Leading a cult

Humans are tribal by nature. As a species humans, are weak and vulnerable. So they formed groups to hunt and forage. Why am I talking about tribal instinct today? If u look at brands successful brands have the capacity to lead cults. They sort of has a cult following. They make people believe in their ideology and culture. If u look at Harley Davidson, they have made a cult following by creating HOG. So how do we make cults?

1. Create a shared interest- If your customers are interested about the stuff that you do, they will go and tell people about it. It becomes your manifesto. And that way you feature more interactions. This process helps you to create brand advocates.

2. Incite a movement- In the age of virality it’s always easy to create movements. But the downside is these movements are short lived and tend to phase out. To create a long term sustainable movement your cult must be willing to devote energy to a cause. Amnesty International has been very effective and efficient in creating a worldwide human rights movement. If you look at Greenpeace they have created the worldwide movement or environmental rights. If you look at brands Johnson and Jonson has created a community of mothers to act as their brand advocates as on their behalf.

3. Learn to lead from the both sides- A leader who creates a cult does not always lead from the top. You must forget your status quo and learn to interact with other members of your cult. Remember, it is your customers who can give you the best solution.

4. Initiative equals to happiness- Teach your cult to take initiatives. Lays did a campaign with custom faces of different influencers on their packets. This brought up their social media engagement. Bingo did many such similar campaign with Ranveer Singh. My point is get your customers or brand advocates involve in some manner. Customers love to get involved if they love your cause.

5. Constantly changing engagement- Brands are competing for the world’s most valuable commodity which is attention. Constant engagement with your brand through different touch points keeps your cult interacting with you. This can be through a subscription model like Netflix or the EMI payment of your loan through your bank or may be a newsletter. Out of sight out of mind holds truer these days.

6. Involve the senses to give a better brand experience- Have you ever locked into a Starbucks outlet? The light music is pleasant to your ears, the coffee smells and tastes great. The decor of the outlet is stunning. It tries to involve all your senses. The more you can make a person feel is the more you can get a person involved deep into your brand. Same for an apple store experience. Great brands enrich your experiences through your senses.

7. Create a tightly knit following- Do not try to fit everyone into your cult. Learn to target a niche market rather than a mass audience. Everybody will not support your cause but make sure that those who do, take it as step further. Curves a gym chain for working moms is the fastest growing retail because they only serves professional working moms. If you target the right people, they will only make your company grow.

8. Gratitude and generosity drives cults- If you look at Gary Vee he has a millions of follower in social media across all platforms. That is because he gives out stuffs for free. He literally gives out all his trade secret and strategies for free. Why? Because he is generous. Remember, money (in most cases) cannot buy generosity. If u generally value in the lives of people your following or your brand will definitely grow.

9. Going against the standard norm is great for creating cults- Mahatma Gandhi did not hold any official position or power, but through his actions of Satyagraha, he changed the world. Martin Luther king Jr. brought together people from various resist ethnicity and cultural diversity when people thought is was not possible, my point is if u go against the normal, if you challenge existing believes and threaten existing balance you will gather a following. Most disruptive companies in the tech sectors follow this logic. Facebook gives us a new platform to connect to other people. Myspace and Orkut had tried to do the same thing but did not had user friendly interface. If you try to go against the normal you might end up creating a great brand.

10. Tribes without a visionary leader dies a quick death- If you look at most of the ethical failures in the history of different companies’, you will find it was because of their leaders. The opposite holds true too. Steve Jobs made a great company with an amazing cult to support his ideology because he was a visionary leader. If leaders can lead with passion and courage it gives rise to great companies like Alphabet. A leader less cult is just a crowd without something to tie them together. Great leaders make great cults.

What is your view of digital cults? Are you more connected with people offline or do you feel more connected to people online?