Justin Bieber and how he makes social media go weak in the knees
January 24th, 2014
Love him or hate him (both feelings are in extremes here) Justin Bieber is a phenomenon. His musical talent is far overshadowed by the massive influence he has over the internet. He is an internet celebrity and makes an excellent case study for any social media success class. With over 49 million followers on Twitter alone, not many celebrities can break the internet like he can, and all at the tender age of 19.
The madness in numbers
There are celebrities and then there’s Bieber. Let’s get straight to the numbers.
Twitter- 49 Million
Facebook- 62 Million
Instagram- 13 Million
You Tube- 36 Million
These sites have been considered because they hold a significant amount of influence. Ballpark figures of ‘Beliebers’ (Bieber’s truest fans) reach 1.6 Billion, which is a mammoth amount for any person. If these numbers are telling us one thing, then it’s that this Canadian born and raised pop singer, knows exactly what he is doing, even though it doesn’t seem like it at first glance; case in point — the recent arrest and internet backlash.
Bieber fever
There are endless instances of people venting out hatred towards Bieber through any medium possible. The extremes are so hard that certain celebrities, who we would consider well mannered, get death threats when they send out even subtle tweets about his behavior. Such is the loyalty of the horde and he voraciously consumes them. He works the masses like a magician and everyone takes notice when he moves around.
This phenomenon has been talked about, written and analyzed ad nauseam. Industry pundits take his example while pointing out the dynamic and viral nature of the internet. The trajectory of his rise from a normal teenager who did not take his musical talents very serious but was found accidentally by a music producer and went on to break the internet is unusual, to say the least. Not many can argue that he doesn’t have talent because his award portfolio looks very similar to musical hall of famers.
Justin can do magic online and I’m not talking about those cheeky card tricks. He can conjure up thousands of his fans to buy out his concerts in minutes, and sell a hundred and twenty million dollars worth of his perfume in a single day. He can also raise awareness about socially relevant messages such as the Joseph Kony issue and his support towards numerous charities.
The science
Marketing yourself– Leveraging digital mediums is tricky. When you have such mass appeal, connecting with your audience is not very difficult. Brands can take a leaf from his works and understand that masses like connecting with a person or an entity and not just artsy ad work.
Nurturing your talent-Talent doesn’t come easy. He has worked towards building his brand along with the man who noticed him and got him here in the first place, Scooter Braun, a talent executive. He has worked to master his craft and has dedicated endless hours towards building his reputation. The ability to control and influence millions does leave you feeling like Superman and he has his occasional slip ups. These slip ups are common with celebrities as there have been innumerable examples of these over the years. He has been able to convert his strengths to superhuman levels and that is something brands lack today. Focus is missing and the message sent across is unclear.
One thing that stands out here is that social media is an extremely powerful instrument. It can make or break a brand or a celebrity. Getting into it has its consequences and leveraging it yields results far beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. Strategies are important and more importantly execution is critical. For what it’s worth, Bieber is here to stay, and like him or not, he will go down in history as one of the most liked and equally hated celebrities of all time.
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