Taylor Swift's Masterclass in Community Building
Loved by most, loathed by a few, Taylor Swift needs no introduction. But here's a detailed account of why she is a community building genius.
Not that Taylor Swift requires introduction, but I need to share numbers to make the case of community building for business.
She’s the woman behind (and in front of) the highest grossing tour that ever was (coming to $2.2 billion, and counting), and whose speculated romance with an NFL player and recent attendance at the “Chiefs-Bears game showed a 68% increase in women’s viewership 18-49 when compared to the previous week’s viewership and a 400% sales spike in Travis Kelce jersey”, according to this article by Christina Garnett, EMBA. More recently, her concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” tallied about $96 million during its opening weekend, the highest-opening concert film of all time and the highest-grossing domestic release of a concert film ever, according to AMC.
She has become a sort of super heroine, the kind of person Grant Morisson would mention in his book Super Gods - those comic book characters who represent a higher version of ourselves, the very ideal of who we aspire to be.
People gather at her feet in reverence. Some traveled hundreds of miles to see her in person - over 70,000 would show up, wherever she went. They adorned themselves in accessories and garments with her image, or scribed with her words.
It could sound like I am speaking of an outdated ritual to adore an ancient goddess.
I watch in awe as the singer dazzles us on stage, but also is an A+ as a community builder. She built a solid, highly relatable and cohesive brand across multiple eras of her own work.
Being a Taylor Swift fan feels like traveling through multiple versions of your favorite character in real time, like reading a book as it happens, live, and growing with the protagonist. Her songs scratch a fundamental itch for many: a search for a sense of home, journeying towards our most authentic versions, navigating through with our flaws and contradictions.
On one hand, Taylor is a Barbie-like epitome of perfection. On the other hand, she’s a clumsy girl who often feels too unfit to belong anywhere.
Taylor is a woman in transition as she writes her songs.
And that’s timelessly relatable.
This Article Contains Lists, a Character Diamond, and More
In this article, I’ll dissect some principles and ideas that make TS such a master in community, and that can be followed by your brand (as a business) too. Part I focuses on more simple stuff, the ones you see on the surface.
Part II lays down the foundations upon which Taylor built a solid brand: her Character Diamond.
Huge disclaimer: I’m a (quiet, but consistent) Swiftie. Not the kind who’d go to a concert. The kind who’d buy my favorite album on vinyl, sing her songs as lullabies to my baby, and get notified by Spotify first when she’s up to something cool. And who believes she’s a genius in art and business.
Part I: In a Nutshell
Breaking Down: What is it About Her?
TL;DR: her lyrics are fearless, vulnerable, and authentic. As a consequence, her voice resonates with us. A lot. Authenticity does more than just resonate. It reverberates and travels the distance. On its own.
While she is strategic about the way she runs her business (aided by a team of seasoned executives), the foundation of her brand has been her own authenticity: the excruciating vulnerability with which she shared the stories of her life. These are so human, and so widely relatable, that we can’t help but feel seen, taking ownership of certain songs. We yell “that’s my song” when it comes out on the speaker, at a concert or a bar.
The more something resonates with us, the more we treat it like ours. We carry its seeds forward, share it with our closest friends, and speak of it with the protectiveness we save for the ones of our kind. Throughout my book Hacking Communities, I used dandelions as a metaphor of how communities grow (by spreading flying seeds that grow even through the cracks on the pavement). Taylor is the epitome of a dandelion doing an A+ job.
I’ll start by giving (most people) instant satisfaction, sharing Taylor's top community building laundry list, but let me remind you that what makes her a massive success is not about a bunch of bullet points (so if you want the real deal, keep reading).
Taylor Swifts's 13 Top Community Building Ideas (A Non-Exhaustive List):
She’s fearlessly authentic. That helps her be seamlessly cohesive. Hers is a consistent and highly relatable brand - from her music, to her quirks, and style.
She’s a vulnerable storyteller. That’s her staple. She shows up, pours her heart out, and it resonates. And we’re here for every minute.
She makes it personal. She’s multidimensional, and she shows it. Fans know her cats by name. We like her mom. It feels like there is no difference between friend and fan.
She creates an identity we’re proud to share. Swifties will know another swiftie by a detail in their accessories, a charm in their necklace, or a friendship bracelet.
She creates meaningful rituals: Look up “friendship bracelets trading at TS concert”
She cultivates her inner circles. She personally invites dedicated fans to her house for Secret Sessions where they do girl’s night stuff (and low key drop her newest album).
She drops inner jokes. Fans will get this.
She winks and hints. She keeps you hooked. Listening to TS soon turns you into a sleuth (who’s she talking about? Is there a next release soon? More tour dates? Etc.)
She pays respect to her elders. From James Taylor to Beyonce, you will know when Taylor admires someone. She’ll acknowledge and thank them for the inspo.
She collaborates. From Bon Iver to Katy Perry, Ice Spice, Lana del Rey - she collaborates with artists in-the-know and on-the-rise based on style, understanding there’s a crossroad where her original fans and theirs meet.
She makes friends. From the HAIM sisters, to Ed Sheeran, her friends (with whom she often collaborates professionally) are often seen showing up for her in various, non-transactional ways, that are just cool, like: they’re friends.
She evolves and isn’t afraid to reinvent herself. Listening to Taylor Swift feels like when you start reading Harry Potter at 12, you’re like growing up with them.
She makes her content accessible to all. Oh, you couldn’t attend the Eras earth-shaking tour? Here’s a goosebump-worthy film about it. Available at any theater closest to you.
List Summary
It all boils down to: 3 things
Foundations: Fearless Authenticity, Relatability, and Resonance.
Building Identity and Connectedness
Collaborations* to Expand her Field of Work and Reach
Note on Collaborations: The list keeps growing, ranging from Bon Iver to Ice Spice, including names like Lana Del Rey, Ed Sheeran, the HAIM sisters, Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, Panic At The Disco!’s Brandon Urie, and counting. Collaborations expand her audience into the groups of listeners of artists whose works she resonates with, or creatively aspires to grow into. That’s how she took the leap from country genre to different music styles.
Part II (Diving Deeper)
Building a (Fearless) Character: Sharing a Vulnerable Journey
Who is the character before the journey? Picture Dorothy before the cyclone, in Kansas singing “Over the Rainbow.” Picture Bilbo Baggins when Gandalf and the Dwarves invade his house and lure him to the Lonely Mountain. What would have happened if they never left?
Great characters are made by their journeys. And so are great communities.
Key Premise: Communities Are Journeys
Communities are usually made of people in transition - aiming to get from A to B.
The harder the transition, the more community is needed.
Big transitions raise deeper questions and involve more critical moments, all of which create more opportunities for people to bond over relatable experiences, which sharing requires vulnerability, which requires built-in trust, which requires building familiarity through interactions, and all the must-haves when you reverse engineer a community. And well, community is what happens from A to B. It is (quite literally) about sharing that journey with others who can help us get there faster, or at least by taking us through the scenic route.
As Hemingway (or Ursula K. Le Guin?) is speculated to have said: "It's good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end."
Taylor’s Journey
Taylor Swift is on a journey (towards her best era, or becoming her most accomplished self). But she doesn’t stop there:
She’s sharing this journey which many of us can relate to, and, on top of it, she makes us feel like we’re part of her success. Her victory feels spacious and abundant. It welcomes celebration by every fan because, somehow, they made it happen. Yet, it is also a very personal journey. We hear about it through her vulnerable lyrics, making us feel special, like we're close friends.
She’s ever growing, ever changing - and that automatically welcomes a wide range of people into the realms of her lyrics. Regardless of when you started listening to her, it feels like you’re growing together.
Taylor’s art casts a wide net that welcomes pretty much everyone on her girl to woman journey - or something along those lines (about people walking into their most confident selves).
About The Character Diamond: Overview
Great characters are built upon a combination of seemingly contradictory elements, ingredients that make them complex and intriguing keeping us in a constant state of “tell me more”.
A great framework to create such multi-layered, memorable characters is the Character Diamond, widely used by screenwriters to create characters that get people obsessed. I learned about it from Roy Williams at the Wizard Academy, a nontraditional school that helps business owners and marketers do consciously what gifted people do unconsciously.
I started thinking about when noticing that Taylor Swift both satisfies my inner quirky teenage girl, and makes me feel like a confident woman somehow.
An overview of the Character Diamond framework using an example close to Taylor's persona (but actually based on a different character)
[excerpt adapted from Hacking Communities]
The North: Stereotype. What people see first. What does a person look like? Extrinsically perceived image. Example: a perfect girl, the archetype of a princess (or stereotypical perfect woman).
The South: Contradiction. Anything that breaks the expectations cast by the northern stereotype. Typically, an attitude or behavior that challenges the preconceived idea or judgment we had of that person. Example: a brave, rebellious, and witty (sharp-tongued, truth-speaking) wild woman.
The West: A Fundamental Flaw. Something that plays against the character, challenges the success of her journey and annoys even her biggest fans. A shortcoming or vulnerability. Example: An excess of spontaneity, intransigence and impulsiveness that puts their own reputation or safety at risk.
The East: True Essence, or Core. What is held deep in their hearts, representing their innermost truth and most essential values. This is the fundamental element of relatedness with others. Example: Desire to belong, to connect authentically. The quest to transform oneself into their truest version, also transforming the world.
Who did you think about when reading the examples above?
I made this example thinking of female literary characters who became blockbusters in the 20th century, and decode their success. Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz (1939), is not the protagonist of just one movie. She's also Alice, from Alice in Wonderland (2051), Mary, from Rebel Novice (1965), and Belle, from Beauty and the Beast (1991). They are the same character.
Excerpt from Hacking Communities: “What do they all have in common, apart from their singing and outfit choices (white blouses under blue apron dresses)? A lot. The desire to explore a place beyond their original, ordinary world. The feeling of not belonging, and the yearning to be understood somewhere beyond their knowledge. The adventure, specifically defined by the journey to an unknown place, where they must redefine their preconceived notions of reality to become a new version of themselves.
More recently, we could argue that the central character in Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie is a modern version of the same character, with less singing and a more diverse wardrobe. Together, these characters make up a single plot line. The protagonist who leaves a monotonous life and agrees to embark on an adventure that transforms herself and, ultimately, the world around her.”
While the resonance with other classic characters might be a coincidence, Taylor loves using fairytale references in her songs.
Breaking Down Taylor’s Character Diamond
TL;DR: Taylor's constant tension between her North (a Barbie-like picture of perfection) and South (a clumsy teenage girl who keeps getting heartbroken) tells a story that many of us can relate to.
Her West, her flaws, are also the source of her power: the same emotions that often lead to breakup songs and being labeled a drama-queen are also the source of her vulnerability, which she creatively exposes - and we can relate to.
Her East, her truest essence, is of someone aiming to truly belong and be loved, but ultimately to find her own sense of home, navigating through her flaws and eras to find her most authentic self. Who can't relate to that?
Her Superpower: Vulnerability
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
It might be no coincidence that one of Taylor’s formative albums is titled Fearless.
But even then, little did she know how many eras she would go through and need to rise from the ashes after breaking her own preconceived notions of herself.
Taylor’s forte is being authentically vulnerable, which implies she’s courageous.
As explained by Brene Brown in her famous talk “The Power of Vulnerability”, The root of the word courage is cor - the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant "To speak one's mind by telling all one's heart."
Taylor's voice reverberates with something we have inside, which we want to bring out but can’t put in words or form. She speaks to her exes the way we wish we’d speak with ours. She fearlessly speaks out our shared truth. The cost? She is often seen as an impulsive drama queen. The gain? Same, Taylor. We get it.
She’s struggling with her present contradictions between aiming for perfection and embracing her clumsiness, and so are we.
Taylor is a woman in transition.
She’s sharing her journey with us as this is written, and not only we’re at the edge of our seats watching her become her truest version and best self. And a great number of us are rooting for her, because her journey feels like ours.