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- The Club List, Issue #13: Community Is The Key
The Club List, Issue #13: Community Is The Key
Kodi McKinney
August 23, 2024
Welcome back to The Club List, a newsletter about making a business out of what you love.
Last Friday, I got to see Bri Carter bring down a packed Pianos in NYC for her album release show, and it was exciting! Her label Renegade Records was one of the first clients I had under the Me In The Club banner, and it’s amazing to watch Bri and Renegade find the bigger audience her music deserves.
Then, just yesterday, a graphic design company I consulted with called CAN DO Design Co announced it’s now a full-time venture, after building up from being a side hustle. I could not have been more thrilled to see that.
It’s been a real joy to recenter my work around supporting creative energy in its many capacities. If you have a project of your own or know someone who would benefit from my experience as a veteran marketer, small business developer and fractional CMO, now is the time to get in touch. I have room for more clients going into September and October (for now!), and I can’t wait to see what you are up to.
And if you scroll down through www.meintheclub.com, I’m proud to say you can read Renegade and CAN DO’s testimonials about my work for yourself.
Today, we explore the value of giving props to the meaningful efforts of those around you while marketing yourself. (Hmm. See what I did there?) Let’s get into it!
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Community Is The Key
When I work with creative businesses of any kind on their content strategy, I tell them to emphasize their community.
Do they know other businesses that they feel have the right idea? Let’s talk about it.
Got a new record they love by a band that’s not their band? I want to hear it.
Did they see an exhibit that had killer art in it, from the same discipline as theirs or from a totally different one? Show me.
And when any part of a brand’s social media presence seems to suddenly revolve around a sense of community - rather than that thing capitalism is predicated on, which is rugged individualism in service of a perceived problem - it draws a lot of questions.
Sometimes, the questions are overt. “Why am I selling them? Shouldn’t I be selling me?”
Other times, it’s unspoken. A head scratch, a puzzling out as to why.
And that’s why it works.
When I build content strategies - usually a template with social media ideas, and just a small part of what I do - a few component categories change depending on the type of business I’m working with. I had these categories pretty much figured out, at some point a few years ago. But then a close graphic designer friend and I got in a deep, not-too-sober conversation about marketing in its current form one night, and he made a brilliant point.
“Everybody spends so much time talking about themselves, but I didn’t get anywhere without the people around me giving me a leg up when they could. So I shout out what they make too, and I do it often.”
And he was absolutely, brilliantly right.
Because of that, I added a special category to any content strategy I draw up that’s just labeled Community. Bizarrely, I’ve never seen it in another marketer’s toolbox. I’ve seen multiple agency presentations about modern content marketing that all have included other parts of what I suggest, but they never - and I do mean never - include Community. Which is wild, because I’ve used it for years now.
I don’t think it’s that unique to include a part of your strategy that’s specifically about not discussing yourself, especially because so many of us already do this with memes and events and other cool-looking things. And yet, here I am, the one person who seems to want to purposefully include this in marketing.
You could rightly view the resistance to this as sad, and perhaps reflective of society. I choose to view it as an opportunity for people who get it to move their work forward, without leaving those around them behind.
“Community,” as I use it here, is about shouting out things you see online and recognize as something you’re about. It’s a chance to show purpose reflected in another. It’s a chance to show values you identify with, ideas you share. It’s a way to draw a line in the sand and say, “These are my people. These people, or this cause they have, will inspire me from here. Who inspires you?”
To do it sincerely, you must share it and talk about it with no expectation of anything in return.
You tag the people involved, but they choose what to do with that, if anything. You’re tagging them so others can find them and know about them, and otherwise, it’s a courtesy.
It sounds so simple, but the idea of implementing it scrambles so many people’s brains.
Which is why, for me, it’s a secret weapon.
It’s easy to forget, when using social media to build a brand, that it’s called social media for a reason. These platforms are most useful when you drive discussions with them. They are not billboards. Do you need to put a billboard up on Instagram? There are paid ads for this. But if you put something on Instagram that people might want to talk about and share with each other, that’s always going to create more engagement.
Even better: when I know what someone I’m following cares about, it builds trust. It shows you may want something better for whoever discovers this information than just to have them as a follower. It shows you’re human, getting through life one day at a time, appreciating it some days and finding it hard to live on your own other days. Humans are social creatures, we know this by now.
Artists are fortunate because, by the nature of what they’re posting, people will feel encouraged to share new work on social media from creators they like. Corporations offer less of that incentive, even when their products are something we know and love like Doc Martens or Fender guitars. But it’s still cool to feel like we know the people behind a brand we like.
And that probably has something to do with why you’ll usually see Doc Martens, Fender, and other companies like them sponsoring parties at SXSW nearly every year, often with a lineup of showcasing bands. These companies want an association with sounds you like. Not just the ones that were around when they first became popular, decades ago. They want to show who they are now, and imply what they stand for.
Community, as used here, shows you’re relatable. It shows vulnerability, which is one of the most important and compelling things any creative business can show (especially for their PR team!), and yet corporations are generally allergic to vulnerability. You have to convince them why they’re sharing like that, every time. But it’s extremely compelling - and more than a little provocative - to show you both have a sense of your brand’s place in the world, and also are exploring it. And it also shows respect for your audience when you take a moment to show them what inspires you. To show them what you like.
Because nobody can see what you see every second of the day except for you, a community focus pulls the stage curtain back in a way where your audience feels they know you personally. That, in some ways, makes community one of the most powerful parts of a content strategy. You’re deprioritizing the overshare stuff - what you ate for dinner, who you’re dating, family members that didn’t sign up for this, you name it - and putting the focus on your creative world and what you explore in it.
You’ll notice that many creators you follow don’t do this.
Think about how you feel towards the ones who do.
And it also sends a subtle but incredibly powerful signal. It shows you value your own work as highly as you do, even with all of this awesome other stuff readily available in the world. Now that’s compelling.
Community is everything. Lean into it, with sincerity.
One Thing You Can Use Today
On the subject of valuing your work:
One of the most common questions I get when an artist starts a Patreon involves where to begin their pricing tiers.
I’m going to let you in on a major secret.
There is an enthusiasm gap between the creator and the fan, at all times. You might be thrilled about what you’re making, but you have also spent a lot of time living in it. You know how your paintbrush hits a canvas. You know how the first single on your new record sounds, because you spent a ton of time writing it and then getting it recorded.
A fan, on the other hand, gets to approach whatever you made as a novel work, and then they can spend time with it. They project their own emotions and stories onto it. Maybe they won’t react the same way to future work you make - fans do come and go, this is human nature! - but when a fan first experiences your work and loves it, it’s almost as intense of an experience as if they made it.
That means they want to see you succeed.
And so, your lowest tier option on Patreon and services like it should always be a simple “Support my work” tier, where fans get to know they’re saying thank you and that’s all. This shouldn’t be more than $5.
Why does this work?
It’s in the impulse buy range of “under $10.” Do I want to see a band I really love keep going, or do I want to get an iced coffee down the street? Personally, I’d consciously skip one coffee a month for that. You’ll be surprised at how many people would do the same.
It’s easy on cash flow, but compounds fast. Asking for $60 upfront is tough as an artist if you aren’t immediately offering, say, a shirt and a vinyl. Getting $5 for 12 months because someone just wants to see you succeed and lets it run on a credit card? That’s the same math, but spread out.
It shows the value of your work. If I see that an artist has a $5 Patreon tier but is offering me exclusive content starting at $10, I’m way more likely to spend $10, and I’ll feel happier to have done so.
Remember: the first person who has to value your work is you. Once you show that, more people will be more inclined to help you keep making it.
Track of the Week
Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys - “Dripping Trees”
Lucy Kruger and her band put on the best show I saw at Grauzone this year. Her latest album, A Human Home, explores an off-kilter intimacy that’s stripped back from her other material, at times claustrophobic but always with its own dramatic flair. I think Lucy is one of the few artists going right now who not only gets what makes, say, Iggy Pop’s stranger solo work so compelling but can also update that style of punk with an edge that’s all her own. “Dripping Trees” is a perfect place to start, but really, get the whole record and live in it for a bit.
List of Clubs
These are the kinds of clubs I’d like to be in around NYC! Wherever you might find music, art, or a compelling experience under one roof, that’s a club to me. I only list clubs I’d enjoy going to. If I list a client, you’ll know.
Friday, August 23 - Goth Skate Night @ Xanadu
I will not use “SK8” in the title like it is in the flyer. You can’t make me. However, Gus from Boy Harsher and Blu Anxxiety on the same bill is more than enough to get me into the roller-disco. Yes, I said roller-disco. It’s a whole thing here, very suddenly.
Friday, August 23 - Synthicide: Visitor @ Trans Pecos
Are you bad enough to make the hop from the Jefferson L to the Halsey L and double your goth? I, for one, believe that I am. And since I’m admittedly not the greatest skater, Synthicide on solid ground feels like home to me. Figure out set times, strap in, and hold on.
Saturday, August 24 - Mike Servito (all night!) @ Bossa Nova Civic Club
No B2B DJs. No breaks. Just Mike Servito. You are gonna die on that dance floor, and you will love it.
Thanks for reading! And now, an image of me in the club…
