--- title: "The Pyramid of Fandom" description: "The four layers of an audience and the job at each layer." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/superfans/the-pyramid-of-fandom/ updated: 2026-11-03 --- # The Pyramid of Fandom > The four layers of an audience and the job at each layer. Pat Flynn's framework, from Superfans, pp. 20 to 33. Framework 1 of 15 from [Superfans](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/superfans/index.md) by Pat Flynn. Category: Lead generation. ## The steps 1. **Casual audience.** Found you by a link, search or recommendation. The job is a trigger that shows they are in the right place. 2. **Active audience.** Subscribers and followers who know you and decide whether to invest in each new thing. The job is to bring them closer. 3. **Connected community.** People who talk to you and to each other and may name themselves. They seed and validate new ideas. 4. **Superfans.** The smallest group and the beating heart of the business. They share, defend and buy. ## Where it comes from From chapter: Introduction: The Superfan Paradigm, pp. 20–33 Flynn tells how he was laid off in 2008, found the Internet Business Mastery podcast, joined a mastermind and sold an ebook that gave him his first superfan, Jackie. Jackie's firm bought over twenty-five copies, which shows what one superfan can multiply. He leans on Kevin Kelly's 1,000 True Fans idea, adds the dollar bill analogy to argue that adding value is only the baseline, and lays out the Pyramid of Fandom from casual audience to active audience to connected community to superfans. He contrasts it with the inverted sales funnel, which makes numbers matter more than the people behind them. ## The animation 24 seconds, 4:5, no sound. - MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/superfans/the-pyramid-of-fandom.mp4 - MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/superfans/the-pyramid-of-fandom-dark.mp4 - Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/superfans/the-pyramid-of-fandom.png - Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/superfans/the-pyramid-of-fandom-dark.png