What is it with teenagers and technology and their ability to become famous (or more famous) seemingly overnight? Take Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus for example, who seem to gather media attention around them (for better or worse), and boost their careers regardless of their boisterous actions. How is it that these teenyboppers have total control over their popularity in the media, while other stars fade in the limelight? The key is in how they manage their social media, and you can use the same techniques to market yourself successfully as well. No, you don’t need to twerk or carry around a confiscated monkey with you, but hey, these methods seem to work!
Do as Miley and Justin do, and always Stay Relevant
Sure, these stars may use crazy antics to always remain in hot conversation, such as wandering around shirtless or constantly posting selfies on Twitter and Instagram, but these few seconds of self-promotion leads to tons of gossip, more twitter and instagram followers, and media attention. If you want to market yourself successfully, post yourself in the spotlight often using your own quirky image or personality to make yourself (and your company) worth talking about.
You don’t have to slobber on a sledge hammer to get attention, but you do have to make yourself a product or brand worth talking about. So pick something about your business that you want to promote and post it- often- to social media sites. The more you post and connect to your fans and followers, the more memorable your business becomes, and this equals profit in the long run.
Be Exciting, or at least, Different.
In the world of social media, anything that gains you exposure is potentially helpful to you and your business. Use your brand or unique customer appeal to your advantage and blog about your new clothing line, post photos of the lunch special of the day, or to even just brag about your customer of the week. Don’t go out of your way to over-indulge the public with nonsense (this may work with the teen stars, but may make your company look less respectable), but do post often about coupons, new inventory, employees, and even happenings in your business to maintain followers and customer retention.
Miley and Justin know how to remain in the spotlight by creating a brand for themselves as fun-loving rebellious individuals, and you can do the same for your business by reaching out and daring to be different among your competitors. Just be careful of being too out there- in the world of business, bad publicity is not a good thing.
Know your Media Outlets, and use them Well
Finally, as a business owner or manager, you want to know all the media outlets you have available to you in the first place, and which ones are most beneficial to your company. You want to make sure you use the right media tools in the right ways in order to gain popular success locally and beyond.
For instance, Facebook is a common marketing tool for many business owners, but is often used to the disadvantage of the business itself. Too often, business owners abuse Facebook (and other social media outlets) without realizing it by not posting often enough, ignoring their followers, or even by posting negative or irrelevant comments. Combined with the right SEO packages, if you choose the right media outlets to promote your business (there is a reason why Miley and Justin don’t use Facebook but abuse Twitter and Instagram ad naseum) you are on the right track to beneficial promotion.
Technology and social media may take some getting used to, but done correctly can net huge success for your business. In staying relevant, noticeable, and in the spotlight with your customers, you can have the same in-your-face popularity that young teen stars enjoy, and can take pleasure in your own media spotlight.
