PluGO wrote:I've only been live on Kickstarter for 2 days and we're around 30% funded with 200 backers. I'd say its a pretty good start from someone with no crowdfunding experience and wanted to share more/ask some questions
It's a great start, actually.
PluGO wrote:I'm a bit stuck now. The initial surge is ending and I need to figure out more ways to get traction. Any suggestions or ideas?
Well, as someone who has never crowdfunded anything, previously, speaking to someone else (yourself) with no prior crowdfunding experience, and with the understanding that I am responding off-the-cuff, here's what I would say.
1. If you compare the number of backers that you have to the number of shares that the Kickstarter page says that you have (under the "Share this project" button/link, then I think that it's pretty clear that you have a good ratio building here, one that is very much in your favor. I don't have access to the Kickstarter data that project creators have, so my resources for arriving at such determinations are substantially limited. Regardless, I try to look beyond bare numbers and raw data, to try and figure out ways for project creators to increase the appeal of their respective projects, or to become more popular, which are not necessarily one and the same thing.
2. Your project already has momentum, and you have a decent number of backers. Your share count is low, though. There are several different routes to increasing your shares and share rate(s).
(a) Grow your own following.
(b) Tap into the followings of others.
Every project creator would prefer to have high numbers over low numbers, in the backer and pledges categories, which is why I primarily concentrate on small projects with lower numbers. The challenge lies , not in having large numbers to work with, but in achieving larger numbers.
To rapidly grow your number sets, you have to tap into existing sets of large numbers, or you go viral. Good luck on the latter one, if that's where you commit your time, energy, and resources. Viral tends to be the exception, rather than the norm.
To tap into existing large sets of numbers that are basically "controlled" by others, you can buy access or you can wield persuasion.
Celebrity status carries with it access to vast numbers of people. Yet, it tends to be aggressively controlled sets of numbers. Impenetrable comes to mind.
Media carries access to large numbers of people, as well as quick dissemination capability. You can advertise, which costs money, or you compete with every Tom, Dick and Harry trying to exploit the media's large numbers. It's easy to get lost in the crowd.
Subject matter carries potential access to large numbers of people. No matter which route that you take, doors (obstacles) block your way. A lot of time often gets wasted by project creators trying to foist their project into areas that are ill-suited to the subject matter that large numbers of people routinely access through various channels. You're dealing with techno-gadgets, so it probably wouldn't make any sense trying to spread the word via fashion-oriented subject matter channels. At the rate that your project is going, I think that it's likely that your project will get picked up on the techno blogosphere, if it hasn't, already. I'm not following your project, so I don't know who is already talking about it, nor where.
Select individuals carry ready access to large sets of numbers. It can be very time-consuming, trying to go this route. Basically, you cherry-pick which individuals, and then you concentrate a disproportional amount of time, energy, and resources on trying to open doors.
Typically, project creators have a dreadful tendency to make life worse, for both themselves and their respective crowdfunding campaigns. Lots of time, energy, resources, and effort gets lost in the nether of nothingness. By that, I mean that project creators spend a lot of time either doing nothing, or in achieving nothing. They bark up wrong trees, and they pick the wrong targets. Even when they make good picks, initially, they squander openings and opportunities through ineffective messaging.
Your project page indicates to me that you know exactly what you are doing. You might not have every answer, and you may have to work to blow your numbers up really large, but your process to date is working. Your project isn't off course. Your project isn't lost in some storm upon the Kickstarter seas. Your funding and backer trajectories both look good. You should be speaking with the voice of confidence. Don't open yourself up to doubt, unnecessarily.
Stay the course. You have sharp eyes - and multiple heads to draw brain-thought from. You're organized, and you have sharp focus.
No project creator ever reaches the end of the Internet, even though many act like they have. The Internet is enormously vast. Don't fall into the trap of begging for shares for your project. Instead, keep developing and talking about your story, more so than your project. There is the project, and there is the story. The story will give you more mileage with more people. It is what will cause others to open the doors that you want opened.
Be interesting. Speak from the heart, and pour out your soul. It's what ignites human connections and allows passion to burn brightly, that your project's sky will be lit up for everyone to better notice your project by.
