{"id":1174,"date":"2016-06-13T20:17:03","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T03:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backerkit.com\/new_blog\/blog99-why-you-should-post-regular-updates-and-how-to-write-a-good-one\/"},"modified":"2017-10-11T20:00:26","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T03:00:26","slug":"99-why-you-should-post-regular-updates-and-how-to-write-a-good-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backerkit.com\/blog\/99-why-you-should-post-regular-updates-and-how-to-write-a-good-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Post Regular Updates and How to Write a Good One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your campaign has been successfully funded, congratulations! Your backers, curious and excited as they are, are going to start asking you a lot of questions. Here at BackerKit, we recommend posting an update at least every two weeks, even if nothing has changed since the last post, and here is why!<\/p>\n

Sometimes Everything Goes Wrong!<\/h2>\n

Posting an update when you are facing manufacturing errors or delays can be very hard, and possibly even embarrassing, but these are truly going to be your most important posts. It can be very tempting to not say anything, hide under the proverbial covers, and hope that the problem will resolve itself quickly, but going silent is going to cause you to lose a lot of trust with your backers. No one likes being kept in the dark. That\u2019s when backers pull out the pitchforks and go hunting for the crowdfunding creator that took their money and stopped responding to messages.<\/p>\n

Keeping backers updated, especially when the news isn\u2019t good, \u00a0will help keep your community engaged and supportive. Explaining the issue and detailing your plans to resolve said issue, will make it much easier to handle support requests, comments on your campaign page, and social media mentions.<\/p>\n

Most backers understand that things happen, there\u2019s a lot of uncertainty in crowdfunding. As long as they know that you are working to get the rewards out, they will stay interested..<\/p>\n

Sometimes Everything Goes Right!<\/h2>\n

What if your project is going as smoothly as possible, and you haven\u2019t run into any problems whatsoever? First, that\u2019s really awesome and amazing! Second, you should still post updates to keep backers engaged and show that you\u2019re still working. \u00a0Consider sharing some behind-the-scenes information with your backers? This can come in the form of pictures of manufacturing, different colored dyes, or even snapshots of teammates coding frantically on their computers.<\/p>\n

How to Write a Good Update<\/h2>\n

When updating your backers it is always better to post more often. No one is ever disappointed by having more information! Writing a good update is easier than you think, even if writing is not your forte. Try not to focus on making giant updates that cover everything. Break up your content into clear segments. An effective and informative update should include these basic points:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A Good Title<\/b>
    \nPutting more detail into the title \u201cWhere we are with the shipping process\u201d or \u201cWe are doing X\u201d will help drive more backers to read the post as opposed to a generic title such as \u201cUpdate 11\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. Show Progress<\/b>
    \nExplaining where you are currently with the manufacturing or shipping process.<\/li>\n
  3. Explain Delays<\/b>
    \nIf there are delays, explain what happened and what you are doing to fix this.<\/li>\n
  4. Call to Action
    \n<\/b>If there is a call to action, such as having surveys filled out before a lockdown date of 00\/00, make sure you give backers notice!<\/li>\n
  5. Throw some pictures in there!<\/b>
    \nPictures of machines tinkering away, packages ready to be shipped out (make sure you blur\/remove the addresses and names first!) or even just the items themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What do Good Updates look like?<\/h2>\n

    We highly recommend checking out the great, thorough updates posted by these projects:<\/p>\n