It didn’t take long for the first “Hotline Bling” memes to show up on iFunny: Drake catching Pokémon, Drake swinging
lightsabers, Drake #alwaysonbeat, and, in a wonderful bit of back-reference remix, Drake dancing with Carlton from “The Fresh Prince.” His eminently Vine-able video has spread far,
earned meaningful (if satirical) engagement, and produced chart-topping sales.
There is a lesson for brands in “Hotline Bling,” and it isn’t that you need to run
out and buy a sponsorship with a celebrity. The real message is this: if brands want to achieve the kind of profitable consumer engagement Drake gets, they need to start acting like him.
The chaotic, boundless, lawless creativity of the internet disguises the consequences of brands’ clueless approach to online video. Brands are acting like the pesky kid brother at a
high school party, showing off just to get attention. The online video creators, by contrast, stand at the center of highly engaged communities, participating in an intense interaction that follows a
new set of social rules.
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The most engaged and influential creators have a serious following (i.e., PewDiePie, who just topped 40
million YouTube subscribers) and their most passionate superfans are the ones who drive the kind of engagement brands crave (and Drake depends on.) So how do the best creators build engagement
and nourish their superfan communities? And how do brands shuffle off their video weaksauce to achieve Drake-worthy engagement?
· Pure passion will trump production. YouTube personality and online content producer, Ryan Higa got his head handed to him by his fans when he pumped a movie that had nothing to do with who he was. When he teamed up with Lenovo for a promotion that was authentic to his work in style and substance, both the community and the
brand embraced it.
When partnering with creators, brands need to let them be who they are with as little interference as possible so that they can better express an authentic
reflection of who you are.
· Community is always king. Understanding this new generation of fandom is a requirement. Michelle Phan’s Dreamers are among the most passionate and loyal fans. These die-hards propelled Phan to her tremendous success and are the
source of her ever-broadening reach.
Communities like Phan’s are the tight-knit, passionate groups to which brands need to appeal, but traditional audience segmentation is
useless in assessing them. Digital tools give brands multiple data points such as culture, behavior, interest, and demographic which together paint the portrait of an individual. Some of them will be
superfans who tweet, share, comments, influence, and evangelize like no others.
· Engagement-driven, not hit-driven.
Fan communities can’t just be addressed — they need to be collaborated with. Yogscast Sips plays through games over funny narration
for his millions of fans. Generally speaking, he plays the games his fans like best, but every once in a while he’ll stretch them. He’s built up a strong enough web of mutual support that
he can get millions to follow him down a new or different path, complain about being tired of playing something his audience wants, or even safely chastise his fans when the comments get out of
hand.
Red Bull can adopt an engagement-driven strategy since they could be categorized as a content company sponsored by an energy drink. Most other brands pale (sensibly) at the
thought of turning themselves into movie studios or publishers, relying instead on quick hits. That’s a sucker’s game. Form a long-lasting, nurturing, and respectful alliance with a
creator and her audience the way 24-Hour Fitness has done with Blogalites.
· Think small to be big. Thanks to community diversity and the ongoing engagement between fans and creators, niche content is a
bigger, better business than ever before. Interested in world record domino toppling? Sinners Domino Entertainment has you (and 100,000
other subscribers) covered, complete with clickable, domino-formed sponsor logos.
Brands can gain real clout from lodging themselves in niches with passionate creators. Not
only are these big-fish-in-small-ponds powerfully influential, they may supply just the right return on investment.
Having a better understanding of the digital social contract governing online engagement may help your brand avoid bad content marriages. You already
have superfans out there. They need you to help them become paragons of influence, and in return, they’ll propel your brand into the center of a powerful and enduring community.