Doug Sears Jr.
The social media landscape has become an essential component of any brand. Also essential in our online lives, are personal brands, especially for notable people such as entertainers or celebrities. Fans demand access and connections with their favorite stars, and the stars are more than willing to use this opportunity to further their careers and bask in fame that can reach around the globe.
In a world where everyone has an accessible personality, few manage to cultivate a community around nothing but themselves and their sphere of influence. We examined a few of the finer and more inspired uses of social media to further personal brands and causes, leveraged on personalities.
Alicia Keys #WeAreHere
Many celebrities take to social media to promote their art. Less common is what Alicia Keys decided to do, creating art to support a social media endeavor. Keys wrote a song, “We Are Here” to support over a dozen philanthropic organizations promoted using her hashtag, #WeAreHere. The endeavors supported women, children, mothers and expectant mothers, those suffering from poverty or violence, and several other social causes.
By creating a song with the intended purpose, Keys was able to twist the narrative of celebrity social engagement and philanthropy, and focus the message more closely to her chosen outreach organizations. Her altruistic and creative approach was reported to be a huge boon to most of the organizations she lent her music too, many of whom saw their social growth and presence expand exponentially.
Seth Rogen & James Franco live tweet “The Interview”
The 2014 release of “The Interview” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, was a re-imagining of marketing and selling a movie in the social media age. Though it didn’t set out to rewrite the promotional rulebook, “The Interview” made lemons out of lemonade with it’s promotion and distribution format after hackers, allegedly from North Korea, interrupted the release of the film and the workings of Sony pictures.
One of the highlights of the impromptu social media campaign was a live tweet of the movie from it’s director and stars. Rogen, Franco, and director Evan Goldberg alerted fans, who rushed to order the film online and watch along with the comedians. Injecting behind the scenes information, trivia, and shoutouts to co-stars, along with the smattering of wisecracks you would expect from comedians of their ilk.
While the jury is still out on whether “The Interview” can be considered a success, the unexpected social media aspect of the movie created some very interesting precedents in the use of social media and the internet with new release movies. Keep a close eye on what portions of the strategy are adopted by future films.
As inspired and enjoyable the live tweet was, we would still discourage tweeting in a movie theater.
Emma Watson – #HeForShe
On it’s own, HeForShe is an exemplary organization, creating participation and openness towards men in the feminist movement. The organization is working to show men that feminism is about equality among genders, not about furthering women’s causes at the diminishment of men’s.
Partnering with Emma Watson, star of the Harry Potter films and “Perks of Being a Wallflower” proved to be huge for their brand, as well as Watson’s. After Watson’s captivating, viral speech at the United Nations (above), Watson spent weeks on twitter tweeting with followers, fans, and curious individuals about the #HeForShe movement and it’s contributions to her role as UN Goodwill Ambassador.
Watson fielded questions from doubters and supporters alike, faithfully plugging the #HeForShe tag, showing patience towards ignorance, and strength when confronted with people fearful of following her example. Over 1.2 billion social media conversations began with Emma Watson’s speech and were furthered by her follow up efforts on social media.
Gabriel Iglesias – #FluffyMovie
Gabriel Iglesias wasn’t necessarily heading into uncharted territory when he announced a comedy concert movie. For years, the likes of Louis CK, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, and other stand up comedians have hired a team to present a comedy showcase in a film format. Some might even say the height of the comedy movie was in the 1980s, when Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Martin Lawrence would release comedy concert films regularly.
Iglesias, however, took his campaign to the web and to social media, where he is nearly peerless in the comedy community in terms of connecting and interacting with fans. When he announced his #FluffyMovie for the summer of 2014, no one was surprised that it became a big part of his social presence.
But while another celebrity might have alienated fans, Iglesias thrived, thanks to years of groundwork. Iglesias is widely known as a titan of social media, and had been for quite some time before it came time to promote his film. His years of groundwork allowed him to parlay the social avenues and continue to see active and positive interaction with his fanbase. The results speak for themselves. Nearly $ 3 million in gate receipts, largely on the back of effective social media promotion.
George Takei – Social Superstar
George Takei was a star on “Star Trek” and a household name in the 1970s, thanks to his role as Office Sulu. But as time marched on, Takei’s celebrity relevance waned, and he drifted back to the B, C, and even D list at times. But as the social media age dawned, Takei was able to reignite his career and influence, thanks to an accessible sense of humor and a stout social following.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the genesis of Takei’s rise to internet fame, because he covers so much ground. Takei is very vocal about his life as a gay man, his support of gay rights, his role and life as an American minority and the son of immigrants, and frequently refers to the time his family spent in a Japanese internment camp when he was young. But he takes care not to overwhelm his audience by interspersing the serious discussions with a myriad of off the wall, goofy, and downright bizarre web stories and general internet silliness.
Takei is a great example of the potential of Social Media for developing, bolstering, and rejuvenating careers and public perceptions in a world increasingly defined by social media.
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