Terms

"You have to know what audience you're targeting prior to creating an organization that is based on membership" starts Matt Hardigree, publisher of The Autopian. "I have had issues which were solved by those who assumed that there would be a readership that exists. It's a math problem, but not impossible. It's possible to utilize every data source you can find."

The author suggests that if you're writing for a website take a look at the number of readers you've. "If you're on a website along with 10 other writers and all of us want to start something then what are we sharing in common? Do we make up 15percent of website's visitors? That's not much. Or do we make up eighty percent of all users on the website?"

Sometime in the past, The Autopian founders David Tracy and Jason Torchinsky made up 50 percent of Jalopnik's traffic. "They would have thought "We might be able to start something and it's possible to make this happen'," says Matt. "What's intriguing is David and Jason aren't awash with huge numbers of people following them on social media, which appears to be the simplest way to turn into readers. However, they didn't need to acquire that since they already had followers.

Prior to launching, The Autopian did a review of the competition in the automotive industry as well as the press. "We have a good idea of the number of car people visit these websites. Consider: If we've eliminated the cost, what are we going to need in order to be successful? And then you have to ask: 'Where will those individuals come from?' And what proportion of them is aware of our identity? What percentage are we required to have to achieve a point in sustainability?' In terms of membership fees, what are we going to charge? '."

The author goes on to say: "You can make some predictions - but you do not have to be right, but you must have all the pertinent information. After you've started making prediction, you'll be able to use the capability to link those information points, and determine where you're wrong and then change your prediction. If you don't have any data and you're just guessing then you'll need to perform the maths to figure it out.

Matt says that when you've conducted your own research you'll have an "in your head" point "In the first half hour or two of launching the membership, I was a wreck! I wondered, "What's going to take place? Once those memberships started coming in, it was amazing! However, we're still conducting the analysis of data, and we're constantly evaluating what is working and what isn't."

Engagement strategies and ways to grow

"I consider that we're just 10% of what our membership could be," Matt continues. "We've been successful, we've been able to attract a lot of members, but those initial 10 percent of members are the easiest to get. These last 10 percent of members are likely to be the toughest. Each tranche will likely to be tougher than the one before it. So, we'll have to come up with a plan."

Matt thinks that 10x growth is likely to be a 5-year target. "If we can get to 50 percent of our target We are in a way supported at this point through membership. If we are able to reach 100%, we're more than sustained with the membership fee, or earn income from membership and would love to achieve that goal."

Matt Hardigree, The Autopian

What goals do they have to achieve them? What do they have to offer in terms of membership perks and how do they utilize the perks to attract new members?

Matt replies: "It's a balance because we are a journalistic endeavor and an activity for fans. It's like having three distinct groups of people in the way we encourage members to sign up and to keep the members as we make The Autopian feel valuable."

Strategy 1: Content

Matt states that the most important category is content. "We have to write something that is good enough and interesting enough to be distinctive enough to be different from other content - 'I can only view this article on the Autopian. You must be an official member of The Autopian if I want it to become a reality.'

"You're not paying for access to this content because it's not a paywall. The reason you pay is because you wish for it to be available everywhere." Matt confirms that the autopian's content will be the most valued offering "You need this thing to be there so desperately that you'll be paying the equivalent of $4 per month, $10 per month, or $85 per month for certain users."

Strategy 2: The Benefits

Bucket 2 is the name given to items users get free of charge, like Discord access, clothes including T-shirts, tickets to various events, such as trivia nights and other merchandise like badges, stickers and other items.

"We provide a range of things you'll be receiving the case if you buy a vehicle. At the bottom are cloth ($70/year) before vinyl ($100/year) then Velour for $250/year. The highest price is Corinthian leather which costs $1,000/year. It is more common for people to make use of Velour and leather than I would imagine!"

"One of the things that you receive is a birthday card. Our co-founder is an artistic talent. We hadn't anticipated receiving many drawings, so he's drawn better birthday sketch than we thought he would We're still getting caught up!"

An annual rate of $1000 is an unreasonable amount, however this was a suggestion from a long-established media business Defector. Defector told Matt that they could find many more consumers who could comfortably afford the $1000 they had envisioned. "I thought"I don't know the amount, what's $1000?' they said"Do that!" Matt laughs.

"They have also expressed their desire to have the middle-level, as they are at two levels below than the other," the author says. "We considered it for a while before settling to go with 250 dollars per year. It was the perfect number. We have many velour members. This year, more people moved between vinyl and Velour, and then from velour down to vinyl - more individuals moved from 100 to 250 as opposed to those that went between 250 and 100. I think that we're on the right track!"

The Autopian team also has realized that the content they create behind-the-scenes is popular. They post procedural content like how they stumbled upon an article and then they publish "Tales from the Slack". Matt states: "We have our internal Slack, and it's obviously not intended for consumption by the public."

"People make up absurd, ridiculous, hilarious things!" Matt is laughing. "Our editor-in-chief David isn't a pop-culture awareness therefore he's always perplexed by things. He believed that Ronan was an Serpico and that it was an Al Pacino movie set in the 70s was a Robert De Niro film that came out in the 1990s!"

Strategy 3. Fear of Missing out (FOMO)

"The third content bucket and the one that works very well, and which a lot of people overlook is FOMO. People don't want to miss important information," Matt continues.

"We are on Discord that has daily section of guidance. The Discord on our site is open and free with a dedicated member-only section," he adds. "I encourage members to share photos in general chat "Here's me in my shirt, I'm wearing my badge' and people want to be members of this."

Matt says that attracting new members can be extremely effective so it is in line with the type of content you write. "Every once in a while, we'll run a 'Here's all you get' appeal - to remind people of the benefits that members enjoy."

More regularly they will thank their community: "We love our commenters and you are the reason we're so great. If you're not an active participant, we'll be willing to be understanding. Not everyone has the money. If you're a student, no matter what that may be that you're in, we'll recognize. If you're unable to afford the cash, become the reader. We would like to warmly welcome you and would love to have you as a one of the members in our family. If you're a lover of the idea and want to join this community."

However, we'll then do an FOMO blog post in which Jason will write 'Here's all the birthday drawings I created throughout the month of July!' The people who look at the drawings will be thinking 'God! I'd love that.'

Communities can come in a variety of forms and sizes, including birthday celebrations for car lovers.

More information

For more information and to become a member of The Autopian, go to theautopian.com.

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