How to Turn Followers into Super Fans and Boost Brand Loyalty

Larry Roberts [00:00:09]:

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:00:11]:

And I'm Sara Lohse. And this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to creative branding.

Larry Roberts [00:00:16]:

And on this fantastic. I want to stress the word fan. In the fantastic episode of the podcast. We're actually going to be talking about brand loyalty and how you can use your brand to create super fans.

Sara Lohse [00:00:34]:

There's so many brands that come to mind when we bring this up that have done such a good job and it almost feels like they've done a good job effortlessly at doing this. And that's like, I mean, of course the first one is Apple and there will never not be like an Apple versus PC, Apple versus Samsung, Apple versus everything battle. And if you are Team Apple, you are Team Apple. Like, it is no contest in today's world.

Larry Roberts [00:01:05]:

I think it's really, really difficult for smaller brands to build that brand loyalty because there are so many options, there's so many opportunities to choose, regardless of what industry or what product. I mean, there's. We are in a. I guess we're in a world of excess, actually. And it makes it even more difficult for the small business owner or the personal brand to really stand out and really capt those fans and, and bring them onto your team to where they're super passionate about supporting you and your products.

Sara Lohse [00:01:35]:

One of the things that I think kind of makes some of the brands who have done this really well stand out, and some of those are going to be semi personal brands. Like Taylor Swift has one of the strongest brands with some of the strongest brand loyalty you will ever see. Try to mess with Swifty. I dare you. But part of it is that exactly what I just said. Like, they give their people a name. Like, they create a group. There's the Swifties, there's the Beehive for Beyonce, and I feel like that is actually something small.

Sara Lohse [00:02:07]:

Why are you laughing at me?

Larry Roberts [00:02:08]:

Because I gave you one in. In the pre show warmup, I said, I'll give you Taylor Swift if you'll give me Whataburger. And you still managed to slip the Beehive in there. So. All right, I've got a brand. I got a brand I'm going to use.

Sara Lohse [00:02:21]:

Okay? But I was making a specific point. You just love your Whataburger. But if you give your, like, fan group or your consumer base, whatever it is, you give them a name, it actually has a huge impact because people love to be a part of something and if you give it a name, you're building a community and people want to be part of it. Like, I've Tried this on very small scale, but since my brand is favorite daughter, I. I call like, I consider everything like the favorite family and like, everything is very family focused, like in my branding. And I have clients and former clients that anywhere I am, they refer to me as their favorite daughter and they consider themselves my like, quote unquote parents for, in like, a professional way. I don't know, it's. There's like some weird lines.

Larry Roberts [00:03:08]:

But yeah, I mean, it's interesting because, you know, bringing back. Going back to Whataburger, I'm such a super fan that even when I got in the car the other day, it was about a week and a half, two weeks ago I got in the car and, you know, typically maps will pop up and go, hey, it's. It's, you know, 18 minutes to home or whatever. I got in the car from the house and I was getting ready to go wherever, and maps popped up and told me it was seven minutes to Whataburger. That's how often I go to Whataburger. That's how passionate I am about my biscuits and gravy from Whataburger. So it's. It To.

Larry Roberts [00:03:42]:

To generate that level of. Of fandom and, and repeat business and. And you have to reach out and establish a relationship with people or at least a perceived relationship. And I think that's what takes followers. You know, that's what differentiates followers with. With fans or super fans. You know, followers, they're gonna jump on your social media. They might hit you with a, like, they may give you a little comment or something.

Larry Roberts [00:04:07]:

But. But your fans, your super fans, I mean, they are emotionally invested in your brand, in your success, in your ongoing growth, in everything that you're doing. And once you start to establish that community, those super fans, you can definitely see the difference from a social media perspective, how they engage with you. You can definitely see a difference. If you go to a conference and these super fans are at the conference, it's a whole nother level of engagement that you just don't get with followers.

Sara Lohse [00:04:37]:

What did Whataburger do to, like, make you that level of super fan?

Larry Roberts [00:04:42]:

It's just freaking delicious, dude. You go, they got nice fluffy biscuits and they serve it to you open face, and they got that delicious sausage cream country gravy. It's. It's just. It's just a little. Little. I don't know, it's just comfort food like you would not believe. I love it.

Larry Roberts [00:04:59]:

Now, I'm not the. I mean, I like their burgers. They're okay too. I don't like their burgers for the fact that you can't eat a whataburger and not smell like Whataburger for the rest of the day. Like, you can wash your hands 18 times and you can't get that whataburger juice out of your pores. So you're done.

Sara Lohse [00:05:14]:

Part of their marketing. Yeah, they always, they're turning, yes, they're turning all of their customers into walking billboards. That is, that is a marketing scheme.

Larry Roberts [00:05:23]:

But there's nothing better than Whataburger biscuits and gravy. Matter of fact, when we wrapped this episode, I got another hour to get there. So we need to wrap this thing up because I need to head down the street and grab me some this morning. I haven't had any yet.

Sara Lohse [00:05:34]:

Oh, good lord. So, okay, well, what is it that, like, we can do with our brands? What is it we can do to turn our followers into fans and really build that community ourselves?

Larry Roberts [00:05:48]:

Yeah, I think it's telling stories, you know, I think it's sharing our innermost thoughts. I think it's that authenticity. I don't think it is. I know it is. You know, you have to be authentic and it's connecting and genuinely caring about the other people that are following you, that are engaging with your content. And that's, that's what we dropped the ball a lot of times is, you know, I was just editing a episode for one of our clients and their social media person was who they were interviewing. And the, the social media experts said too many people go out and they post and ghost. So they'll post on social media and then they're gone.

Larry Roberts [00:06:24]:

They feel like their job is done. I, well, I posted last week, but did you go back and, and comment? Did you engage? Did you trigger the social aspect of social media? Did you show the people that are taking the time to comment on your content that you care enough to respond back? And it's, it's, it's creating that level of trust and that level of engagement and level of confidence in your followers that turn them into the super fans.

Sara Lohse [00:06:47]:

We talk about that constantly. When it comes to engagement, whether we're talking about, like social media, talking about growing a podcast audience, whatever it is, we are always trying to just reiterate that if people are engaging on your, with your content, you need to be engaging back.

Larry Roberts [00:07:02]:

Sure.

Sara Lohse [00:07:02]:

And social media is designed to be like two way communication. You can't just use it as like, oh, everyone's gonna come here and tell me how great I am. And it's gonna be like, that's gonna be what I use my social media for.

Larry Roberts [00:07:14]:

That's like you have a thing.

Sara Lohse [00:07:16]:

Yeah. You have to actually be telling other people you think they're great too.

Larry Roberts [00:07:21]:

Oh, it's a two ways. It's almost like a relationship. It's like you have to communicate. Right.

Sara Lohse [00:07:27]:

Oh, my goodness. Like, what are the odds?

Larry Roberts [00:07:30]:

I know I'm growing in my advanced age. I'm learning. Can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Sara Lohse [00:07:36]:

It's amazing learning so much. But I think that engagement, it needs to go past just social media too. And you say this all the time, that you just, you have to show up for both of us. We wouldn't have the brands that we have if we were trying to build them from home.

Larry Roberts [00:07:57]:

No, you're. I mean, you're 100, right?

Sara Lohse [00:07:59]:

No one would know who the Red Hat guy was if the Red Hat stayed in his house.

Larry Roberts [00:08:04]:

Yeah, yeah. You have to get out and you have to pound the pavement. I mean, literally. Thankfully, the last three weeks were amazing. But at the same time, by Friday of last week, I was semi sick. I got a little chest cold that I'm getting over right now. And it's because three weeks ago I had an event here in Dallas. It was a multi day event.

Larry Roberts [00:08:22]:

The next week I flew to Atlanta, had a multi day event. And then last week I flew to Florida and had a multi day event. So, I mean, literally all over the country talking about branding, talking about, well, AI, talking about the Red Hat and having the Red Hat show up in all these different venues and, and that's where a lot of people, they miss the boat because not only did I go and speak at these events, I engaged with everybody, I ate lunch with everybody, I went to dinner with several people. It was that level of investing my time and investing my interest in these individuals. And it came back to me. I mean, every event I had a minimum of three to five phone calls that were set up from each one of those events. And guess what? Each of those three to five phone calls, well, zoom sessions, they're potential clients. So it's getting out there and establishing that brand and showing that.

Larry Roberts [00:09:17]:

That real interest in, in the other individuals that are there, that makes all the difference in the world.

Sara Lohse [00:09:23]:

I was, I did this a lot last year. This year I'm kind of cutting back a little bit just for my own sanity, because it is a lot to travel that much. But it's, it, it's so important. Like, my brand grew so much last year because I was traveling to a different event every. I think every month.

Larry Roberts [00:09:40]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:09:41]:

And some months. Multiple times a month. And like, I mean, you do that all the time. You're kind of used to it. But it was kind of new to me.

Larry Roberts [00:09:50]:

Not used to it because you got that benefit of youth on your side. I'm old as and still try to do it.

Sara Lohse [00:09:56]:

I don't feel youth.

Larry Roberts [00:09:57]:

It is.

Sara Lohse [00:09:57]:

I don't feel like it.

Larry Roberts [00:09:59]:

And it's funny because I. You know, I even told you this last year, too. I said, man, come 25, I'm. I'm not hitting the road. I'm just not. Unless it's a significantly paid gig, I'm not getting out there. And I. I think I've already.

Larry Roberts [00:10:11]:

I don't think. I know. I mean, I've already taken like six trips this year, and it's just March 17th. It's freaking insane.

Sara Lohse [00:10:20]:

Yeah. I mean, I gotta cut back this year because I have so much travel for, like, personal stuff. Like, my sister's getting married, my best friend just had a baby. Like, I'm gonna be traveling all over, but it's mostly gonna be for personal reasons. But, like, the last year I was everywhere. This year, I think I've only done one or two events this year so far. I've got another one in like, two weeks. And then I'll be.

Sara Lohse [00:10:42]:

I'll be having a break for a little bit, but there's just so much. But it's important. I talk about storytelling constantly. I'm annoying about it, but the reason I think stories are so important is because stories create connections, but those connections come from shared experiences. So we tell stories in order to give people insights into some of our experiences, hoping that they will resonate with them and they'll have something similar. But if you're out there with these people and you're at events and you're spending time with them, you're creating shared experiences.

Larry Roberts [00:11:17]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:11:18]:

So just being there and having those experiences together, that's going to create an emotional connection that's going to get these people that just met you to be your super fans. Because they feel like the connections, usually they help release the, like, oxytocin. That increases empathy. Like, there's so many actual scientific reasons behind it, but the connection piece of it is what drives it. So if you're not going out there and being present in the world with your brand and going to the places that your target audience is, you're not going to get that.

Larry Roberts [00:11:56]:

I don't think we should be, like, elevating illegal Drug use in order to gain super fans.

Sara Lohse [00:12:02]:

But which. What drug did I mention?

Larry Roberts [00:12:06]:

Oxy.

Sara Lohse [00:12:07]:

Oxytocin?

Larry Roberts [00:12:08]:

Yeah, that's illegal in the vast majority of the states. I mean, I think it's legal in Portland, Oregon, but I think every place else it's illegal. Illegal.

Sara Lohse [00:12:15]:

I. I think they must have, like, made dopamine and serotonin illegal here, because I haven't had it in a while.

Larry Roberts [00:12:23]:

You know, but try. Yeah, there you go, man. Fired up. Let's get fired up. You know, we put too much pressure on ourselves to try to demonstrate a particular brand or a brand identity. It's kind of like being on a podcast and turning on your podcast voice, you know? But I'll share something with you that you have to be able to go out there, and we already mentioned authenticity, but you have to just be able to. To really give into that. So I was in Florida last week, and I was in a room full of.

Larry Roberts [00:12:52]:

I think there was 72 multi millionaires in the room. Everybody was at least a 10 millionaire, and some of them were like 50 millionaires. So these are very educated, very successful business people that were in the room. And I gave my talk, and at the end, I always. Well, at the beginning, too, I always have a QR code where you can download the slides, and then at the end, also the same QR code. Just one more opportunity for the crowd to download the slides. Well, the QR code led to one of my other talks, so nobody said anything at the beginning, but I don't know how it happened because I know I tested it. I guess I just didn't test it again or.

Larry Roberts [00:13:31]:

I have no idea. Somewhere developing the. Somewhere in developing the talk, the PowerPoints, I must have somehow put the old QR code, because usually I just duplicate a talk and, you know, use the same template. But. But yeah. So I'm in this room full of highly successful individuals that go, hey, dude, we can't get your slides because this is taking us to your YouTube talk. And I'm like, oh, my God. But I still played it off.

Larry Roberts [00:13:53]:

We all laughed about it. I gave them the URL so they could go get the slides. They went to the direct URL, downloaded the slides, and everybody was happy. And we still had an amazing. I don't know what they call it. We'll call it a happy hour, where they had all the food and hors d'oeuvres and all that fun stuff. And, man, I sat there and talked to people for hours. So even though I made a pretty critical mistake, you know, I mean, and I did it twice, not just once, the same mistake in the same presentation, but it's.

Larry Roberts [00:14:18]:

It still didn't necessarily devastate my credibility. I still have multiple appointments that came out of that talk. I still engaged with a ton of people during that talk and after that talk and as another couple of guys even took me to dinner that night. So they were still the content itself. And I think the way that I handled the mistake still made it where they became super fans because of the way that I engaged with them. And that's something that we have to be able to do. And I, I just don't think you can do that without having the experience of failure multiple times when you're out there. And I think that fear of failure is what holds a lot of people back.

Sara Lohse [00:14:54]:

I think that's so important too, because we, because of social media and all of this, we only share our highlight reel.

Larry Roberts [00:15:03]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:15:04]:

And nobody cares about that. Like, if, if I met you and I thought. And you did perfectly, and I thought that you thought that you did perfectly and that you were perfect and you can't mess anything up. I lose interest.

Larry Roberts [00:15:19]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:15:20]:

Because that's boring. I don't want to be around someone who just constantly like, I'm, I'm going to be great and I'm going to get everything right. It's like, I want to hear about the times you screw up and I want to watch you kind of mess up but still kill it at the end, because that's human. And you. Brands need to be human. People don't want to interact with brands anymore. The old versions of advertising and marketing are dead and they're not coming back. Thankfully.

Sara Lohse [00:15:46]:

Like, I worked in advertising for years and I, I never thought I would go into that field because I didn't want to feel like I sold my soul. But it's just so much as pushing nonsense and such, just inhumanity. And when you put people at the forefront and you make yourself a person instead of a logo and you prove that you're human and you make mistakes and you learn from them and you grow from them and you establish that level of just personal connection, that's when you rise as a brand. Because people support that. People can see themselves in that.

Larry Roberts [00:16:25]:

Exactly. And that's why we hear more and more that the less polished the content, the, the, the more consumption that it sees. Because we, we've seen polished content for decades. You know, we've seen overproduced, highly produced. I mean, even look at movies these days, they're so overproduced. That they're barely watchable. They're. Very rarely does a movie come out that I can even sit through.

Larry Roberts [00:16:47]:

But I will watch someone's natural content all day long if it's delivering the value proposition that that particular brand and that particular person is associated with. You know, I'm not going to watch just some randos content if it's not of value to me. You know what I mean?

Sara Lohse [00:17:05]:

Yeah. I feel like we hear this a lot. People will complain that I spent 10 hours editing this reel and it got five likes. But then I throw this little post up that I didn't spend any time on, didn't barely even thought about and it blew up. And they're surprised. They're like, yeah, that's gonna happen like 10 out of 10 times. And if you can get the same like value in a video that took you five seconds to shoot on your iPhone versus 10 hours to produce on multi cameras and stuff, like, why would you even spend all that much time?

Larry Roberts [00:17:44]:

Yes.

Sara Lohse [00:17:45]:

Like the value is there and then the return is going to be a lot higher on your part because you're not investing all of this time and money to produce it. Just have something real out there. Like, people respond so much better to like a selfie video than they do so many other types of content because it's just like, that looks real. Like I can see you doing that.

Larry Roberts [00:18:08]:

Yeah, I mean, I mean look at the, look at the news or look at news shows. You know, on tv their viewership is at record lows across the board regardless of what platform it is or. Or what station it is. It doesn't matter. Box, abc, cnn, whatever, all of them, all of their viewership is way down. Why? Because it's, it's all super, super produced and everybody delivering the content is super, super perfect. But that's not what people want anymore. So that's how you end up getting those super fans to get us back on track is to get out there, be human, create that human emotional connection and make these, I don't know, we'll call them virtual friends.

Larry Roberts [00:18:44]:

And then at some point maybe they become real friends. You meet them in person and now they're even bigger fans. You know what I mean? So it's really just getting out there and making it happen.

Sara Lohse [00:18:53]:

Yeah. And with like when you're putting out content, like don't be afraid to put out your bloopers. We do it all the time. Like there's like, whether we keep it in the episode, which we do often, or we take it out and like release it separately later. Like, we do that for, like, for a reason. Because we want people to know us, and we make mistakes and we say stupid things, and that's just human. So don't feel like your content has to be perfect for it to be valuable. Like, some of the value just comes in people being able to see you for who you are.

Larry Roberts [00:19:26]:

So I think that's a great message for this particular episode of the podcast. Hopefully, some people found some value in it, and you're able to take some of the stuff that we talk about here and create your own foundation of super fans. And if you haven't already, then by all means, Wonder Twin powers activate, and let's be superheroes together. So with that, I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:19:48]:

I'm Sara Lohse.

Sara Lohse [00:19:49]:

And we'll talk to you next week.