Terms

"You should know who you're targeting prior to establishing an organization that is based on membership," begins Matt Hardigree, publisher of The Autopian. "I have encountered issues in which people just that there are readers which aren't there. It's a bit complicated, but it's not that hard. You are able to use all of the information you've learned."

He suggests that if you're writing on a site take a look at the number of people you've got. "If you're writing on a site which has 10 writers and all of us want to begin something, what is our combined readership? Do we make up 15% of site's traffic? It's not much. Are we the ones that represent more than 20% of web traffic?"

The past was when The Autopian founders David Tracy and Jason Torchinsky made up 50 percent of the traffic on Jalopnik. "They might have believed "We are able to start something and it's possible"," continues Matt. "What's intriguing is David and Jason aren't able to attract huge numbers of followers on social media. That might seem like the most obvious way to translate into readers. But they didn't have to do that since they already had followers.

In the days before its launch, The Autopian did a study of the competition both the automobile industry and in media. "We know how many car people visit these websites. Do the math: once you have taken out the cost then what are we going to require for success? Consider asking yourself, what are those people's origins? from? And what proportion of them is aware of our true identity What percentage of them are aware? And what percentage will we need to meet the criteria in sustainability?'  For memberships, how much are we going to charge? ? '."

He adds: "You can make some assumptions - it doesn't matter to prove it, but you must be able to gain access to the data points. Once you've begun making forecasts, you'll have the ability to connect those data points to find out the direction you're heading and alter your predictions. If you don't have information and are just guessing, you have to do the math, and work out the answer.

Matt acknowledges that even when you've completed your research You will still have that "wait and watch" feeling "In the first 30 minutes to an hour or so following the start of my membership, I was an absolute chaos! I wondered "What's going to happen? Once the new members started coming in, it was great! Also, we're still conducting the analysis of information, and we're always analysing which areas are doing the best and what's not."

Engagement strategies and ways to grow

"I consider that we're just 10% of what our members could become," Matt continues. "We've been successful, and we've seen a number of members. But, the first 10% are the easiest to get. The remaining 10% is going to be the most difficult. Every tranche will be more difficult than the tranche that preceded it. We'll solve the problem."

Matt thinks that 10x growth is certainly a five-year goal. "If you can achieve 50% of this goal, then we're almost completely sustained at our current levels of the members. If we hit 100%, we're far greater sustained by the membership fee or are making money through membership alone It would be great to achieve that goal."

Matt Hardigree, The Autopian

How do they achieve this goal? What is their plan to offer as a member benefits and how can they use this to draw in new members?

Matt replies: "It's a balance because The Autopian is a journalism venture as well as an enthusiast-driven endeavor. We look at it as three distinct buckets to assist people to join and also to stay members - by creating The Autopian feel valuable."

Strategy 1: Content

Matt claims that the primary category is content. "We must write something that's good enough, engaging enough to be distinct from content that is already accessible elsewhere, and I'm just allowed to view this content through the Autopian. This is my responsibility to become part of The Autopian if I want it to continue.'

"You're not paying to gain access to this, since there's no paywalled access to it. You're paying because you want it in the world." Matt confirms that it remains to be the Autopian's main value-added proposition "You require this to be there, enough that it will cost you $4 a month, 10 dollars a month, or $85 monthly for certain people."

Strategies 2 and The Benefits

Bucket 2 depicts the products members receive, such as Discord access, clothes like T-shirts, and access to numerous events, like trivia nights as well as merchandise including badges and stickers.

"We offer a wide range of goods you'll receive as if you're purchasing an automobile. At the bottom you'll find cloth ($70/year) and then vinyl ($100/year) and finally velour at $250/year, then at the top is a luxurious Corinthian leather, which is $1000 per year. The number of people employ velour and leather than I'd imagine!"

"One one of the gifts that you receive is a birthday sketch Our co-founder has a talent as an artist. We weren't expecting to get this many drawings, so we're seeing more birthday-themed artworks than we had anticipated. we're still not done!"

An annual rate of $1000 is an unreasonable amount, however this was an idea from a reputable media company Defector. They informed Matt that they may find more customers with the ability to afford $1000 than they anticipated. "I thought to myself "I'm not sure how much, but $1,000?' They said"Do this!"" Matt smiles.

"They were also saying they would prefer a middle stage, since they're at two lower levels and a higher level," he continues. "We had a lot of discussion about it, and finally decided to settle on 250 dollars annually. This was the ideal figure because we have large number of Velour members, and this year, we witnessed an increase in the number of people moving from vinyl into velour as well as later back to vinyl. More than 100 individuals moved up from 250 than go from 100 to 250. I believe we've got exactly what we want!"

Autopian has also recognized that the Autopian team also recognizes that behind the scenes content is very popular. They provide procedural content such as what they used to come up with the title and their "Tales from Slack". Matt explains: "We have our internal Slack and it's not intended for use by anyone else."

"People are prone to saying ridiculous, stupid and funny things!" Matt is having a good time. "Our chief editor David doesn't have a deep understanding of pop culture that's why he's constantly confused by things. He believed Ronan was Serpico. He was of the opinion that the Al Pacino movie set in the 1970s is actually an Robert De Niro film that was released in the 1990s!"

Strategy 3. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

"The third type of content - and the one that does very well and which many people overlook is FOMO. The people don't want to miss out on important facts," Matt continues.

"We use our own Discord which has a column every week of tips. The Discord that we use is completely accessible for free, and is also public. However, there's a group for members," he adds. "I suggest that users share pictures in chat, such as "Here's me wearing my shirt and my badge'. There are many who would like to join this."

Matt says that the method of recruiting new members is working really well in the context of your content types you create. "Every now and then we'll run a 'Here's all you'll get' campaign - to highlight the advantages members receive from membership."

More regularly they will be able to acknowledge their communities "We love our commenters We appreciate our members for helping us improve. If you're not an active member, we understand. There are many people who do not have enough funds. If you're a student, however you're at is fine with us. If you're unable to make the money, consider becoming an avid person who reads. We'd love to have you as a member and make you an integral member of our family. If you're an enthusiast for this type of thing, then you'll have an opportunity for you to become a part of our community."

Then we'll publish a FOMO blog, where Jason will say 'Here are all the birthday drawings I created this month and I hope you enjoy them! And viewers will be able to look at the drawings and say 'God, I want this.'

Communities are available in a variety of shapes and sizes - even birthday cards for car enthusiasts.

More details

To learn more about the Autopian and how to join The Autopian, go to theautopian.com.

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