How a Rock Band Taught Me Everything I Know About Building a Community

I discovered 30 Seconds to Mars (30STM) a few years ago. I’m not exactly a teenager, but I had a warm spot in my heart for Jared Leto ever since I saw him playing the lead role of Jordan Catalano in the MTV cult show “My So Called Life”.
I started listening to the songs and fell in love with the lyrics. I decided to learn more about this mysterious band that turned to be not so mysterious (They won 7 MTV Europe Music Awards, received 6 Kerrang Awards and 7 nominations from the Billboard Music Awards).
Once I started digging I found out that 30STM is so much more than a rock band – it’s a culture, a lifestyle and some even refer to is as a cult. A cult in the sense of extraordinary devotion to both the music and the band’s goals not in terms of a fake religion. It seems that this band is not only unusually dedicated to its fans, but also to actively promoting both environmental and social issues, and their fans… are just as devoted as they are.

Yes, many artists (mainly singers) have groupies and fans, but we are not talking about 16 year olds changing their names to Mrs. Bieber and crying hysterically for no reason. This extraordinary relationship between 30STM and their fans is much deeper, much more complex and intriguing.

Introducing the ECHELON

We said it’s not a cult, but 30STM fans consider themselves part of a group called the Echelon.
ECHELON means to attack in waves. It's a military term which was used by Napoleon; it was used in one of the band’s songs and quickly adopted as the name of the Mars army.
The Echelon is a group of die-hard fans who do just about anything & everything to promote and support 30STM. The echelon is the street team – the ones that spread the word and promote the band, because they believe in what it stands for.
There is no registration process or a formal guidebook. If you feel like you are a part of the Echelon – then you are a part of it.
These are not your regular fans. The members of The Echelon have built homes and planted trees in Haiti (after the band took part in such activities), partnered with AB Nation fans to help a boy named Luca, and managed to build a well to provide a community in need with clean drinking water.
The fans have also come together on their own as a way to show their love for 30STM: They’ve created organizations and projects, including Echelon Donates, All Echelon Help and This Is A Call To Arms. They built websites and Facebook pages and arranged meetups to maintain a real community and continue their support of the band (they did massive work in promoting the latest album).

How to build a dedicated community
Lady Gaga has her Little Monsters, Justin Bieber has (had?) Beliebers, but I’ve never seen a more independent and dedicated group of fans. How did this happen? How did the band manage to cultivate such an amazing community? Well, it all starts with Jared Leto’s words: “We don’t have fucking fans, I hate that word! We have a family!”
But it’s not enough to just say it – you have to act like it if you want your fans to feel like a family – and the 30STM team doesn’t fail. They have numerous social channels dedicated to sharing news and interacting with the fans. They share daily updates and let followers in on their personal life. They meet fans whenever they are on tour and stay in touch with the Echelon leaders. They invite fans to take part in their video clips and always remember to thank them for everything they are doing.
In addition – they lead by example and inspire their fans to do the same. The band constantly takes part and donates to different philanthropic causes.

I spent some time reading about the Echelon and about 30STM and managed to come up with some key learnings you may be able to implement in your own way to create a dedicated community:

1. Make sure you have a cause: this is the most important thing. Jared Leto was quoted saying “any time you find community, there are a group of people who want to spend a great deal of their time and energy helping others.” This means they have a joint cause. Whether it’s building houses, supporting gay marriage or loving fashion – as long as they have something in common to drive them, you’ll have a basis for creating a community.
2. Create a strong consistent identity that the community can relate to and believe in! It means having a name, a unique language, symbols and traditions. You don’t need to recreate the alphabet or write a new bible, but having a clear identity helps form united community (just think about sports fans wearing their team’s colors and singing songs).
   30STM has an intriguing symbol – a triad with a Glyphs that can (and have been) interpreted in several different ways. Mars fans wear the symbol and have been known to tattoo it on their body to show loyalty.
3. Listen and engage: having a community also mean having an ongoing conversation with your followers. Once you get people to unite around a joint cause, not only will you need to take part, but lead the conversation. This is no longer about you and your brand or product, it’s about them and what they believe in. It’s a difficult shift to make, you need to adjust the way you think, but this is exactly what will make you one of them and vice versa.
4. Enable your fans to be creative: give them ideas & tools to take their cause one step further and share it with the world. You can send emails, build a website, arrange (or sponsor) meetups and events so they can engage freely under your roof. Get them involved by asking for their opinion or sending out surveys. Use them as beta testers and give them early access or a sneak peek when you have a launch coming up. By helping them express themselves, you are encouraging them to spread the word and get more people interested in you and what you stand for.

I’m sure there are many other success stories when it comes to building communities, but I wanted to share this one because I experienced it first hand and was able to get some personal insights.
If you have any other tips for creating a community – please share then in the comments!

Oh, and if you want to know what the fuss is all about you can listen to 30STM songs here.