| Lady Gaga is setting an intriguing precedent in the world of social media, not only revolutionizing the way her music has been marketed and responded to by fans, but also managing to create a character who is instantly recognizable beyond this market.
Since coming onto the scene in 2008, Lady Gaga has very quickly catapulted to worldwide stardom, capturing the imagination of fans with shocking wardrobe choices and an outlandish stage persona. But it is Gaga’s very clever use of social media which has assisted in raising her profile, spreading her message and connecting her directly with fans – and in doing so, has turned herself into a marketing dream.
With the ability to speak directly to her nearly 2.8 million followers on Twitter and over 5 million Facebook fans, she is able to spread the ‘Gaga’ message virally and at no cost. Without a PR team visibly controlling sound bites, the singer comes across as more accessible and genuine than other
| celebrities, and people are then more willing to propogate her message, giving further publicity.
Lady Gaga is arguably the world’s hottest musical commodity right now, garnering the column inches, claiming news headlines the world over and also coming up trumps where it really matters – in the music and download charts. She has sold over 8 million albums to date, while her single Poker Face is number two on the iTunes all-time most-downloaded songs list. The Lady Gaga YouTube channel has 220,000 subscribers and over 500 million people have viewed her music videos on the site. Figures indicate she has more song plays per day on MySpace than other popular artists such as Rihanna, Beyonce and John Mayer. This exposure has obviously benefited digital sales, with her singles selling in excess of 35 million. Further strengthening her social media ties is a willingness to experiment with new ways of bringing the ‘Gaga brand’ to the masses.
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