For all you bands wh
o have very dedicated fans, dedicated enough to help you promote you shows, your releases and be part of your street team, here is a website you might want to look into.
FanCorps.com is an online street-team management system. Although there are other websites out there that offer street team features (i.e. Reverb Nation or Trafficonline), FanCorps is the first I’ve come across that really incorporates elements of social network, and makes you feel part of a team.
Fancorps offers management and communication tools to help bands centralize their street team tasks and activities. Fans can choose to-do tasks from a list of “orders” and earn points, redeemable for t-shirts, concert tickets etc.. The army theme is just over the top for me, but many people love that kind of stuff. The “orders” depends entirely on the band, and can include putting up posters, distributing flyers or contacting radio station.
For print-promo related activities, the band uploads all the artwork, leaving the responsibility of actually creating the flyers/posters to the fans. And if the fan is clueless and doesn’t know where to start giving out those fliers, he/she can consult the ‘Intel’ section, where FanCorps lists places where you could actively promote (locations of record stores, pubs and clubs, book stores, radio stations). Check out their promotional video to get a better idea of what they offer.
Membership for bands starts at $50/month, which allows you to manage 250 street team members. Centralizing your fans’ activities can greatly increase your exposure, but does the service really pay-off? I think it’s pretty expensive seeing how Fancorps doesn’t actually take care of any of the logistics (other than messaging and task delegation): you still have to do all the work you would normally do with a street team, however if you already have an established and dedicated street-team, managing their activities through FanCorps might make your life easier.
Howl.
