A guiding question for artists, activists, and community-builders: If social media did not exist, how would you share your art, promote your work, and/or communicate your values?
***UPDATE: Here is a link to the zine version, printable on standard 8.5×11 paper (folding directions here)***
This resource is a work-in-progress that I’ve been brainstorming around with some friends (some of whom are cited below). I just wanted to share it now, so people can start to use it, debate it, add to it, and grapple with it, because (1) I think a *lot* of people are considering leaving social media right now, more so than previous waves of departures; and (2) The question of how we spread the word about stuff we care about, while AI runs amok and social media platforms devour themselves… is not just a question for indie bands and slam poets. It speaks directly to this historical moment—for organizers, movement-builders, and beyond.
Even in a world in which we do use social media, I think it can be useful to frame those platforms as “extras.” I tend to believe that social media success reflects outreach more than it actually drives it, and we can do more to get people excited about our events and projects than just posting about them (even if we’re also posting about them).
Take a look at the landscape: Twitter is dead, Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) are dying, TikTok was literally banned (and its future seems uncertain), and other platforms like YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn, etc. are not reliable unless you’re dedicating 100% of your energy to them. I like Bluesky so far, I guess, but it’s still relatively small. So where does that leave us?
A First Step: Mindset
I’m part of the generation who had social media in our young adulthood, but *not* in our childhood. So I still have distinct memories of life before all this, and maybe find it a little easier to imagine life beyond it. I know that’s harder for some people. If the social media age is all you’ve known, or the only way you’ve been able to build the community you need, this can be a really challenging topic without easy answers. Three quick thoughts:
1. This isn’t an all-or-nothing grand moral statement. I stopped using Twitter in mid-2023, but I’m not judging people who are still there because that’s where their community is. All these platforms are problematic, *and* they can all still be useful in different ways to different people. It’s not like the meta platforms don’t also have blood on their hands, and I’m still on IG. This resource is about sharing ideas for how we might operate outside these networks, but you still get to make the decision yourself about how/if you engage with them.
2. Let’s be realistic about what we’re actually getting out of social media. These platforms can make us feel like we’re reaching a lot of people, when we’re not. What does having 50k Facebook followers mean when your posts reach precisely .0001% of them? What does having an IG post with ten thousand “engagement points” mean when the actual click-through rate is 0%? To be clear, I’m not going to say that tons of people posting about abolition, or Palestinian rights, or trans liberation doesn’t have an impact. I just think that kind of impact is more about long-term narrative-shifting. And while that’s super valuable, it’s less useful when we’re talking about persuading people to do something specific (especially more down-to-earth stuff like attend an action or event). In that context, I often wonder if social media is largely a trap that gives us the illusion of spreading the word.
Of course, there are specific industries in which internet clout counts for a lot more than others. But I think with artists, culture workers, and movement builders, a lot (not all, but a lot) of viral success and social media engagement is ultimately just kind of hollow. Which leads to the third point:
3. None of this is going to be easy, and there isn’t going to be one perfect tactic. You may notice that I’m being careful in my language: I’m not here to say that social media is bad or worthless. I think it’s more complicated than that. Depending on where we live, the community we have access to, the identities we hold, and other factors, it might be really difficult to think about sharing our art, or promoting our projects, without these platforms to lean on. So I think of the list below not as a list of demands, but as a list of invitations: a bunch of ideas, possibilities, and tactics to experiment with and expand on.
Promotion beyond social media: tools, tactics, and ideas
Authentic relationship-building, over time, with like-minded people. Let’s get this one out of the way right away: probably both the most difficult, and the most effective, point on this list. If we want the community to know about what we’re doing (whether that’s an event, art project, campaign, or whatever else), it helps to be *part* of that community.
If I’m in a band, I might go to other people’s shows. If I’m a poet, I might join writing circles or attend workshops, open mics, or slams. If I’m an activist working on immigrant rights, I might show up to the Black Lives Matter action, or the climate justice teach-in, or the local domestic violence shelter fundraiser event—not just to promote my own thing, but to be authentically present and engaged (more on this in another point below). This is part of how we build community, and “community” isn’t just an abstract idea—it’s a bunch of actual human beings in relationship with one another.
I want to acknowledge that this is easier for some, and harder for others, for a variety of reasons. Maybe you live somewhere there simply *aren’t* very many like-minded people. Or maybe you’re covid-conscious and nobody wears masks any more. Or maybe you hold an identity that makes it more challenging to “get out there and network” in the traditional ways. Or maybe you simply don’t like being social, or have had bad experiences with “community.” These are all valid. I guess it’s on us to be creative, to find other ways of building community when the straightforward methods don’t work for us. Hopefully, everything else on this list can be steps in that direction, even if no single point is the perfect answer.
Have a website. A lot of artists and activist organizations already do this, but not everyone does. There are still people who use their IG profile or TikTok handle as their main landing page for outreach efforts, and I just think it’s worth setting up a personal/organizational website. It doesn’t have to be super fancy or expensive, either; explore Squarespace, WordPress, or whatever else (or even just a Linktree!). The idea is to have a home base—in its simplest form, a kind of “online business card”—that you control, that anyone can access without having to be part of a specific network. Of course, the advantage of social media is a built-in audience; people aren’t just going to magically show up to your website and engage with your content. But it can still be a vital piece of a larger outreach strategy.
- Zach Goldberg of BuckSlam also brought up the importance of SEO: Every month we have people come to BuckSlam who say “I just Googled ‘poetry slam Minneapolis’ and found this event” so there’s something to be said for it.
Have an email list/newsletter. Email lists allow us to directly contact those who sign up without the intermediary of an algorithm. These take *work* to build: have a clipboard sign-up at your events, or a QR code people can scan. Use the social media you’re already on to “point” people toward your email list. I use Ghost for mine, but there are other services to explore too (Beehiiv, Mailchimp, Buttondown, etc. People might also mention Substack, but it might be worth doing some research first – Substack has had issues)
- SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE also shared the idea of taking newsletters offline, and literally sending people mail: Not at large, but from a mailing list that could even have different tiers depending on interest. And I love the post office. This is an executive function challenge, but with a format and streamlined process, this could be so rewarding. I’d much rather give the post office money and attention than social media.
Engage with local media. This will depend on where you live and what local media you have access to, but I’m thinking about the amount of people who organize an event, and then *only* promote it by posting on social media. Instead (or on top of that), we could be sending press releases to local online calendars, writing op-eds about the issues that matter to us for local papers, etc. For example: here in the Twin Cities, you can find (and submit stuff to) local event calendars at Racket, the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, MSP Magazine, Twin Cities Geek, Axios Twin Cities, and more, not to mention the various neighborhood-specific publications and more niche, online-only publications. Do some research and build a contact list.
- Fiona Robertson put it like this: Despite the overall death of local news as a force for journalism, local papers are still pretty widely read and are generally looking for local interest stories. If you can present them with an already-framed idea for talking about your event/newsletter/group/call for pitches/whatever, they’ll likely get someone to ask you for some pictures and run it. Then it’ll be on their website, and searchable.
- Ollie Schminkey added: [Podcasts/radio/etc. interviews] can be harder to do yourself, since you have to get invited to them, BUT there are a lot of things we can do to collaborate and promote one another– I’m thinking about Kyle’s conversation series. If no one is banging down our door to interview us (or even if they are), we can interview each other! …which relates to the next point:
BE your own local media. Make zines, design/print paper newsletters, collaborate with others on stuff like art/lit journals, radical alternative newspapers, and beyond. Paper things we can literally hand to one another can be really powerful (and we can use recycled paper wherever possible; printers may have options like that built into their services). For example, 100 copies of a collaborative poetry zine you put together with some friends, left in strategic places around your college campus, can end up reaching more people than a post about it with 100 likes (though you can also do both).
Printing can be expensive, but depending on the style/material, it can also be the kind of expense that ends up being manageable; fundraiser parties or benefit concerts, for example, can raise a few hundred bucks here and there to cover quite a lot of printing.
- Check out the zines page on my website for all of my zines, as well as a bunch of resources on making your own.
- Check out the MPD150 report, a community-driven, grassroots people’s history (and performance review) of the Minneapolis Police Department—a great example of a collaborative publication to help shift the narrative about an issue.
- A shout out to Smartset here in Minneapolis, where I do a lot of my printing. Of course, we should also mention the time-honored tradition of identifying a friend or comrade who has access to free printing via their job (at a college, corporation, or whatever) and getting copies that way.
- And it’s not just paper publications: podcasts, community radio, public access TV, and more: these can all be tools to spread the word. You may not reach a lot of people right away, but experiment and have fun.
A RELATED THOUGHT: THE POWER/POSSIBILITY OF A HYPERLOCAL FOCUS. This is maybe a separate post someday, but for now, just a reminder that a podcast (for example) doesn’t have to “blow up” nationally to be successful. If 100 people listen to it in your city, or your neighborhood, that can have an impact. This relates to all the points on this list: it isn’t just about how many people we reach; it’s about who those people are. To continue the podcast example, here where I live, I’m thinking of Money Land Power Solidarity, and Green Card Voices, and RacketCast, and Wedge Live (many others, of course). There’s also community radio like WFNU Frogtown Radio, KRSM, and more.
Posters. Speaking of low-tech outreach, I still remember the days of going all around my city to put up posters (on community bulletin boards, streetlight posts, etc.). This can sometimes be more work than it’s worth, but we can also get creative: crew up and organize postering campaigns that involve multiple people pooling their energy. Hit up bookstores, coffeeshops, libraries, galleries, and other community spaces. A bonus here is that it’s an opportunity to *create* art, not just promote it: work with a talented visual artist in your network, or ask around to find someone, and make your posters cool.
- A related point from SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE on Graffiti & Other Guerrilla Art: This has been a part of my practice for a long time, yet is something I’ve been coming back to more and more in recent years. Stickers, tags, alleyway galleries, an arted box of free tapes (an old one that is relevant again), little art notes in unexpected places, etc.
- Here’s a guide to wheatpasting.
- Ollie Schminkey also mentioned putting things in Little Free Libraries.
Flyering. Similar to putting up posters in that it’s labor-intensive and isn’t guaranteed to result in success, but it’s definitely a tactic to consider: print quartersheet-sized flyers or handbills for your event or project, and then go to related events to hand them out to people.
- Ollie Schminkey mentioned this tactic: Once you’re invested and genuinely connected in a community, go to other events and shamelessly plug your stuff! I have a rule where I have to show up to an event 3 times no-plug for every 1 time I plug stuff, to make sure that I’m engaging genuinely in that community/event space and not just taking up space for my own benefit and then leaving.
Freebie bundles. Maybe it’s not just a flyer you’re handing out: maybe it’s a little bundle featuring a flyer, a sticker, a zine, a personal note, and/or some other cool little thing. I got inspired by seeing this practice at K-pop concerts, and did it for my last album release. It was fun, and it felt like people were more likely to take a freebie bundle than just an individual handbill.
Find opportunities to table. Depending on what we do and what we’re trying to promote, there may be opportunities like community engagement fairs (or student org fairs at colleges), art/craft fairs, activist events, street festivals, merch tables at concerts, and beyond. Take an hour or two to do some online research like “[your town] + craft fairs” or “[your campus] + student org fair,” etc.
- Kat Parent shared this thought: I haven’t had a ton of luck selling visual art at events, but have encountered quite a bit of enthusiasm via giving it away! I like making home prints, linocuts, screenprints on recycled fabric, etc; which feel like affordable ways to reproduce my art and share it.
Creative merchandise. T-shirts are the obvious one here: with a cool t-shirt design, you recruit people to help spread the word about your project or campaign. It probably won’t just be your band’s name, though; be creative. Take some time to brainstorm a design that someone might be into even if they don’t actually care about what you’re promoting. Same goes for stickers directing people to your website, art prints featuring lyrics from your new album, hats to promote your radical podcast, and even more creative ideas.
ORGANIZE REGULAR EVENTS WHERE PEOPLE CAN SHARE INFO. Not everyone is equipped to do this, and good event organization could be an entirely separate post, but the thought here is that regular, recurring events (whether or not they’re organized around a specific purpose or issue) can become spaces to build community, share ideas, and connect. A few examples: a monthly open mic at a local coffee shop, an online writing/feedback circle where people get together to share what they’re working on, a weekly co-working space where organizers working on different projects can bounce ideas off one another… not to mention book clubs, film screenings/discussions, knitting circles—the list goes on.
EVEN MORE CREATIVE EVENTS: Guerrilla performances, street theater, ETC. Bring your work to where it might not be expected. While this resource is geared toward tactics that both artists and activists can use, there are a few specific movement-oriented tools like banner drops, yard signs, projection bombing, noise demonstrations, and more that should at least be on our radars.
- SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE mentions gardens, local/state parks, forest trail hideaways, etc. We could have materials for art making, letter writing, and some other facilitated ways to interact with ideas and people as well as libraries, which are often underutilized spaces.
Art hangouts, friend groups, and smaller-scale community-BUILDING. Another mindset thing: we sometimes think of outreach as a numbers game, and reach *can* matter. But it isn’t the only thing that matters. Making a dozen copies of your zine and sharing it with a dozen friends can sometimes be as (or more) impactful than leaving a thousand in coffee shops and bookstores.
- Kat Parent put it like this: Love a group hang where people share and work on their projects! + Making specific art for specific people I know, as gifts, trades or commissions. Ex: reproducing a friend’s heirloom Christmas stockings for grandchildren; making a memory quilt out of a friend’s late mom’s clothes.
- Kat also mentioned the fundamental importance of word-of-mouth, something that relates to every other point on this list: Putting it out there that I do a thing and getting asked to do more of it by friends of friends! Bonus: kind people recommend their kind friends and help start the work of communicating/vetting/negotiating for me.
Organizational partnerships. We rely so heavily on individuals making individual decisions to check out an event or project, when there are also ready-made networks to tap into. Ask a local youth group to come to your organization’s open mic as a field trip. Cross-pollinate your band’s audience with a local mutual aid group’s supporters, and throw a benefit show. Take the initiative to reach out to other groups whose work aligns with yours, break out of those silos, and collaborate on events and actions.
- An example: a lot of my own work is at colleges, and the best events are almost always when different campus groups—especially ones who don’t normally collaborate—work together. From the sexual assault resource center, to the campus radio station, to the Greek life office, to a community engagement initiative, to the student activities board, to res life/housing, and beyond—we can often bring more depth to projects via collaboration—and the added bonus is that we can also often mobilize more people, because more organizers are involved.
Go to where people already are. This is kind of a mindset thing: as an artist, is my job to convince 100 people to leave their comfortable homes, venture out into the Minnesota cold, and pay $15 to hear me talk? In some ways, the answer is actually yes. As both artists and movement-builders, we’re often trying to create experiences that sound fun or engaging that people want to check out… but is that the only approach?
For example, musicians sometimes pitch themselves (to promoters, or venues, etc.) as the opening act for a more popular performer, or to join a festival lineup. I wonder how this basic idea (taking your work and connecting it to something bigger or more popular) might be a tactic we can expand on. How might our work might align with existing events or activities, from sci-fi conventions, to community festivals, to schools and colleges, etc.? How might we engage in more “downhill” promotion rather than the “uphill” promotion of creating an endless stream of social media content, hoping some of it may reach the right audience?
- And this point isn’t just for artists! Activists can find ways to meet people where they’re at. For example, I think of the DSA doing brake light clinics, where they’re providing a service for people. Fiona Robertson expanded on that: I have been begging my local political groups to focus less on having talking shops where they get together every week to talk about how shit things are for two hours and more on joining already-extant community work. Litter picks, community gardens, driving people to hospital appointments (often arranged through the Red Cross here), foodbanks, etc. It’s a great way to meet people who care but who aren’t engaged with wider political thinking, and despite joining in the hopes of linking them into larger movement work, you can learn a lot from them too.
COLLABORATION, IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD. Every point on this list—from setting up a website, to self-publishing a zine, to putting together a guerrilla performance—is going to be easier, and probably better, when we work together. This list might be overwhelming without that caveat in mind. Formations like art collectives, writing circles, reading groups, political education meetups, cyphers, etc. have always been important, and are only going to get more important in the years ahead.
A FINAL THOUGHT: Maybe rethink what success looks like. Social media following is not the only metric for success. Some artists never blow up, but teach thousands of young people via residency/teaching artist work. Some campaigns never get mass attention, but mobilize a powerful group of stakeholders who can pull the right levers of power to get something done. Some really impactful community work isn’t super loud, because just doing the work is the focus—and that relates to both organizing and making art.
Maybe that’s easier said than done. But there’s something to be said here about the amount of energy we put into social media, and the resulting feelings of success or failure related to the return on that energy.
Something I’ve felt over the past ten years or so, in ways both subtle and not-so-subtle, is a kind of social media-driven inertia. It’s flat-out easier to think of promotion (not to mention activism!) as just posting. Everything’s online anyway, so let’s make another FB event page, or a colorful IG carousel, or a Canva infographic breaking down just why people should care about this or that. Once again, it’s not that any of those tactics are “bad” or that they can’t be effective. Honestly, in some cases, “just posting” might actually be more effective at getting attention than all the other stuff on this list.
But effective isn’t always sustainable, and attention isn’t always action. Even beyond that, I just wonder what more we could be doing, how we might challenge ourselves to think bigger, and/or just think more creatively. As I said, this resource is a work-in-progress; I’ll probably keep tweaking it, because after all: I’m not any kind of expert. I’m navigating all this stuff too. In the meantime, I hope it can at least spark some discussion.
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