March 18, 2010

Lessons from the School of Gaga

Mar. 18, 2010 at 12:45 PM | By Kate Malone | Comment Count

It’s not hard to understand why Lady Gaga, who personifies the word “excess” has had her image reproduced countless times in celebrity tabloids and blogs. But looking beyond the pants-less exterior of the performer, many are seeing a marketing genius. She’s fully embraced the spirit of social media and social marketing in a way that many artists and even corporations cannot yet bring themselves to do. So what can marketers like you and me learn from Lady Gaga and her marketing team?

Control- I’ve talked before about how communicating with your constituents is key to directing the conversation. Lady Gaga writes all of her own tweets and posts on her Facebook fan page.
Content Hubs- Although her social media presence spans almost every site you can think of, it’s consolidated neatly onto her website, allowing for easy sharing and and a one-stop shop for all things Gaga. For those who need 24 hour access, there’s even an iPhone app.
Attracting people to the site- Lady Gaga allowed her video for Bad Romance to debut on her website before it was released to traditional outlets like MTV. This not only rewarded her online devotees, but attracted new people to the site.
Information wants to be free- While many artists ban fans from recording performances, all exposure is good exposure to Lady Gaga- she encourages fan videos and photos.
Differentiate yourself, for real- While for Gaga this means sequins and vinyl clothing, for other entities it usually means a unique brand of customer service that breeds loyalty (think Zappos.com, Southwest Airlines, etc.).

What’s the result of her efforts? It’s easy to see in plain numbers:

Lady Gaga has over 5.7 million fans on Facebook, while Beyonce (who teamed with Gaga for their latest single Telephone) has about 3 million.
A Google search for “telephone,” pulls up Lady Gaga as the third hit- right under the Wikipedia article for “Telephone.”
7 million hits for the music video in the first three days of its release.
The bottom line- 8 million albums sold in an age where “no one” buys CDs.

Of course her success cannot be 100% attributed to social media- she undoubtedly has an appeal and a knack for controversy that transcends anything a marketer could create. But I think her handling of her online presence is largely responsible for her rapid rise and rabid devotion of her fans.