She’s the “Queen of Twitter” according to Famecount and she happens to be the first living person to achieve 10 million fans on Facebook. Famecount lists Lady Gaga as the most popular online entity worldwide, with more than 16 million Facebook fans and 330,000 YouTube subscribers. She is breaking records on all social media platforms. How does she do it?
Besides being a pop icon around the world, Gaga is making the right noises online. Here are 3 things Lady Gaga is doing right in building an online community:
1. Lady Gaga is close to her community
A strong community will be with you til the end. Lady Gaga shows gratitude toward her fans and interest towards their comments. In return, fans feel part of this community. Lady Gaga refers to all her fans as “monster” and embraces the close relationship she has with them. Her 2nd album “Fame Monsters” she released in tribute to her fans. Fans on Facebook and Twitter embrace this nickname and accept it as part of their community.
For example, Lady Gaga’s most recent Facebook status update: “Little monsters heart I keep, and as I lay me down to sleep, I dream of rainbow roads to love, for now New York city’s my drug”. Her updates receive an average of 5000 comments and 20 000 likes on Facebook.
In return, Lady Gaga’s online community is extremely loyal. For example, one fan wrote a comment on another fan’s post on Facebook saying “Gaga’s going to delete this. You know that, right? She doesn’t let posts she doesn’t like stay on her wall.” They feel like they know her personally and they respect her.
2. Lady Gaga stands out from the Crowd
Lady Gaga as a whole can most probably be defined as different. She attracts attention. Her brand is what makes her different – her music, sense of fashion and controversial statements attract a lot of attention.
Online she stands out from the crowd by living in the limelight. Instead of fighting against the oh-so-public life of a superstar, she goes with it and lives her life in open spaces online and offline. On her Twitter account you will find photo’s posted by friends and from shows. There are a lot of brands who are openly engaging online, but what makes Gaga different is her brand and her character which she portrays on all her social platforms.
3. Lady Gaga is true to her brand
Lady Gaga posts things the ‘Gaga’ way – sometimes not making a lot of sense – but it’s all original and true to her character. She is consistent with her posts on shows, new video’s and ‘Gaga’ news she’d like to share with her fans.
As a Lady Gaga fan, you’ll find all there is to know about her latest album, photos and news by joining her online community. @LadyGaga on Twitter is where her fans can have a one-on-one conversation with her. She uses this platform to be authentically ‘Gaga’ and say/tweet whatever is on her mind. She has virtually offered fans unrestricted access to chat to her on Twitter.
Lady Gaga’s viral presence is undeniable. Her near-dominance of all things social media is a great example many brands can learn from. Take these three principles and apply them to your online community strategy.
Read more posts by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg
Related posts:
Very interesting… the same principles seem to find application to all “personal brands”, even a lawyers’ practice
Interesting article. I’m think that Lady Gaga represents ‘living out the dream’ that many don’t have courage to do. So it goes beyond just her interaction – it’s what she is showing through her Gaga actions, although weird. Society is attracted to those that courageously follow their dreams. And when you genuinely live your dream people want to know about it. Gaga then goes viral!
@AJnel, Defintely agree with you!
@Zibuka, this is where ‘having a cause’ comes in. You need to have a focused cause that your audience can relate to in order to build a successful online community. Gaga’s cause it just that – “living the dream” and her audience can relate to it.
In the words of Wayne Campbell, Yes Way man.