Who are your Social Stars?

blog 2021
Written By Andrew Ford

Being a middle-aged man, I am partial to an action movie or two. One of my favs is Jason Statham. Perhaps I like him because he isn't huge like The Rock, doesn't have hair like most of my mates or can actually fight. But whatever the reason, he is pretty popular. His new movie is out called Wrath of Man and I was reading about it when a particular statistic stood out to me as a marketing teacher. Check it out...(RelishMix)

“social star power is driving the movie’s social media universe, with 69% of its entire 209.4M footprint. The cast which counts 146M total followers spurred a strong launch over a shortened marketing runway.”

What this means is that of all the millions of dollars on advertising and social media investment that went into marketing this movie, 69% of the audience reach came from the starts itself promoting the movie, basically for free.

So how does this relate to us normal people in business who don't have millions of followers? Glad you asked :)

If you work in marketing for a mid to large organisation do this simple calculation:

number of employees X number of LinkedIn follower = Reach 

Let's use a simple example in a real company, say RMIT University where I work.

11,000 staff X 500 average LinkedIn followers each = 5,500,000 total reach

That's the equivalent of a prime time TV audience commercial. For those MAFS fans our there a commercial during that season has an ad reach of 1.816 million.

Alternatively, footy fans who watched the AFL opening round totalled of 4.53 million viewers of ALL matches. That's still less than the social reach of RMIT.

But the problem is why would the staff promote the company?

That, my dear reader, is the million-dollar question. Literally, millions of dollars in advertising RMIT spends each year attracting students.

The answer is creating content that is actually of value to the intended audience. Who doesn't want to share something that is useful and that they feel involved in? The issue, is most marketing programs don't add any value, they just push a position.

Back to the movie, check this out...

In his film debut, Post Malone is partially activated on Twitter and Facebook with close to 40M followers, and credited as Austin Post as Robber #6.

This is super smart of the movie to include a famous and strong social media star as a bit part actor. It's worth it just for the social media reach! Of course, he likes the movie and wants to promote something he is proud to be involved in. He is engaged.

What could your company do to engage your staff in that they would be proud to share with their LinkedIn followers?

If you could save millions on your ad spend, wouldn't that be worth looking into?

Food for thought to be sure.

Cheers Andrew

Andrew Ford
Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.
http://www.andrewford.com.au/
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