by Cari Cole

In light of the holiday season, I want to give you a few exercises to find out if you’re being generous with your fans – or stingy. It’s no secret that to get love you gotta give love – and you want your fans to love you, right? Then you gotta love them first. Start by being generous with these 3 things and you’ll be on the top of your fans “Nice” list this year 🙂

1. Your Signature Song(s)

Promote the Signature songs that really nail you, your brand, by presenting them to your audience, don’t hide them! Make sure they are featured on your site and readily available in multiple formats. A streaming mp3, an official video, a good live video, a handwritten lyric sheet and make sure to highlight those songs in your set.

Exercise: What’s one new format you can spread a signature song with? Video? Writing the story behind the song? Having one of your friends cover the song? Come up with an idea that excites you and a plan to release it to your fans in 2014!

2. Bump Up Your Newsletter

Email is still one of the most intimate ways your can connect to your true fans as long as you do it right. If you’re getting lots of unsubscribes (or having trouble getting people on your list in the first place) remember this: it’s not about you, it’s about them. How can you make your newsletter say something your fans can’t wait to read?

Exercise: Check out your email inbox for the last couple of days and flag the emails that you really appreciated. The ones you want to hang on to or might read again. For each one write down what it did and why you liked it. What was the feeling you got from reading the email?

See if you can find any themes or common denominators. This should give you a good idea of how you’d like your fans to feel after reading your email. If the emails you’re sending wouldn’t be something you’d flag yourself, think again!

3. Share Your Truth

Maybe some of your beliefs don’t jive with what’s popular or generally accepted – that’s a good thing! Most of us (your fans included) are hiding strong beliefs behind those benign Facebook updates.

For example, Ashton Kutcher at the Teen Choice Awards. His acceptance speech was totally untraditional and made a statement about the propaganda around fame and celebrity that spread across the web like wildfire. He encouraged teens to work hard and see being smart, thoughtful, and generous as sexy. It was a major statement for a celebrity and totally inspiring.

Exercise: Ashton broke his speech down into 3 things he wanted to talk about. Try making your own speech (film yourself talking, write a blog post, or write a song, or do something else creative) and share it with your fans. If you were getting a “lifetime achievement award” right now – what would you want to share with people?

Be generous with your fans as often as possible – you’re sending out good vibes that make them feel special and want to stay in touch with you!

©2014 Cari Cole, Vocal Mag, Inc. All Rights Reserved.