Oh My Lady Gaga

            No one connects with fans quite like Lady Gaga. The songstress, with her eccentric style, unpredictable personality, and amazing talent, always gives her little monsters something to talk about. Gaga is the self-proclaimed queen of Twitter and has 14 million plus followers to back it up.  Corporations and individuals alike can learn a great deal from her most recent Twitter antics.

            On October 16, Lady Gaga issued a challenge to her fans via Twitter. She promised to release the cover of her new single, Marry the Night, in advance of Interscope Records intended release date if her followers made “MARRY THE NIGHT SINGLE COVER” the number-one trending topic on Twitter. A few hours later, Gaga followed through with her promise and revealed the album art via Twitter. Social media blogger Mack Collier identified the three main things that Lady Gaga did right in terms of her use of the micro-blogging platform.

1.     Lady Gaga gave her fans ownership. She empowered her fans to take an active role in promoting her forthcoming single by making it a top trending topic on Twitter.

2.     She communicated what they needed to do. Gaga appealed to her fan’s desires to get exclusive access and made them work to get it, instead of just handing it over.

3.     She communicated to her fans that what they want is above what her label wants. She made it clear to her fans that she prioritizes them over her label’s wishers.

I would go so far as to add a fourth dimension to what she did right. Gaga followed through with her promise in a timely matter and using the same platform that she issued the challenge in the first place. This made her more accessible and removed the boundaries that other mediums would have created. Organizations and individuals stand to learn a lot from Gag’s social media practices.