With the rise of social media over the past few decades, it often seems like anybody can be a star these days. However, even with all the social media tools at our disposal, it can feel nearly impossible for the average guy or girl to make a career for themselves. So, how do celebs leverage their social media followings to become such huge successes? The truth is, it’s more than just their talent that garners them such an enormous audience. Here’s how your favourite influencers are getting famous and which platforms they’re using to do it:
They create regular content: Whether they’re uploading videos to YouTube, creating hilarious Tweets, or just updating their audience on Facebook, the key to success online is consistency. Even if that doesn’t mean creating long-form content on a daily basis, checking in with fans at least a few times a week, even if it’s just a quick hello, keeps celebs’ audiences paying attention. After being off Twitter for just a few days earlier this summer, Justin Bieber’s first tweet back got more than 218,000 likes, and all he was doing was announcing the city he was performing in.
They promote a visual brand: While the product celebrities are putting out is important to the continued growth of their fan base, their visual appeal is just as essential. With an increasing number of visual platforms, like Instagram, Snapchat and newer features on Facebook having a strong visual brand are essential — it’s why stars like Kylie Jenner have made their logos such a big part of their brand, splashing it on everything from product packaging to their avatars.
They connect to communities: Staying active online is essential for stars who have grown their fan bases on social media, like Austin Mahone, Justin Bieber, and Kim Kardashian. Fortunately, Twitter and Instagram hashtags provide a particularly easy way for stars to reach out to their fans in certain communities, or to tap into a major event that their fans may be talking about. Even better, just a single shout-out from a celebrity to a fan can significantly increase the number of followers they have and make them seem more down-to-earth to their fans.
They use SEO: Your favourite celebrities aren’t solely using their talents to grow their fan bases — make no mistake, they’ve got entire social media teams helping them figure out the best strategy to reach a wide audience fast. One such trick is using SEO keywords in their posts and tapping into trending hashtags to get in touch with a wider audience than they might through their music, shows, or other products alone.
They leave you wanting more: Even the most prolific social media-using stars don’t put their entire lives on the internet in single posts, and with good reason: the more they can tease big news to their fans, the more clicks, likes, and retweets they get, creating more monetizable opportunities in the process. Stars like the Kardashians are even taking their big news off social media and using their personal apps to announce new relationships, babies, and product launches.
As stars get more technologically savvy, their product continues to grow and reach new audiences. Fortunately, for buddings social media darlings, creating a presence online and watching it grow is easier than ever.
Who knows? Maybe the next big social media star is you. And guess what, you can start your career from your home!