How To Become Social Media Famous
You know you want it. You’ve always wanted it. You just don’t know how to get there.
Maybe you’re a writer and you want to be the next JK Rowling, or maybe you’re an actor and you want to be the next Jennifer Lawrence. Either way, social media is where it’s at. And if you don’t have an account on Instagram or Twitter yet—well, let me tell you: that’s your first step.
If you’re not sure what kind of account to make, here are some guidelines:
1) Make sure your profile picture is attractive but not too attractive (people will think you’re trying too hard). 2) Make sure your bio is punchy and interesting but not too punchy or interesting (people will think it’s fake). 3) Post regularly and engage with other users by liking their photos and commenting on their posts (but don’t do it too much because then people will think they’re fake). 4) Don’t post too many pictures at once or people will think that’s weird (and don’t post too few pictures because then people will think that’s weird). 5) Don’t post any pictures that might offend anyone because then people
How To Become Social Media Famous
These days, almost everyone is trying to figure out how to become famous on social media. Some people are after this for noble reasons such as wanting to “make a difference” in the world. Others do it for vanity purposes like hitting that 100K follower milestone or getting that coveted blue checkmark.
But haven’t you noticed? Almost anyone can be “famous” on social media. What truly makes someone well-known is how quickly a follower can recognize a personal brand. And that can happen whether you have 10K followers or 1 Million.
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Your personal brand is the aspect of your business that people will grow to like, know, and trust. Not your personal brand logo and not even the useful tips you hand out.
Your personal brand is your personality, your ambition, your fears. When people can relate to you in these aspects, you become someone they like, someone they know, and someone they trust.
I’ve repeated these three words in almost every single piece of content I post. Do you want to know why?
Because they are the only three steps in your audience’s journey that will ultimately lead you to become a famous influencer or thought leader in your industry.
How To Become Famous on Social Media
If you want to become famous on social media, here’s the secret.
You have to plan for it to happen. You have to plan out a way to get people to like, know, and trust you as a person first and a business second.
And yes, there are some people who get lucky and garner a following overnight. However, if they don’t have a plan, then that overnight success quickly dwindles down to fifteen minutes of fame.
Using social media to make your personal brand well-known is not an overnight process. But if you’re willing to take my 5 step strategy, I promise you that you will be looking at well over 15 minutes of fame.
People become famous on social media because they know what it is that their brand stands for. You have to know what your own core values and beliefs are in order to stay focused, stay vigilant, and stay relevant on social media.
Are you all about having a consistent strategy? Talk about it.
Are you about helping others first and yourself last? Own that mindset.
Is your core belief that everyone should have equal parts business and pleasure? Tell people how they can achieve that.
This is what sets you apart from the noise that’s on social media. Have your own ideas and way of doing things. Combine that with a content strategy and you’ll earn the key that unlocks viral recognition.
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If you want to know how to become famous on social media, follow these 5 steps:
- Share Your Story
- Know Your End Goal
- Have A Social Media Content Strategy
- Collaborate Consistently
- Get Featured in High Authority Publications
1. Share Your Story
Every personal brand is unique because every person has their own story to tell. However, it takes knowing which stories to tell if you want to boost the credibility and likability of your personal brand.
You want to tell stories that your ideal client or follower will relate to. If you’re a marketing guru who wants to be known as a thought leader, maybe you’ll tell the story about how you worked your 9-5 just to come home and create content for your side hustle.
This type of story does two things:
- It shows people where you came from;
- It shows people that you have the tenacity to build a successful business.
It’s important that your audience sees where you came from. Nobody puts much stalk in people who have things handed to them. It’s not relatable. And it’s definitely not likable.
On social media, people are looking for inspiration. And if you can tell your story in such a way that shows people how you were able to achieve success, those are the stories that will earn you the right to be called an influencer or thought leader.
Whether you’re encouraging others to follow in your footsteps or you’re trying to sell a product or service, tell stories that are going to resonate with people enough so that they stick around.
Be Real
Stories relating to your struggles, your passions, and your complete failures are also an important part of branding yourself for success. That’s why a personal brand works so much better than a business brand in today’s society.
If you want to be famous on social media, you have to tell the stories that matter. The ones that show you’re a real human being who can relate to their followers. You have to be willing to be open, be vulnerable, and you have to be willing to have a unique voice.
So think of three stories you have that lead you to where you are today. I recommend telling stories about:
- How you got started
- A time when you failed, and
- A story that made you question everything.
Write them down, and tell them over and over again to your social media audience.
2. Know Your End Goal
There’s no point in building your brand awareness if you don’t have an end goal in mind.
Here are a couple of options to get you thinking. Do you want to:
- Build up your clientele?
- Reach a sale milestone?
- Land speaking opportunities?
- Build passive income?
- Sell your own line of products?
- Work with brands?
- Get verified on social media?
- Reach a certain follower count?
If the last two appeal to you the most, you’re headed for 15 minutes of fame.
There are plenty of people who have capitalized off of a blue checkmark and a high follower count who have since disappeared off the face of social media. Or worse— they’ve tarnished their brand reputation beyond repair.
Your end goal should be something that will earn you sustainable and consistent success with your personal brand.
And it’s not a matter of choosing one of these end goals over the other. You can get speaking opportunities after building your clientele and working with brands. But you need to decide which goal you want to hit first and which ones can be done by building your brand on social media. Then, leverage these as stepping stones towards your end goal.
The idea that becoming famous equates to opportunities and fortune is a theory that doesn’t ring quite true. There are plenty of celebrities who have lost all their money and who don’t get offered jobs in their field anymore.
Don’t let that be you. Know where you want to end up and use that end goal to formulate a plan. This will help to develop your personal brand into one that is recognizable — a.k.a famous.
3. Have A Social Media Content Strategy
I wholeheartedly believe there can’t be success without strategy.
The reason so many aspiring entrepreneurs don’t “make it” on social media is because they don’t plan ahead.
Quit waiting for inspiration to strike— plan out a social media content strategy that works for you and serves a purpose for your audience. Having a set schedule of when and where to post is going to help you develop the consistency you need to reach that famous level on social media.
Staying on top of trends for your brand is also important because it can lead to a viral piece of content. That’s why so many people are seeing such high returns on platforms like Tik Tok. The ones downloaded the app early were able to hop on the app’s trends which ultimately led a lot of people to become famous on Tik Tok.
RELATED: How To Stay On Top of Trends For Your Brand
This is still possible on other platforms like Instagram and YouTube, but it takes a content strategy to know when you’ve hit the right mark. By experimenting with different types of posts, hashtags, and collaboration methods, you can see that rise in social media fame sooner than you think.
I also have an entire step-by-step plan on how to grow your business on Instagram. This blog focuses on how to implement your brand into your content strategy and how to determine which bits of content are the most appealing to your audience based on analytics.
And don’t sleep on the data behind your content— this is how you’re going to know exactly how to use social media to boost your career.
4. Collaborate Consistently
Social media collaborations appear to have fallen by the wayside in recent years. A few years ago, this was the recipe for how to become famous on social media.
I think now that social media has become such a competitive space for notoriety, people have eliminated this strategy for fear of being overshadowed by their peers.
And honestly— it’s a huge mistake.
Social media collaborations, first and foremost, shows your audience that you’re not in it for the fame. Which, ironically, is what will help you reach that well-known status faster than people who are clearly posting for their ego.
The reason collaborations make you look good is because you’re willing to open your platform up to others who might know more than you. Not only that, but you’re willing to share your space for the sake of your followers who are coming to you for clarity in their own entrepreneurial journeys.
And on the vanity side, collaborating with others exposes you to a wealth of new audiences. By collaborating or even just interviewing other influencers, you’re passively opening up your sphere of influence and inviting strangers into your community.
So honestly, the more you collaborate, the better chance you have at becoming famous on social media.
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5. Get Featured in High Authority Publications
So far, you’ve mapped out your story, you’ve outlined your social media posting strategy, and you’ve learned that collaborating with others is highly valuable to your personal brand. What’s next?
Getting press.
Getting featured in high authority publications purely based on your social media content says a lot about your personal brand.
There are lots of methods that can be utilized to achieve brand recognition such as SEO blog writing, email campaigns, and even paid ads. But if you can get recognized by journalists because of a unique piece of content, it means you’re truly on the path to becoming well-known on social media.
Social media posts can be forgotten in an instant, but if you have a continued presence that provides noticeable and valuable content, your audience will notice. And that means, eventually, journalists will notice, too.
Just like anything else in your path to becoming famous, don’t wait for these opportunities to come to you. Use platforms like HARO to pitch to reporters who are looking for a reliable source for their next article. Don’t worry about how your numbers look on social media. If you have an impressive engagement rate and a steady flow of content, a journalist will see that value— even if you only have 200 followers.
Your follower count is not a metric of how influential you are as an entrepreneur.
If you pay close attention, you’ll start noticing that a lot of people with 10K, 20K, even 50K followers will have an extremely low engagement rate (e.g. only 200 likes and 10 comments per post). This sends up major red flags to journalists because it’s a sign that their followers aren’t real.
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On the other hand, someone with valuable, shareable, and relatable content can have 15 likes and 5 comments per post and be more appealing to that journalist because — while their circle may be small — it’s engaged.
An engaged audience is a sign that you are an up-and-coming influencer. More importantly, it shows that you have a higher level of authority and respect that that other person with a disengaged audience. That means a journalist is more likely to trust you as a reputable source.
And that’s all that matters on social media today.
Conclusion
Being famous on social media means having the authority and trust of your audience. It doesn’t mean having a blue checkmark or a high follower count.
I’ve been a personal branding strategist and a social media enthusiast for a decade now. And based on what’s actually happening on social media platforms today, it’s easy to see that “fame” on social media is more about the value you bring and less about the likes you get. Especially since the idea of hiding likes on platforms like Instagram is becoming a widely adaptive practice across social media.
