you (I do hope you are not as argumentative in your videos). Best advice I can give is to read comments #2 and #4, by Min/Max. He gave you some solid advice.

 

[Acerthorn]

and from the attitude you have shown

I only have this attitude because you people have stubbornly refused to provide anything other than generic advice, despite me handing you the specifics of my channel and patreon page on a silver platter. Before anyone posted a reply (and therefore, before I even had the chance to get an attitude), nobody had any excuse for not clicking on the links provided, other than sheer laziness.

And I have no patience for lazy people.

As you can see from the comments I attached to my OP, I have gotten consistent praise for going above and beyond the call of duty with my videos, like attachment #10 and attachment #30, both of which specifically call attention to how much effort I put into my work, rather than just the quality of the work independent of effort. And no, I will not repost those attachments here, because if you're too lazy to scroll up to the OP and read those attachments, I see no reason to bother with you.

So I don't think I'm being a hypocrite when I expect other people to simply click on links when I provide those links on a silver patter for necessary context.

In other words, it was your laziness that made me so irritable, not the other way around.