To be a successful celebrity in the 21st Century, you have to use Social Media just right…
Many try and fail or hire teams of people to do it for them. But there are some celebrities that nail it all by themselves. Here are five celebrities who are using social media in clever ways.
1. Taylor Swift
The teen queen uses social media in a way which puts her on the same level as her fans: she responds to them and tweets in the same way that they do. She’s on Tumblr responding wittily to memes about herself, using hash tags on Twitter such as ‘#taylurking’ where she posts photos of her fans clutching her latest album. In short, she is cleverly present online whilst her fans do the important work of promoting her latest song/album/whatever else Taylor Swift does. She also responds directly to her fans, encouraging them when they have a bad day or cheering them on for their successes. Put simply, Taylor Swift is doing social media right, and the world loves her even more for it.
2. Katy Perry
From one teenage dream to another, Katy Perry is a clever user of social media too. For musicians, often tours can be a way of connecting with fans but what about those who couldn’t get tickets to the show? During her 2011 California Dreams tour, Katy had her fan’s tweets being live-displayed on a giant screen whilst she performed. This was extremely clever because not only did it make the fans feel more like their input is appreciated, but it also meant that her performance was shared (and therefore promoted for free) with the fans at home too. Smart.
3. Robert Downey Jr
When RDJ is not busy being Iron Man, he is a committed user of social media. His Facebook page is particularly fun where the man himself posts regular updates about projects as well as an assortment of memes focusing on his characters. It is refreshing to see an actor embracing the popularity of his character and his social media is awash with Avengers-related humour. What’s more, he also ran an amazing competition which put entrants in with a chance to attend the Avengers: Age of Ultron première with him by donating to a children’s charity here in the UK.
4. Ellen DeGeneres
If you have missed Ellen’s meteoric rise to ‘Queen of Daytime Chat Shows’ then you have probably been living under a rock. Ellen’s Twitter page is not just promotion for the show though; she regularly posts jokes, personal tweets, support for her friends and colleagues and their shows, and a whole host of photos you want to see. And, of course, there’s a little something known as ‘the most re-tweeted photos of all time’ taken by Ellen: a selfie of herself with some of Hollywood’s elite at the 2014 Oscars.
5. Leonardo DiCaprio
One of Hollywood’s biggest stars is also one of the world’s most popular social media users, boasting over 10 million followers on Twitter and 11.6 million likes on Facebook. However, Leo uses his love of social media to promote awareness of the environment and routinely pledges huge sums of money to worthwhile causes. If it’s vacuous celebrity that you’re after, he isn’t your guy; he’s got his eye on the bigger picture and is working tirelessly to make our planet that little bit better. Good work, Leo!
Photo Source: By Eva Rinaldi from Sydney Australia (Taylor Swift) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
