Last week I shared a post titled Bots Don’t Build Fandom. People Do. Several readers wanted to know more. So this week, I am digging into the power of physical proximity to build fans.
The closer we get to another human, the more powerful the emotional connection, either good or bad.
When we are close to our friends or to like-minded people we’re safe and comfortable. It’s powerful to be in a crowd cheering on a favorite sports team.
And when we are close to people we don't know, like on a subway platform, we're wary. We can't help that response. It's built into all of us. We're preparing to flee or to fight if presented with any sign of danger.
In 2015 I was on the rail at the Outside Lands music festival when Annie Clark, who performs under the stage name St. Vincent, walked down the steps to play directly in front of me. Wow. I shot the photo above at that moment. Talk about the power of proximity! It was such a powerful moment that Rolling Stone and other publications wrote about it and shared photos.
What is it about being around other people that drives connection? Why does physical proximity make such a difference? Cultural anthropologist Edward T. Hall has answers to those questions.
Dr. Hall defined humans' use of space in a simple way. As director of the State Department's Point Four Training Program in the 1950s, Dr. Hall's mission was to teach foreign country-bound technicians and administrators how to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries.
His 1966 book The Hidden Dimension describes how people like to keep certain distances between themselves and other people — how our use of space can affect personal and business relations, cross-cultural interactions, architecture, city planning, and urban renewal.
It's not just a matter of being close or far, or that the closer we get the better it is. Rather, the significance of each level of proximity can be precisely predicted and managed to create the most optimal outcomes.
For instance, Hall described "public distance" as more than 12 feet away from others, a distance that lacks any sense of precise interaction among those involved. He identified "social distance" for interactions among acquaintances as being from four feet to 12 feet, and "personal distance" for interactions among good friends or family from about a foot and a half to four feet.
During normal times when we’re able to interact, the most rewarding encounters in our lives occur in our social space and personal space.
Those people sitting near one another at a game or at Starbucks or standing near each other in a line at a movie theater or a live music show? They're well within each other's social space and as such each person can feel the human connection in a positive and safe, unconscious way.
How can you bring people closer together?
How can you make those powerful connections that build fans?
Some ideas: Visit your customers where they use your products and services. That could be at their office, or home, or at a sports event. You could hold a client conference or dinner for your best customers.
Fandom is powerful.