When social media power beats money, the Lady Gaga case
As you know, we often talk about music celebrities who achieve success not only because of their music skills, but also thanks to marketing strategy.
The #tbt topic that we want to remember today is an evident example of what a right social marketing strategy can do. It happened when, on 19 May 2011, Lady Gaga bested Oprah Winfrey as the most powerful Celebrity on Forbes 100 List.
Indeed, as Forbes editor Dorothy Pomerantz said:
“Lady Gaga beat Oprah this year (2011) because of her social media power. She’s the best example of how celebrities will need to manage their careers in the coming years.”
The list, born in 1999, ranks celebrities based on earnings, popularity on the Internet and mentions in newspapers and on radio.
With total earnings of $90 million (against Oprash’s $290 million), boosted by strong album sales, endorsements and an extremely lucrative world tour, Lady Gaga was there on the List also because of her several milion Facebook fans and Twitter followers. They helped move millions of digital downloads of her music and they’re also happy to buy her merchandising products.
So, as far back as 2011, a incisive social media strategy became essential to achieving success (regarding public visibility) also in the music field.
