What can we learn about Internet marketing from Beyonce Knowles? Well, first of all, how would you like to have 8,868 people per second sending out Tweets about you? How would you like to be the most searched for term on Google for an entire week? No matter what type of business you’re in these days, in some way or other it’s going to involve the Internet. Obviously, with stats like that, Beyonce knows what she’s doing.
To say that Beyonce is a R&B recording artist is an understatement. She’s a superstar. If she were no longer with us she’d be a legend, right up there with the likes of Elvis and John Lennon. She’s also much more than a recording artist. She’s an actress, a fashion designer, an activist and philanthropist, a wife, and soon-to-be mother. And on top of everything else she rakes in millions of dollars each month. So let’s see what we can learn about Internet marketing from Beyonce.
Follow Your Passion: It’s obvious Beyonce is passionate about her music. What are you passionate about? That’s a question that we’re often addressing when talking about Internet Marketing, but what does it really mean?
A lot of marketers ask themselves the wrong question. They ask themselves ‘What am I passionate about that I can use to make money?’ and that’s entirely the wrong way to look at it. First you need to find out what it is that motivates you to take some type of action. Don’t worry about whether that action leads to making money. Just what is it that compels you to learn more or do more and be more daring.
Beyonce is passionate about having a singing career because she loves music – not because she wants to make money. Everybody wants to make money – it’s a need, not a passion. But her passion for singing is what drives her to keep creating better and better songs, better content, in our lingo. Her passion for the roar of the crowd is what drives her to keep producing better and better concerts and videos. Without those passions, she’d just be another singer.
Without your passions, you’re just another blogger. It’s your passion that motivates you to keep learning about your topic so you can constantly be providing better and better content for your readers. And the result of following your passion is that you generate more traffic.
And let’s face it, it’s a huge ego boost when our readers start asking questions and let us know they look at us as an authority in our niche. When you get right down to it, at the end of the day when you look to see how much money you’ve made, it’s not really about the money. It’s about the sense of accomplishment and the feeling like you’re finally making that connection with your readers. Connecting with your readers, becoming an authority in your niche, and sharing your passion with your readers is what really motivates you to keep pushing the envelope each day. The sales you make are the result of following your passions.
Create shareable content: Beyonce is often criticized for her flamboyant costumes. Say what you will, though, she knows how to create shareable content. Every day there’s another picture on the Internet of Beyonce wearing something shocking to the grocery store or showing up in an outfit that even Gaga would find too risque. But there’s your answer right there – the pictures are on the Internet.
She also knows how to create shareable content for different audiences, which is a key lesson we can all learn. Beyonce is known for her philanthropy and who better to team up with than Michelle Obama to help spread the word about childhood obesity.
Joining forces with The First Lady was a major networking coup for both parties involved. Beyonce’s audience, who might never have listened to a message from someone like Obama, was introduced to exercise, diet and nutrition information, perhaps for the first time in their lives. And Obama’s audience, already familiar with her message, was introduced to Beyonce’s music and Beyonce the activist. The result? A piece of shareable content that increased the audience size for both parties.
Be open to all possibilities: The biggest Internet Marketing lesson we can learn from Beyonce is that while following our passion we may very well stumble upon new passions. But we need to be able to remain focused. Beyonce started out as someone passionate about music and look at everything she’s involved in now. Philanthropy, fashion design, acting – she ties all of these new interests in with her core passion, which is music. And each new interest she adds increases the size of her audience, but the main reason they’re following her is still because of her music.