This paper takes the social media era as the background and focuses on the “fan economy” and its marketing model to conduct research. Through systematic review and comprehensive analysis of relevant literature, the research status, hotspots, and trends of fan economy at home and abroad are expounded in the paper. This study clarifies the connotations of fans and fan economy and analyzes its characteristics of being closely connected with the entertainment industry, being branded and word-of-mouth-driven, as well as being professionalized and customized. It also explores the interrelationship between social media and the fan economy. Social media provides channels for the fan economy, and the fan economy injects energy into social media. It analyzes the new characteristics of the fan economy in the social media era, such as upgraded consumption methods, extended brand value, and expanded O2O models. It summarizes marketing models such as social marketing, dematerialization marketing, pan-media marketing, and self-media marketing. The research shows that the fan economy marketing model provides rich choices for enterprises and brands but also faces problems such as overconsumption and cyber violence. It is necessary to ensure its healthy and sustainable development. In the future, research on the internal marketing models and mechanisms of the fan economy should be strengthened. Enterprises and brands should make full use of its advantages to innovate marketing models. The government and relevant departments should strengthen supervision to create a good market environment and achieve a win-win situation in economic and social benefits.
