How Janet Jackson Shared Our Instagram TV Video
In my previous article…
I discussed my work with The Black YouTube Channel & Introspective Films, helping their first Instagram TV post reach over 1000 views after sharing it with relevant fan pages, a tactic I carried forward into the promotion of their next video: Canadian Professional Dancers REACT To Janet Jackson.
The video went live the weekend of Janet’s 54th birthday. There’s a lot of debate in communications about tagging celebrities to promote content. Rarely do they go through the motions and re-post content, let alone acknowledge it. I see the situation as buying a lottery ticket to a seventy-million dollar jackpot; it’s a long shot, but if you bought a ticket, you have a chance. So we tagged Janet (@janetjackson) in a teaser post promoting the soon to be released video.
To note, tagging celebrities is effective when the content features them in some way. In my case, The Black YouTube Channel and Introspective films produced a video centred around Janet Jackson and her impact on young black Canadian dancers. This is content Janet’s fans would appreciate, enticing her to share it. If you’re working with a client about to launch a new grunge fashion line, tagging Janet Jackson in your first post will not be effective (unless she starts performing Nirvana covers) Make sure your content is aligned with the celebrities values or personality to increase the odds of sharing.
The next morning we woke to a notification that the queen herself shared the teaser to her Instagram story, exposing us directly to our target audience: Janet Jackson fans. This increased viewership for the IGTV video tenfold. Going to old faithful Edward Bernays’ work, Janet serves as the influencer, holding the attention of nearly five million followers. This is the essence of public relations: create an event or piece of content that is newsworthy and outlets will share it on their own. I wish there was a more elaborate method to the madness, but all you need to do is simply buy a ticket, and if the timing is right, your number will be called. So if you have a celebrity in mind, tag them!
See you at the next stop…
