Tim Tracker: Building a Community Beyond Theme Parks
If you’re an avid Disney parks goer, a Orlando theme park enthusiast, or just someone who is attempting to plan a vacation to the Most Magical Place on Earth, you’ve probably heard of Tim Tracker.
Known for his Disney/Universal vlogs, his can-do dad humor, and his prolific mustache, Tracker has amassed over 800,000 YouTube followers and a mass of fans that are not just apart of a fanbase but instead a full on community.
A community? How can you even build a community as a YouTuber aside from fans?
Well hang on let me tell you!
Building a community online is something all social media influencers, and businesses, should strive to do. It helps create loyalty, comradery, and a connection with your loyal fans and followers.
To do so, it takes the time and the effort to get your followers to engage and interact with not only you, but one another.
So let’s get back to the Trackers.
Tim started posting on YouTube back in June of 2009. Slowly but surely, Tim, and eventually his wife Jen, and son Jackson, have built a YouTube page that helps viewers and followers plan out all aspects of their travel to the Orlando Theme Parks and beyond. Including posting new videos every single day.
Every. Single. Day.
You’re probably thinking, sure, I can post everyday but how does that lead to building a community?
Well first, building a community is not just an overnight thing! It takes time and effort to build. So it’s not just a quick 100 meter sprint, but instead a half marathon. To do so, brands and influencers need to target the right people. Knowing your customer and understanding what they want is half the battle. Once you know that, and some time and effort of course, you’re well on your way to building a community!
And Tim knows his audience like the back of his hand.
Let’s break it down shall we?
Tim Tracker goes beyond just posting daily videos and curating the most up-to-date information about Disney/Universal theme parks. By going to the parks every single day and posting vlogs every single days, his audience and followers are able to get almost real time updates on what’s going on. Since the core of his audience are hardcore Disney fans, by doing so, he builds that base of knowing what they want to see from him!
Then comes the work of building on this…
Tim does a great job of connecting with his followers and continuing building that community by humanizing his whole entire brand. This includes him filming things like ‘home vlogs’, consistently interacting with fans/followers on social media, and doing hours long live chats with his wife Jen where they talk all things theme parks, their personal lives, and chat with followers about different things that are happening around the theme park world. It feels, as a Disney adult, like you’re just chatting with your friends about things going on at the theme parks.
In another effort to humanize and build his community, Tim Tracker also has an entire Facebook community filled with fans of the channel where they post theme park questions, encourage positive debates in relation to the Disney parks, and even has participation from the Trackers themselves. The group amasses over 30,000 members and is used daily.
So what is there to learn from Tim Tracker if I want to build my own community?
Well a bunch of sh*t! But here’s the lowdown.
I think the lesson learned here is to find your voice and your niche community, BUT to also humanize your brand and build that connection with your audience.
You can follow Tim Tracker’s YouTube channel here.
