Crowdfunding Field Judgment ⑥ | How Many SNS Followers Do You Need? What I Look at Before Follower Count
機械翻訳 / Machine-translated
When consulting on crowdfunding, I sometimes get asked:
"I don't have many SNS followers — can I still do it?"
On the flip side, I sometimes hear:
"I have a lot of followers, so I think I'll get a decent amount of support."
My answer is:
I don't judge based on follower count alone.
What I look at is not how many people are seeing your content, but who will take action when you go live.
In 2017, I launched a crowdfunding campaign with a goal of 1,000,000 yen.
The result: about 30,000 yen.
I was using SNS at the time, and it's not like I had no connections with people.
But I believed:
"If I announce it, people will see it."
"If they see it, they'll support it."
Reality was different.
Being connected to someone ≠ them supporting you.
That failure has had a significant influence on how I make judgments today.
When I receive a consultation now, the first thing I ask is:
"When you go live, who will you contact first?"
Existing customers.
Past clients.
Friends and acquaintances.
Business partners.
People in your local community.
People you regularly interact with on SNS.
I look to see whether specific faces come to mind.
To put it bluntly:
Having 10,000 followers but no idea who will move first is a weaker position than having 500 followers and being able to say,
"I've already spoken to these 100 people in advance."
That, to me, signals real preparation.
Even with the same 1,000 followers, the makeup is completely different depending on the person.
People who regularly leave comments.
People who have bought your products.
People who come to your events.
People who followed you once and never interacted again.
That's why I don't rely on calculations like:
"1% of 5,000 followers will support me, so that's 50 people."
What I want to know is:
Who are those 50 people?
Which reward tier are they likely to choose?
Can you talk to them before launch?
In crowdfunding, rather than building people from probabilities,
it's easier to prepare when you build your numbers from real people.
SNS isn't just a place to attract new people.
Before you launch, share a little at a time:
Why you're taking on this challenge.
What your preparation looks like.
Your product or project concept.
That way, on launch day, you don't have to suddenly say,
"Please support me."
Instead, people will think,
"Oh, that project is finally starting."
In the context of crowdfunding, I see SNS not as a place to grow followers, but as a place to steadily build up reasons for people to cheer you on.
So I never say,
"You can't do it because you don't have enough followers."
What matters is not how many you have right now, but how many potential supporters you can build up before launch day.
Talk about your project online.
Reach out to existing customers.
Consult with acquaintances.
Look for collaborators.
Ask for referrals.
There are things you can do before you go live.
These days, before I look at follower count, I look at who will be the first to act.
Crowdfunding is not a mechanism for converting followers into backers.
It's something you build — starting before launch — by cultivating relationships with people who genuinely want to cheer you on.
That's how I see it.
Crowdfunding SNS Marketing | "Please Support Me" Alone Won't Get You There
If you'd like to consult with me about crowdfunding, please check my profile page.
