Lady Gaga and the Importance of Social Media in Business

She wasn’t born this way, but she has become a master at communicating and using social media channels. Although she is a pop icon, she understands the importance of social media in business. Lady Gaga currently has 32,687,155 followers on Twitter and 54,662,659 likes on Facebook. She recently started her Google+ page and within the first several days she had over 20,000 following her on this relatively new channel.
If you follow Lady Gaga and her communication using social media channels, she could teach us all about the importance of social media in business and how to leverage branding, community and message. Here is a list of 5 things we can learn:

1. It's all about community!
   Lady Gaga genuinely enjoys her fans. She calls them Little Monsters and regularly sends posts and tweets to this community specifically. Mother Monster inspires great loyalty in her fans by continually respecting what she and her fans have built as community.
   Takeaway: Continually strive to build a community of loyal consumers using respect. This will build trust and customer loyalty.
2. Be Real.She may be the most influential pop star on the planet at this point, but you’d never know it from a tweet on December 19th that was relatable and funny. The tweet: "that awkward moment when you realzie you JUST took off last christmas' holiday weight and it is indeed now christmas AGAIN can i get an amen?" Who hasn’t felt this way?Takeaway: Use your own voice and be real when composing your social media communication. You may be tempted to embellish when posting or tweeting. Keeping your authentic voice will get you more influence. If you find yourself lacking inspiration, just remind yourself of the importance of social media in business!
3. Don't make it about yourself.Lady Gaga isn’t just about dance/pop and funky fashions. She and her mother have teamed up with Harvard, The MacArthur Foundation and The California Endowment to create the Born This Way Foundation, to lead a worldwide social movement of acceptance and anti-bullying. She recently posted about a new bus that would be available for mental health counseling in advance of her shows to take the stigma away from mental health issues, especially for teenagers.Takeaway: Social Media is about Branding, but that doesn’t mean that all you should do is talk about your business and products. Make sure that you use the 80/20 rule when communicating. 80% of the time, talk about things that will interest your community…events, ask questions, talk about shared interests that you have with your community. Again, this builds trust and loyalty.
4. Leverage Partnerships to Benefit Your CommunityRecently, Lady Gaga partnered with Facebook’s Zinga to promote her new album to her Monsters. Users that visited Gagaville were able to unlock music from her upcoming album. It was a great social media campaign that benefited both partners and her community of followers.Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to think of the box in running campaigns that will benefit you and a partner if it will also benefit the members of your community. It improves your credibility.
5. Remember to Say Thank YouNo matter how famous or influential you are, remember that it is important to thank the people that got you there.Takeaway: Social media is about you and your brand. The way you interact as a business should carry all of the same social etiquette that you would use in your personal interactions.

Keep in mind these simple concepts to continue to build your brand and community using social media. Lady Gaga isn’t the only one you can look to understand more about the power of social media. Check out these blogs for more information:
Video: Why It’s Important to Follow Twitter Users Who Follow You
Video: How to create a Facebook campaign
Podcast: Using Social Media for Customer Service as a Small Business