David Meerman Scott is a long-time friend and I’ve had the distinct pleasure of coaching him from time to time, too.  His perennial bestseller, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, launched his career over a decade ago, and he’s coming out with a 7th edition of that classic this spring.  David has spoken about his insights into marketing in the digital era in most of the countries of the world, and on all seven continents since then.  His new book, Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans, launches today, published by the Portfolio division of Penguin Random House.  In it, David has some deeply insightful and provocative things to say about the current state of marketing.  You can download a free excerpt of the book here.   In the following Q and A, we had a chance to catch up on some of those new ideas.

Nick:  David, I’m so excited to receive a copy of your new book, Fanocracy! How has marketing changed since you first wrote your now-classic work, The New Rules of Marketing and PR?

David:  Thanks for all you do, Nick. I’ve been following your ideas since 2007 which is the year that The New Rules of Marketing and PR first came out. It is now in a 6th edition with more than 400,000 copies sold in English and available in 29 languages from Albanian to Vietnamese.

When I wrote the New Rules, the ideas of reaching buyers with Web content and social media was brand new. At the time I was writing the first edition, Twitter didn’t exist, and Facebook was only for students. The New Rules educated people on how to use these emerging tools.

In the earliest days of social media, participating in these networks was like a virtual cocktail party. We could meet with our friends and ask what they were up to. We could stay in touch with business associates. It was fun and carefree. And we could build a following and grow a business.

But today, it’s another story altogether. The algorithms deployed by the social networks like Facebook don’t show us what we want to see because the technology favors profit for shareholders, rather than the original promise of allowing people to interact with their friends, family, and colleagues. We get tidal waves of spam email and social networks that display advertisements instead of messages from our friends and fake news instead of what we as humans really need to know to lead fulfilling productive lives. The result is a polarizing and cold digital world.

The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications at a time when people are hungry for true human connection.

About five years ago, my daughter Reiko and I decided to team up to research what’s next. Reiko has proven to be an ideal partner in this project because not only is she different gender and different generation, she also has very different fandoms than me. I love live music and have seen over 780 live shows (including 75 Grateful Dead concerts). Reiko is deep into Harry Potter and loves to cosplay at Comic Con. She has a neuroscience degree from Columbia University and is in her final year of Medical School so she brings a scientific approach to why we become fans of something.

We interviewed hundreds of people about what they are a fan of and why. We found dozens of examples of organizations of all types that have created genuine human connection via fandom.

The result is our new book Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans. The book is a deep dive into Fandom culture and how any business can grow by cultivating fans.

Nick:  How should a company or organization (or speaker, for that matter) think about marketing today — if they have no presence yet in the marketplace? How do they get started?

David:  In a digital world where our lives are increasingly cluttered and superficial, we’re missing something tremendously powerful: genuine human connection. People are going to be most invested in that which creates a sense of intimacy, warmth, and shared meaning in a world that would otherwise relegate them to a statistic.

This is especially true today because of the tremendous polarization of our political climate here in the U.S. as well as in other countries.

The fundamental ingredient for true fandom—meaningful and active human connection—demonstrates a shift in the way a company relates with their customers. They are more forthright, helpful and transparent. They create new experiences by turning customers into like-minded, enthusiastic fans.

A true Fanocracy mobilizes people to think, feel and act together with a helpful, positive force during difficult times. In the medical world that Reiko is in, it means a healing force in the healthy exchange between patients and doctors. Fanocracy empowers people in a way that no single individual would ever be able to accomplish by himself or herself. Mastering life happens when the joy we have in our work and play feels the same.

Nick:  The digital world can be so unforgiving.  Can a company come back from a marketing misstep or mistake? How should they think about that? 

David:  Absolutely! But the critical ingredients as they deal with a mistake are truth and transparency. So many organizations hide when the going gets tough. Or they blame somebody else. Or they go all legal and point out the terms and conditions of a relationship. That’s not how to treat your fans!

We have a wonderful example in Fanocracy about how KFC restaurants in the UK ran out of chicken. It was a #KFCCrisis! A chicken restaurant without any chicken!

KFC had changed logistics companies and the new provider fouled up the fowl deliveries. KFC could have ducked the chicken problem or hid behind gobbledygook words or blamed the logistics company, the sorts of actions we expect. Instead of the typical response, KFC did a wonderful job communicating on social networks and via advertisements, using humor to get people interested but providing valuable information to their fans, those who frequent the company’s restaurants. As a result, they bounced back and have even more fans than prior to the crisis.

Nick:  OK, I’m sold.  Can any company — no matter how boring their products — create fans?

David:  We learned that fandom isn’t just for celebrities anymore! And it’s not just for consumer product companies either. Fandom can be rocket fuel for any business or nonprofit that chooses to focus on inspiring and nurturing true fans.

We found examples of brands that attract word-of-mouth buzz and radical devotion around products and services and ideas of all kinds. Each embody the most powerful marketing force in the world: die-hard fans.

A few unusual examples in Fanocracy where we interview the CEO of the organization to learn about their success include: MeUndies, the subscription company that’s revolutionizing underwear (yes, underwear subscriptions!); HeadCount, the nonprofit that registers voters at music concerts; Grain Surfboards, the board-building studio that willingly reveals its trade secrets with customers; Hagerty, the classic-car insurance provider with over 600,000 premier club members (car insurance is a business that everybody hates yet Hagerty has hundreds of thousands of fans!); and HubSpot, the software company that draws 25,000 attendees to its annual conference.

Nick:  Amazing!  OK, let’s get to the good stuff.  Tell us more about D. M. Scott and Reiko Scott — what was it like working together?

David:  Many people have been surprised to learn that we’ve worked together on this project. “A father and daughter writing a book together? What’s up with that?” they ask. The spark of the idea came when we realized how similar our ideas of fandoms are, yet how different we are as people. Both of our lives have been greatly influenced by the things that we love and the people who share our passions with us are among our best friends. Because we had the same strong feelings about the importance of fandom in our lives, we appreciated that we had identified something important and worth exploring together.

We learned very quickly that we needed to trust one another completely. And we had to come at the project as complete equals, not as father and daughter.

One test of our relationship came early on. Our first draft of about half of the book was written in our combined voice and it just wasn’t working. We couldn’t figure out why and it was very frustrating. However, with much discussion, we realized that hiding our voices was a mistake. The finished book includes 14 chapters. Two we wrote together and about half of the remaining dozen chapters Reiko wrote and I wrote the others.

I’m thrilled to say that many early reviewers of Fanocracy commented that Reiko is a much better writer than me! How exciting is that?

Nick:  Hah!  Making a father proud!  Anything else we should know?

David:  Nick, the speech that you helped me craft around fandom and how to grow a Fanocracy for any business has been a blast to deliver! Thank you for working with me on it.

Nick:  That was a fun one!  Such great stories.  Thanks, David, and good luck to you and Reiko with Fanocracy!