Week 2: Social Media

Since the beginning of time, humans have been advancing technology constantly. In the past, there was no piece of technology that was shared by everyone -- each empire had their own. Globalization had not occurred, and the Internet had not been yet invented. Fast forward to the 20th century when the Internet finally became a reality, that invention would then proceed to change the world completely, by bringing people around the world together simply because they all had access to the same piece of technology. 

However, in today's time we can all be connected to one another through social media. As of today, 50% of the world's population use the Internet, and 37% are active social media users. Hence, social media has irrevocably changed the way people communicate and pass information around the world, as well as business and commercial industries as well. Gone are the days where advertising only existed in the form of print, on newspapers, magazines, or billboards etc. In this day and age, companies have to learn how to maximize the full potential of social media as an advertising tool in order to remain competitive and relevant. One's customer clientele can be easily gathered online, simply by promoting your company's products on social media. If each follower just buys one product, a brand with 1 million followers can easily earn a million in sales for just one product. 

However, businesses are not the only ones that use social media for advertising. People, particularly those who are well-known, are also able to construct their brand through social media. In fact, social media has proven to be extremely effective as such a tool due to its ability to provide close interaction between users and disseminate information widely and quickly. While people in the past were able to build large followings, it was difficult and many had to rely on building solid careers as actors, celebrities, or politicians etc. In today's times however, anyone can build a following on social media, even for the most inane reasons like simply posting nice pictures of themselves. Yes, just posting pictures of your face, or better known as "selfies", can make you famous. What a strange world we live in today. 

While social media can be an effective tool for personal branding, it requires extreme dedication and care to manage. For those who are able to successfully use it, it has become a great source of income and publicity and can even make a career for them. The celebrity I will be featuring is a fantastic example of someone who is able to effectively use her social media following to build her career and branding, and has been able to achieve great success. She has a marketing and PR team to thank for that, but also most importantly, her fans, for dutifully "falling" for all her social media strategies. Marketing professionals could definitely learn a thing or two from her.

                   

Taylor Swift, as I'm sure many are familiar with, is an American singer-songwriter famous for narrative songs about her personal life which help her garner widespread media attention. Her social media savvyness is unparalleled -- between Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, she has more than 140 million followers or subscribers. 

From the get go, she was already building her brand: the "personal touch" her songs have helped to establish her as relatable to her demographic of teenagers and young adults. We are often able to connect to songs that seem to express emotions and situations faced by youth, because we have had the same experiences. Some of us may even recall saying things like "this song totally gets me!". These are common themes and topics in Taylor's songs, with topics ranging from heartbreak to unrequited crushes, which can be clearly seen from song titles like 'Love Story' and 'You Belong With Me'. Her music is so loved by her fans because they can see themselves being the person Taylor is singing about, which gives them the feeling Taylor can understand their feelings and maybe even cares about them. Who wouldn't like a celebrity that acts like one's best friend? 

                                                        (Pictures from Taylor's Instagram Page)That brings me to my focal point of this post: the main approach to Taylor's social media marketing strategy is that she poses as the ideal best friend everyone wants to have, the perfect girl-next-door, the one who can understand and sympathize with the things you go through as a teenager, who will always be there for you (in the form of her music).

Taylor is well-known for her high engagement level with her fan base, expertly using the power of social media to establish strong connections with her fans. She started #taylurking back in 2014 to promote her album 1989, by browsing posts uploaded by fans and reposting those posts on her Twitter account. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for #taylurking to trend worldwide, a testament to a well-executed social media strategy. Such campaigns are not only a good way to increase social engagement, but also allow one to show recognition and appreciation of interaction from their community. 

#taylurking is just one of the ways Taylor continues to engage with her fans. Taylor often surprises her fans with special exclusives on social media. She invited fans into her home for an exclusive listening party while promoting 1989. On Instagram, she comments constantly on her fans' posts, and in December of 2014, #swiftmas was an event where she sought out lucky fans and randomly sent them gifts, as seen in the video below. 

Taylor Swift also uses the trending nature of social media to generate publicity for her work. In August 2014, she put out clues on Instagram as part of promotion for 1989. This is a good strategy for brands and celebrities as it gives the audience an additional reason to tune in and follow, as well as generating anticipation and hype for upcoming works and products. One can do this by distributing big event announcements, product launches, specials and curated stories on social media.

Lastly, another strategy Taylor uses is to generate headlines and attention through the use of influential friends. Over the years, she has built an army of influential celebrity mates, from models to actresses to fellow singers. She has even featured them in her music videos, like the infamous "Bad Blood" video which led to the origin of the name "Taylor Squad" as a description of her circle of friends. So what is the lesson here? Use influencers that will add relevance to your social media strategy. Taylor's famous friends have definitely helped spread her work through their own communities, which then serves to further broaden her audience base.