Patreon Tutorial: Crowdfunding for Content Creators

Key Takeaways

One of the biggest questions I get asked about being a content creator is how do you make money? Well, the reality is you don't really make money on YouTube. Yes, there's Google AdSense and that is a way to have a little bit of an income, but any YouTuber will tell you the amount of money that you make from AdSense is not a ton um to say the least. Uh unless you're in like the millions of subscribers uh range, which I'm not right now. I think I'll get there, but I'm not right now. So, you have to get creative in how you kind of offset the amount of time and effort and resources that go into making these videos. Um, so for me, I started looking into crowdfunding options, um, sponsorships, and those kinds of things. And I always want to keep it really authentic to who I am as a person, and I don't want to ever sell out. So, I found a really cool option, and if you're a content creator, I'm sure you're going to find this interesting, too. Introducing Patreon. Now, Patreon is nothing new. It's been around for a little while, but I just recently discovered it. And it's such an incredible option as a content creator to start monetizing what you're doing. Whether you're a blogger, a YouTuber, a podcaster, there's all kinds of content creators on the site. So, we're going to dive into how Patreon works. Patreon is basically, like I said, crowdfunding for content creators. So, if you think about it this way, you have subscriptions to things like Netflix and you pay for cable, um, for your TV, and those kinds of things. So, think about all the free content that you consume online. We as content creators love making it, and I know you hear me on that. We love doing this. That's why we do it. You don't really get into making YouTube videos to become a millionaire, realistically. Um, but it is nice to be able to create an income out of it because then it allows you to create even more video content and even more quality video content. And that's really the endgame. It's really about uh if you are consuming this content and you find it helpful and if you're consuming other people's content and finding it helpful, this is a way for you to support those content creators in doing what they do and doing it even better and and on an even more consistent basis basically. So, I've really studied the platform and two of the requirements I would say for having a Patreon account and actually succeeding on this platform is one, you need to have a an a somewhat established community already. That doesn't mean you need to have millions of subscribers um or listeners or viewers, but it means that you need to have an engaged community who are your brand ambassadors and they care about what you're doing and they're loyal and they come back week to week because those are the people that will want to support you in this way. And the other requirement is really just giving something of value and providing content that's educational or helpful or of service to your audience because that's going to make people want to contribute to what you're doing as well because you're helping them at the end of the day. And when you are supporting content creators, they often will have rewards on their Patreon page. So, let's take a look at some examples of what some of those rewards look like. My friend Steve Doto, who is an awesome YouTube channel, which I will link to uh in the cards and below this video, uh has a great Patreon account and he has lots of really awesome rewards available. You can see that the pledges start at $1 and go all the way up to $500. Uh, so if at $100 per month, one of the rewards that Steve offers is he's going to create one of his videos for your product every six months. So, two per year. So, that's a pretty great thing if you're looking to get some publicity as Steve has about 100,000 subscribers on his channel. Nate is a musician and you can see his 13 of 20 patrons. So, you can cap your um amount of patrons for specific uh dollar amounts. And so, that's what he's done here. And if you pledge $25 or more per month, you get a one-on-one mentoring session with him um in a 30 minute Skype call per month. Plus, you get a handwritten postcard um and the name in your name in the credits of his songs, videos, and albums. The Kind of funny games Patreon account is a really great example. These guys actually quit their job to become content creators full-time, and they have some really cool and creative perks. Um so, one of the things is early access to their content, which is something a lot of content creators will do on Patreon. Um, and then also mentions, like I said, hangouts, um, like a monthly Q&A live stream that these guys will do for you if you if you pledge $20 or more per month. Uh, an on-air thank you if you pledge $25 or more per month. Um, and then as it goes up, it uh, increases in value with each of the perks that they have available. So, those are a few examples. Here are a few other things that you can offer and that I've seen on other Patreon accounts that work quite well for increasing the amount of patrons that you get on your account. As I mentioned earlier, you can do early access or advertisement free access to your content. You can do shoutouts in video format or on your podcast or even on a social media mention if you want to tweet at somebody to say thank you publicly. Uh you can offer transcriptions of your content. Free products. If you have ebooks or lower price point products that you're selling, you can offer those for free. Uh discounts on your courses or products or services. Um swag. uh meaning bags or t-shirts or hats or anything that has your logo on it. Exclusive Patreon content and access. So, there is a Patreon feed for every creator who's on the platform and you can have Q&As's with all of your patrons and offer exclusive access to your content um and to content that you're not sharing anywhere else. You can do live Q&As's once a month, whether that's on Google Hangouts, um, or things like Periscope that are private for your patrons, handwritten thank you notes, private coaching calls, uh, sponsored content, so someone can offer to pay to have you make a video for them or a podcast for them. Um, and the list goes on. Really, the sky's the limit, and you just need to be creative with what you want to offer your audience and what you think they'll like. So, that's really an overview of Patreon. I'm super happy I discovered this platform. Um, and this is now a crowdfunded channel. So, if you enjoy my content, my own Patreon page is brand new. This is the first time I'm really promoting it publicly. You can check out the details below this video. I'll have a link to my Patreon page where you can see rewards that I'm offering patrons. And if you feel like supporting, that would be awesome. If not, cool. No worries. I'm just happy you're here and watching this video. If you like this video, hit the like button below, share it with your friends, and subscribe. And if you want exclusive online business marketing and social media tips and tricks, make sure you subscribe on my website at sunnyonus.com. Thank you guys for watching, and I will see you next time.