Breaking News: KC Chiefs Tight End and Taylor Swift Boyfriend Travis Kelce Just Taught a Valuable Lesson in How to Build a Following …… See More

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce certainly knows how to build a fan base. If you want to do the same, he might suggest putting yourself out there and letting people get to know you and your story.

That approach has certainly worked for Kelce, who seems to be very much an open book. He may be the most popular player in the NFL right now. He helped lead his team to three Super Bowl victories, and he’s in a romantic relationship with Taylor Swift.

Kelce clearly knows how to build on his own popularity. He’s hosting a game show, starring in a television series, and will have a cameo in Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2. He has his own music festival, Kelce Jam. In partnership with his older brother, former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, he’s launched the enormously popular podcast New Heights, is part owner of a beer company, and helped brand a limited-edition breakfast cereal.

The Kelces debate baseball vs. hockey.
The idea of letting your public get to know you came up in this week’s New Heights episode, during a conversation about baseball vs. hockey. Kelce had just returned from New York City, where he and Swift, along with some of their friends, watched the New York Yankees defeat the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of theAmerican League Championship Series. Playoff baseball is always lots of fun, Jason said. But, he added, “I don’t think anything competes with playoff hockey.”

Travis disagreed. “I feel like it does, because you get to know the players’ stories a little bit more,” he said. “You just don’t see hockey players wanting to put themselves out there for everybody to get to know them…It’s just not kind of the culture of the league, I don’t think.

That can make a big difference. “You put a guy like Shohei Ohtani in New York, and I want to see how he reacts to a hostile environment like that,” Kelce continued, referring to the loud enthusiasm of Yankees fans. “I think that’s exciting for me to see as a player. So every single time I see him up at bat, I’m going to be glued into every single pitch. It’s hard to find that in any other sport.”

Ohtani, who comes from Japan, is arguably the greatest baseball player of all time. He’s both a pitcher and a hitter, and recently became the first Major League Baseball player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. He’s also famously stoic and self-deprecating, and so beloved that “even Koreans flock to him,” as The Guardian put it. Ohtani is a great example of how to make a fan base fall in love not just with what you do, but withwho you are.

It can work for you too.
You don’t have to be the greatest baseball player of all time, or a Super Bowl-winning tight end, to use this strategy to your own advantage, or your company’s. In these times when there is so much competition for people’s attention, letting your employees, customers, and other constituents feel like they really know you can be a

huge asset for your business, and for your own personal brand.

So next time you have the opportunity, get out there and let your personality, whatever it is, shine through. Tell the world your story. Open up in a blog, podcast, video, social media posting, or even your own book. Let people feel like they know the real you. You just might find yourself with a fan base of your own.