Having discussed the case of Dave Matthews Band in the previous post, would like to now ponder on how best celebrities can engage their fans on social media. Second in the series, this post will talk about content, its authenticity, curation and creation of content, collaboration with fans and how to encourage them to advocate the offerings

Content is the simplest and the most basic level of engagement. Celebrities can share content in form of articles, professional experiences, latest videos, sample music of their new album etc with fans. Celebrities can also post content which is specifically created for fans and to engage fans outside the professional realm (eg: Tom Hanks Myspace page).  Also, they can build content around a broader subject and to try and plug-in his/her brand to it (eg. 50Cents).  It is imperative for celebrities to regularly post fresh and relevant content.

50cents

Authenticity of the content is another imperative for celebrities. They need to maintain an authentic voice while engaging with fans on social media. If they are using a PR firm to voice their social media presence, they should clarify that to their fans e.g. Britney Spears on Twitter. She has 315K followers. She not only has her people post updates but she also posts herself under the name “Brit”.

An exciting way to engage fans is to provide them with an option to comment/rate/vote on the content posted. This not only helps in getting real time feedback on the content or activity but also provides an opportunity to fans to share their view point with the celebrity. Curation of content can be encouraged by having a reputation system in place. Besides curation, creation of User Generated Content should also be a major focus for all celebrities. When fans post their own videos, pictures or blog posts inspired by the celebrities, it helps to increase the online conversation about the celebrity.

Fans Collaboration should also be encouraged by the celebrities. For instance: by providing online tools to fans from same area to arrange a carpool to the next concert, Sport Stars can rally their fans to organize a camp-out outside the venue before a big game to show support. Collaboration amongst fans can also be use to promote a celebrity’s new venture. A musician or movie star can raise awareness of his/her upcoming album or movie by targeting fans on online platforms and using word-of-mouth marketing. Celebrity can offer incentives for fans coming together and doing something as a team.

One of the best examples of Collaboration is Barrack Obama Campaign.
The most important part of running a social media campaign is to make the fans try, purchase and advocate the offering. The value add to any celebrity from running an online community or maintaining presence in several social outposts (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace) is to get their fans to purchase their offerings (books, CDs, DVDs,) and/or attend their events (music concerts, movie shows, sporting events etc). Celebrities should have infrastructure within their communities and social platforms for fans to try and purchase their offerings. Most musicians have free streaming versions of their singles (either in full or snippets) to lure the die-hard fans. They should identify such fans and arrange for them to advocate for the band and their songs/albums. Movie stars should promote the trailer of their upcoming movies amidst their fans. Authors/Writers should also find creative ways to engage their fans and lead them to the final purchase and advocacy of their books.

his is the third post in the series where we will review Celebrity engagement on the social media. To look for the post series across our staff blogs use the tags “Celebrity Engagement” or “Celebrity review” at http://2020social.com