Your Human Connection Movement Is Too Important for Mediocre Branding
Change is afoot. The world’s getting crazier, zanier, and worst of all – more lonely. I won’t beat you over the head with the statistics, but let’s just say modern disconnection is a big, big problem.
And it started well before the pandemic – though COVID obviously isn’t helping. The loneliness epidemic has roots in urban sprawl, screen culture, western individualism, and even nice-sounding things like moving to a new city for a job. Millennials are always online, yet often alone.
But don’t fret! There’s a whole generation of community builders rising to the challenge with their innovative movements for IRL connection. The problem is, while so many of these movements are beautifully uplifting in person, they’re often lackluster online.
As a fellow community builder, I’m going to walk through the unique challenges of building a killer social media presence for a connection-based movement, and I’ll outline a quick and dirty guide to branding on a budget.
Human connection movements need to start competing on social media
I hate to say this as a champion of local communities, but Y’ALL – we’ve got an image problem. *Sigh* I don’t mean connection has a bad rap, quite the opposite in fact – what I’m saying, is that well, our photos, graphics, videos, and general aesthetic sensibilities are just plain not competing with the oodles of social media crack that’s coming out these days.
Our culture is becoming increasingly visual
If you’re a community builder, you might cringe reading this, but let’s woo-sah together… it is OKAY and totally fine to give a profound shit about what you look like on social media. We’re living in an increasingly visual culture, and hey you can hate the game, but you’re still playing it.
Whether your message centers around relating more authentically, the power of eye gazing, or activating joy through celebration… you probably want it to spread deep into the global conversation, right? Well, you can’t show up with sweet tarts to the crack party. (I see you TikTok.)
So you’re going to need to journey into the opium den of social media to preach the enlightenment of human connection and authentic relating modalities – because if you don’t reach people where they’re at, some hip e-commerce company is just going to co-opt the conscious connection movement and tell people the answer is to buy more shit.
Aesthetics won’t build your community, but they matter
Look, if you want to build a low-key community for you and your friends, that’s incredible and I applaud you. Please note:
The work you do is incredibly important, and I want to deeply acknowledge your commitment to growing something so necessary, thankless, and ephemeral.
You can probably get by on free Canva graphics and crappy iPhone photos.
This article isn’t for you.
But if you want your message to compete on a global scale, then honey – we’ve got some work ahead of us.
A ragtag social media strategy will get your friends excited, and it’ll probably keep your IRL community members engaged enough to go to the next event. But the occasional mediocre photo from your homie paired with some off-the-cuff Instagram poetry probably won’t propel your digital course to the top of public consciousness.
Sorry If I’m being a little harsh, but it’s just because I really do care that your essential movement for human connection reaches the people who need it most – the young, lonely, social media addicted youth of America. You know – the ones who average 4 hours and 15 minutes per day on their phones – the ones with record rates of suicide, self-harm, and depression. Their lives are what’s at stake here. And getting them excited enough to opt into holistic IRL alternatives is going to take some strategy.
Why is it hard to brand community movements?
Connection photographs poorly
I ran into this problem time and time again with my first venture Body//Talk. We were this innovative DIY party where the ability to make new friends was enhanced through space design and social engineering. We brought together a mix of intelligent hipsters, spiritual dancers, and music heads – but all that nuance never quite came across in our imagery.
Time and time again, an acquaintance would finally attend our event, and say, “Wow! I didn’t realize everyone would be so friendly and welcoming!” To which I’d inevitably reply: “Yep! Just like I told you. Thanks for coming.”
But why the disconnect?
Eventually, I realized an image of a life-changing conversation looks an awful lot like an image of a forgettable one. It’s just two people looking at each other with their mouths open. Maybe a smile or two. Not much to see here.
A feast for the eyes does not equal a great experience
Here’s a challenge – the next time you watch a festival promo video (COVID-willing,) look for the conversation shot... yeah, you won’t see much. You will see incredible outfits, beautiful people dancing, incredible art installations, and maybe some fire-spinners – but you won’t see much emphasis on people rattled by the life-changing magic of an electrifying conversation.
Feeling seen and heard is exhilarating. A special moment of connection can literally jolt me into feeling the blood pulsing through my body – it’s life-force in action.
So connection-focused events and movements have rightfully tended to focus on that which builds connection – deft facilitation, space-holding, conscious communication, community participation, and other super important yet incredibly boring stuff to look at.
Community leaders usually hate their phones
Your movement was supposed to be a reaction to screen culture. A sacred space for eye contact and life-affirming connection. You cringe when you see your attendees compulsively checking their phones. “Why can’t they be here, now,” you think to yourself.
Well, I hate to break it to you, bucko, but this incredible thing you’re building is going to have to look really fucking good on social media if you want it to spread like avocado mash at Sunday brunch. You – yes, you – (or some other unlucky sap) – are going to have to document, pretty up, and spread the IRL happenings of your movement.
Take photos of behind the scenes shit, incredible peak moments that make you so damn thankful to be alive, and all the other visually interesting stuff. Suck it up, and break out that phone – for the good of the movement.
Which connection movements are killing it with their social media and branding?
It is possible to use world-class branding to sell vulnerability and connection.
We’re Not Really Strangers
Leading with an aesthetic-forward strategy, WNRS has promoted conversations on vulnerability, introspection, and connection in social media and IRL spaces.
They have deftly adapted their strategies across social media domains, and most excitingly to me – their product (a vulnerability-inducing card game) is fucking amazing. And it’s become so relevant and well-known, that tens of thousands of young people are diving deeper with their friends. I call that a win for society.
Daybreaker
By now, you’ve definitely heard of these early morning dance parties. As a fellow conscious nightlife entrepreneur, I’m astounded by Daybreaker’s enormous cultural impact. They’ve shone bright morning light on the underground world of dance and ecstatic states, thereby reaching a completely new market of 30-something yuppies and yogis who probably left dancing behind in their drunken college days. They even toured with Oprah! And all without venture capital, no less… I’ll stop gushing.
Daybreaker has accomplished all this through extremely clever positioning, genuine innovation, and a world-class marketing strategy.
Daybreaker wouldn’t have gone viral, which allowed them to quickly spread to 28 cities, if they hadn’t invested up front in their brand. I’m talking logo, web design, videos, copywriting and tons of surprise and delight flourishes at the events themselves.
They are a shining example of dazzling imagery co-mingling with connection and vulnerability.
Top-notch brand marketing pays dividends
I saw the benefits of gorgeous imagery first-hand when I did brand marketing work for Kin Euphorics. Kin has become the Gucci of the thriving new non-alcoholic beverage space, often getting endorsements from top influencers and celebrities without solicitation… why? Because the beverages make you look and feel cool as fuck.
My work with Kin taught me that there’s a huge benefit to productizing your movement and then associating that product strictly with top top top notch design. Like decadently artistic and often expensive as hell photography, packaging, and graphic design. Because in any industry, the most gorgeous design doesn’t always win, but it sure as hell gets a lot of attention and free publicity.
As a community builder, I don’t recommend you invest all your funds in expensive logos and photoshoots, but if you want to get attention on the internet, I urge you to remember that you’re competing for screen real estate against world-class brands with huge budgets.
You’ll need some ingenuity.
Great design doesn’t need to be expensive
It’s highly unlikely that your human connection movement will ever qualify for venture capital, so I’m going to assume you’re working with limited funds.
Let’s start with a hard to swallow pill: crappy design will hold you back.
If you think about it, good design is just empathy in action. A powerful message in a beautiful package is easy to digest, it meets people where they are, and makes them look cool if they share it.
You really do need to think like an investor… Some upfront time and money here will enable your brand to soar past the countless dance videos and embed your ideas deeper into the zeitgeist.
Quick tips for effective design:
Research what plays well on your chosen platform.
Choose a general aesthetic.
Be discerning in choosing your designer.
Craft a visual identity
People crave order and reliability from their favorite brands and organizations. If you’re changing up fonts, color palettes, and photography direction every other post, you’re communicating that:
You aren’t successful enough to afford a designer.
You’re a bit unreliable and unpredictable.
You might not be capable of delivering what you say you will.
But when a brand’s logos, fonts, and colors are tied together with a visual system that looks so good that it was obviously done by a professional, consumers will at least trust that you got the first thing right. You haven’t lost any credibility.
Caveat: If a local event has shitty graphics, but the photos show happy faces and a friend tells me the vibe is tight, I might still attend.
You can get away with a lot locally. But if your movement seeks to resonate with folks far away from the hub, invest in design.
How do I brand my movement on a budget?
You’ve got two options…
Hire a professional at a fair price
Work with friends on the cheap but work hard as a creative director and project manager
Hiring a professional is pretty straightforward: ask around, look at portfolios, pay what they’re worth (probably a lot.)
But getting the best work out of friends and less-experienced designers is a bit more of a process.
Working with friends can be incredibly natural: they have similar taste, they put love into the work, and they understand your vision… OR it can lead to sub-par work that you’re too afraid to ask for proper revisions on.
If you’re just starting out and you’re really broke, just hit up your best designer friend who has appreciation for your aesthetic vision, and let them go to town on some foundational assets like a digital flyer and whatever else happens to come out of their design sessions. I’d budget $150 for the humblest of beginnings.
But if you’re plugging away locally, and you think you’ve really touched on something true that deserves to spread, then start to think ambitiously about how you present yourself online.
I’d start with a budget of $500 for a decent brand package from a homie with a discount. See what that will get you, and continue to invest as you grow.
Visual Branding is a mindset
Start managing your online aesthetic with the same attention to detail you give to the quality of your events, courses, and other offerings. Insightful messaging paired with visual value (aka art) will break you through the clutter.
In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker says, “Don’t be a chill host.” And in The Art of Gathering People Online (not a real thing)… Phil Santos (real person) says, “Don’t be a chill brand marketer.”
Did a friend take a shitty iPhone photo but it really speaks to your event? Don’t post it. Take a better one next time.
Does this caption have an okay message but feels a little rambly? Edit it.
Does this TikTok have a cool idea but the backdrop where it was filmed looks bland? Invest time in a better backdrop.
Buy that tripod. Edit down the boring bits of that youtube video introduction.
You’re a small company stepping up to the big leagues, this is going to take some time. And you don’t need to figure all this out at once. It’s okay to grow your abilities as a brand marketer the same way you probably grew them as an event curator–organically.
I know that I haven’t always practiced what I’m preaching here. But I’ve seen it done enough times to know what it takes to get fawned over by the press vs. building a slow movement that burns out before it ever gets its due. Branding is the differentiator. Well – that and experience design, but we’ll save that for another post.
For now, just focus on one social media channel and make an effort to do it well.
“Do less. Concentrate your efforts. Commit to one platform and own it.”
A quick start guide to brand marketing for your movement
Take action on these sooner rather than later:
Schedule a proper photo shoot with a photographer friend.
Invest in a talented designer to build your brand’s visual system.
Stop posting poor imagery to your marketing channels. Even if they were made for free.
Those are some concrete steps, but investing in brand marketing will ultimately come down to your mindset. Use these questions to kickstart the conversation with your marketing team:
Which social media channel will you prioritize?
How can you make your events more visually appealing?
How can you package your ideas into digestible nuggets for social media?
How can you document your most interesting behind the scenes action?
Are your photographs amazing? If not, how can you make them so? Don’t be above using models and doing photoshoots. Fashion companies understand how valuable a beautiful face is for selling a lifestyle movement. Don’t hate the game, win it.
Which compelling images would a major publication use if they were to write about you?
Ultimately connection and value matter more than aesthetics
I know you’ve probably done all of this shadow-work and started to quiet the ego-driven drive to want to look good, but you’re leading a movement now, and the priority is the movement. So I hope I was able to nudge you a few steps in the direction of looking good and killing it in the devil’s den of social media.
After all, beauty is that which holds the eye, and your human connection movement is going to need to hold the focus of a lot of eyeballs for it to make a global impact.
And hey, if you ever need help working out a brand strategy, send me a note. I’m happy to help.
