In 2023, Max’s LGBTQ+ social media and community platform Human By Orientation set out to supercharge our audience growth and engagement and reach more of Max’s queer fans than ever before. Though Human By Orientation had experienced steady growth since its launch in 2021, we knew that given our rich library content – populated with some of the most beloved series and characters in television history – we still had a major opportunity to activate many more new fans/followers and serve them the right bites of content to enjoy, share, and convene around. This would require an iterative retooling of our editorial strategy and a constantly responsive relationship with our audience – feeding their interests, participating in their conversations, and creating moments they’d be eager to share – all while introducing them to new series and initiatives (including a global rebrand).
Entering 2023 with roughly 34K followers, we had a strong idea of the types of content and titles our followers consistently responded to. We had also tested a variety of content formats, creative treatments and tones (both visuals and voice), with less predictable results. One trend was clear: where our audience had once responded best to our strong editorial point of view in the form of our captioned memes, sizzle reels, fan-cams and text-on-screen explainers, metrics were indicating a shift in interest. By early 2023, our audience seemed to value queer expression and variety above all else, without the commentary. Our audience’s clear preference turned to scene pulls from beloved series and movies, subtitled stills, and curated watchlists to guide viewers to relevant queer content on Max. Promisingly, they weren’t only responding to limited titles or genres — they seemed to love it all, as long as the throughline was empowerment, humor, and expression. So, we moved forward with a single mantra: don’t lead conversations, spark them.
We focused on our best performing formats, tightened our editorial voice, and cast a wider net than ever into the Max library, extracting scenes and memorable moments from queer classics (Paris Is Burning and True Blood) and contemporary favorites (The Sex Lives of College Girls, Harley Quinn, Our Flag Means Death) and shared them at critical moments, including heritage celebrations (like Black History Month and Trans Day of Visibility) and premiere days for in-season titles. We tapped queer talent and tastemakers, including Bob the Drag Queen, Sesali Bowen, Peyton Dix and Tommy Do, to collaborate on original “Queer POV” Reels — created in their style and inspired by Max shows. We deployed a community management strategy aimed at engaging “fan hives” around beloved series and converting them to followers of all things queer on Max. We used Instagram Stories to draw other HBO and Max owned social channels, series talent, and activation partners into our community, creating assets celebrating them individually (designed to be tagged and shared). We embraced new platform tools and functions, leaning into features that made our posts more engaging and more interconnected with our partners and their communities.
We were especially strategic in our partnerships with talent related to our in-person activations — a mix of events Human By Orientation hosted and others it attended and covered — looking past sheer follower counts and engagement rate metrics for true content parity and audience compatibility.
Most of all, we listened: to our audience, to the pop culture conversation, and to the queer community at large. We followed the stories and evolving language that mattered to them, and instead of extracting value, we sought ways to add value to their online experiences like never before.
We hoped for major increases in followers, engagement, and social media value year-over-year, but we didn’t anticipate what happened next: we added almost 60K new Instagram followers — a 208% growth year-over-year — completely organically, thanks to a steady stream of mega-viral Reels that sold the Human By Orientation value proposition. We doubled both total engagements and more than doubled our total impressions from 2022, and with fewer total posts and partnerships.
Crucially, we did this by slow and steady investment in a diverse range of content types and fan demographics, which supports sustainable community growth and allows us to continue to attract new fans and introduce our community to new titles and campaigns at the same time.
2023 by the numbers:
• 89 Million Impressions
• 6 Million Engagements
• $5.4 Million in Social Media Value
• 208% In Organic Channel Growth
