My own SaaS tools
True Fan, my own product · Social analytics for artist managers and brands
Your follower count is the least useful number you have.
True Fan is social analytics that shows whether you are growing a devoted fanbase or just a follower count: who keeps showing up on TikTok and Instagram, by name, and why.
Followers
Who keeps showing up
True fans, by nameThe waitlist at truefan.social
- Client
- True Fan, my own product
- Sector
- Social analytics
- Built
- The idea, the brand, the waitlist and the plan
- Status
- Waitlist open
The problem
Analytics tools don't tell you much about your fanbase.
A follower count counts people who tapped a button once, maybe years ago, and have not thought about you since. The whole analytics industry is built on top of it: reach, engagement rate, impressions.
None of it answers the only question someone who cares about community has: who keeps showing up, and why?
Where it came from
Before this was software, it was a spreadsheet and a lot of scrolling.
In 2022 I ran social for a hardware startup. Every analytics tool we paid for told us reach and engagement, and none of them could tell us whether we were building a real fanbase.
So every month I opened every post and counted, by hand, how many individual accounts had interacted twice that month. Then I checked which of those came back the next month. True Fan is that count, automated.
What it will do
Made for artist managers and consumer brands.
- 01Top fans, by nameRanked by what they actually do, comments, duets, saves and story replies, on TikTok, on Instagram and on both.
- 02Who comes backThe people who show up month after month, and the ones who are slipping away.
- 03The voice of the cultureWhat the niche is talking about. ManagerPulse, the tool I built for Kris Papa, is the first working piece of this.
Who it is not for
If you need a posting scheduler and engagement numbers, this is not for you.
If you want to know how strong your relationship is with your core following, join the waitlist.
Scope and limits
True Fan is an idea with a waitlist, a brand and a plan, not a working product yet. The boards shown are design concepts, and the people and comments on them are made up. The 37 is from my own hand count at Light Pong.
Matt Smith, Chicago. matt@visibilitybuddy.com