Well, gone are the days of page-3 when we read about celebrities, their work and their personal lives in newspapers. Today, we ‘hear’ the celebrities ‘speak’ to us directly through their social media accounts. If you stop to think about it, it is quite amazing that we know when the next movie of our favourite actor will be released or what the babies of our favourite talk-show host looks like or what our favourite sports star has just had for breakfast directly from the horse’s mouth.
Do celebrities manage their own social media accounts?
Let’s get this out of the way. They don’t manage their own social media accounts. At least most of them. They outsource the management of their social media managers to agencies or managers. Celebrities known to have used the services of professional social media managers include, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Hugh Jackman, Kayne West, Emma Watson, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan.
Gaining and maintaining millions of followers, engaging with them and maintaining the engagement levels takes effort. Consistent effort. Just because someone is famous doesn’t mean that they would get those followers and that those followers would continue to love them, and their posts. Agencies and social media managers help the celebrities design their social media strategies as well as execute it well.
‘Smaller’ celebrities generally manage their own social media accounts and craft their social media strategies. Some of the might do so with an eye on the future, while others craft it as they go along.
Why do celebrities get help from agencies or social media managers?
Celebrities are busy and already have a lot of things that to manage. As it is their managers schedule their days and their agents get them jobs. Their lives can be planned ahead for months on end. Now, if you add to this giant pile the need to come up with concepts for social media posts and witty descriptions for those, it is tough, if not outright impossible. It might be for these reasons that plenty of celebrities hire professionals. Agencies and social media managers come with expertise and a plan.
Also, product promotions on social media can be a source of revenue for the celebrities. For example, branded posts could equal a certain amount of fee each. Another reason is that sometimes, celebrities find their next gig based on their social media presence. It is known that casting decisions are made on the basis of the social media follower count of the actors. Some savvy celebrities launch products of their own. It is best to have a channel to reach potential customers of those products. All these make excellent incentives to get professionals do the job.
Almost always, behind each post is a team: the hair, the make-up, the wardrobe, the photography and the photo editing and know-how of social media (and know-how or the ability to guess the ever-changing algorithms of social media companies).
What does this mean for the agency or the social media manager?
While brand partnerships or posts that sound like musings can mean that the posts can be planned, there are also posts that are announcements and responses to recent events mean that the agency or the social media manager has to react quickly before the current event stops trending. So, it is a fine balance between a very well-thought out plan and reaction to the world. It is a full-time job.
Often these jobs require the social media manager or the social media management team to be available for more than 12-hours per day and work on weekends too. That is partly one reason for the social media managers to get paid handsomely.
What does mean for you as a brand?
If you are a brand, whether you choose to engage with a celebrity big enough to have an agency or a social media manager or you work with a celebrity with a smaller follower count, you need to be mindful of what they stand for, how they work as well as have a clear understanding of what you wish for the brand partnership to achieve. This way both your brand and the brand of the celebrity will benefit.