Social Networking, Marketing, and Promotion: The Gaga Way

I don't know how I've managed to go six months in my blog and mention very little, if any, about pop icon Lady Gaga. I wrote a whole post about Rebecca Black for crying out loud. As her new album dropped this week (Gaga not Black), she has gone on a full-fledged monster of a promotional tour: acting in skits and performing on SNL's season finale, endless advertisements on every music site you can imagine, $.99 albums on Amazon (which crashed their servers), pictures of her purchasing albums herself to autograph for her fans, releasing new promotional singles every few days, etc. Of course, many of us don't have the millions of dollars for promo like that. But we do all, or at least should, share one thing in common in our marketing strategies as musicians, which is completely free to start. You guessed it. Social networking.

I ran across this article the other day about Lady Gaga and her marketing strategy. Her marketing team is one of the driving factors that has contributed to her massive success as a pop artist and put her in a league of pop stars that have been in the industry long before she has. One point that the article made on Yahoo! was the fact that  "[she] blurs the industry boundaries and it's not really clear if she's a musician, artist or fashion designer." Some critics may argue that she makes herself less about the music and more about the gimmicks and gizmos.  As a musician myself, I feel sometimes inclined to agree with such a statement. However, in pop music's case, I feel that everyone has a gimmick (some more extreme than others). Lady Gaga was very smart in how she introduced herself to the music scene, not overwhelming in image and music "creativity." However as she furthered her career, her music got more daring and her fashion and performance behavior got more outlandish. Now it seems like every pop star that tries to step out of the box nowadays is being compared to Lady Gaga and accused of copying her style; forgetting that musicians like David Bowie, Grace Jones, Blondie, heck even Christina Aguilera (all notable influences) did it first.

Screenshot of Lady Gaga's Twitter page. As of the time
this pic was taken on May 26, Gaga has 10,430,268
followers--the most of any person on the site.

Now whether one agrees that Gaga is the reigning princess, or even queen of pop, she is definitely the queen of social media networking. With over 10 million followers on Twitter and over 35 million likes on Facebook, it would be foolish for Lady Gaga's team to not utilize her social networking advantage over her pop peers. According to the Yahoo! article a case study credits Gaga's social media strategy "as a way for businesses to learn new methods to shake up an established industry." She uses outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and even YouTube as a way to soften the divide between artist and fanbase. "Social media is not a one-way communication and I think Lady Gaga understands that," Kupp stated. "It's more about emotions, engagement and interactivity, so she's very advanced." Just like stars such as Britney Spears and Justin Bieber, she follows many of her fans as they follow her.  She treats her fans like they are family and nurtures them like a mother (monster) figure. She isn't all about promotion and product. She realizes that creating intimacy with her fans-- such as referring to her accomplishments as a collective effort of her fans and letting them in to her daily life activities-- forces even some haters to respect her nurturing spirit and her love for her little monsters.

Many other pop stars have done similar networking strategies by nicknaming their fanbase creating a sense of family with the celebrity and with one another: Justin Bieber with his Beliebers and Rihanna with her Navy, for instance. Now can it be argued that these mainstream pop singers use all this as simply a marketing strategy than their genuine feelings towards their fanbase? Can it be argued that the pop world merely creates a falsified sense of belonging by encouraging the exploitation of the emotions and vulnerability of many young fans? Can it also be argued that these social networking ploys  are creating mechanical relationships with the famous and further emphasizing the fact that technology is influencing relationships on the web more than real-life contact? Those are all valid questions with some points and consequences to think about when spending hours trying to get Justin Bieber to respond to your tweet, or days online adding complete strangers as "friends" to your favorite social networking site. Whether we like it or not, social networking is here to stay. So we might as well take advantage of it, right?

Especially when reaching levels of fame, the vast majority of people we may follow or even follow us are strangers. Whether we talk to them online or not, chances are we will never meet them and form a real offline relationship. Is this entirely bad? In the realm of marketing and promotion, not at all. Softening the borderline between follower and followee is a genius strategy that Gaga does very well. Whereas most of us are not on that level of stardom and success, it just shows that a musician's best friend is the internet. Artists such as Justin Bieber and Soulja Boy most likely would not exist if it wasn't for sites such as YouTube or MySpace, like it or not. They are among the fortunate minority that has been able to transition their online fans into mainstream success. For the rest of us that have well under 1 million followers on Twitter, we need to realize that our careers can still very well flourish through social media...especially if you are an artist. However it is important to realize that you should not and cannot do it all online. For the very same reason concerts and physical product still exist, fans enjoy the real life perks of being a fan. The digital world is a great way to connect with your favorite artists and create a digital fanbase, which is not a bad thing especially when starting out. However it is important to remember that one can only go so far in their career utilizing the Internet alone. 

So as the music industry struggles to combat the big-bad Internet with its online piracy and what not, stars such as Gaga show that social media is a powerful tool in marketing oneself. "Lady Gaga's business strategy has been able to breathe life into the music industry which has struggled to adapt its business model with the technological change." She also markets herself beyond her musical product. As we all know image is just as important, at times even more important, as the music itself. No more are the days in which just the ability to sing well gets one ahead in the pop world. Whether creating a natural and toned-down persona with nothing but a guitar and sweats on, or fashioning a daring outfit out of garden tools and manure for your next performance (watch out for the Gaga comparisons); artists have to create an image online and offline to accompany their music performance and style. Especially as your fanbase grows, you have to live up to the standards you set for yourself and your marketing strategy. So you might as well choose an image or gimmick that is more genuine to who you are as an artist and a performer. It makes your development and growth more authentic. If you're a poptart, be a poptart. If you're a freak show, be a freak show. One is not better than the other. Be smart and think ahead. Just don't forget about the music. 

Sources:

Yahoo! Music: "Old CEO's can learn a few new tricks from Lady Gaga"

~L~