How Creators Leverage Social Media for Earning Potential
Social media provides businesses and creators with the opportunity to increase their earning potential. There are a variety of ways they can engage with their target market in order to increase sales in the future. Some actors often want to be paid to promote their films while others do not. Furthermore, comedians desire a large sum of money from Netflix deals since they have popularity.
In order for creators to leverage social media to increase their earning potential, they must focus on retaining their current customers and gain new customers through their social media efforts. Creators can follow simple steps to use social media tactics to increase potential purchases from these customers outlined by Forbes. First, companies should encourage customers to post reviews on social media. When current customers post positive reviews, it encourages more people to purchase their products. According to the UGC Marketing Platform known as Yotpo, customers that share reviews on different social media outlets generate up to forty percent higher conversion rates (Patel, 2016). After all, word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective marketing techniques and does not cost the company money, thus allowing them to save on marketing expenses. To add on to this step, I advise companies to engage with these reviews whether it be a like, retweet or reply since customers typically appreciate when there feedback is noticed. In relation to entertainers, I advise them to do the same since interactive celebrities often gain more fans. The second step according to Forbes is to turn negative reviews into a positive (Patel, 2016). This is really effective for those customers that experience negative scenarios with a company’s associated product. When the company makes effort to change the situation, it makes them more likely to come back. In addition, celebrities can use this tactic in a way by apologizing for instances where they may have offended people.
Lastly, creators can access more of their target audience through social media. Companies can obtain vital market research just by tapping into the online presence of their target market by seeing what they are discussing in relation to the products a company offers or what they are interested in (Patel, 2016). For instance, rock musicians can see which individuals are tweeting about rock music and give them a follow to expand their fanbase. In addition, social media provides creators with a chance to give the target market an incentive for following them such as hosting giveaways, coupons or contents. When customers see incentives they are more likely to follow along with a company or individual.
Film creators can leverage social media to increase their earning potential by tapping into the social media accounts of the actors that star in them. Actors typically come with a large social following and fans that are loyal to the films they are in. However, the question comes to play as to if Hollywood stars should be paid to promote their films. Kevin Hart was revealed to have been paid $2 million by Sony to promote two films online (Spargo, 2014). Kevin Hart already makes millions of dollars for films and does not necessarily need the extra $2 million. There are more reasons as to why actors should not be paid due to the fact that staring in a role already gives actors multiple advantages. For one, actors are already paid to star in the film and conducting a social media post takes very little effort. In addition, it would make sense to the fact that actors would want to promote their films on social media so their films earn more money simultaneously as they earn more popularity. In a similar manner, promoting films on social media allow aspiring actors to reach a wider fan base. Social media publicity could be included within the contract that actors sign when they join a film.
However, there is an issue when it comes to if celebrities were to be paid to promote their films. Some actors may not agree with the films they star in as they may go against their beliefs. Actors could obviously avoid this by not being in movies they disagree with, but some actors may need to act in movies they disagree with. This may be due to financial reasons or they could have already signed a contract for a film that they previously had no idea went against their values. For instance, Jim Carrey had filmed Kick-Ass 2 and refused to promote it on social media. Instead, he went against in social media as a concerned advocate of gun control legislation and said the following on Twitter:
“I did Kick-Ass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence” (Brook, 2014).
In a similar manner, Netflix attempts to widen its customer base by having specials of famous comedians. Comedians should get Netflix deals appropriate to their online clout, but to a certain extent. For instance, Mo’Nique was offered $500,000 for her next special on Netflix, meanwhile both Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock were paid $20 million for theirs (Fox, 2018). Taking into consideration their online clout, Mo’Nique has 159.4K followers on Twitter while Chris Rock has 5.4 million. Evidently, Chris has a larger fanbase and will therefore bring more profit to Netflix by attracting his millions of fans in comparison to Mo’Nique who will bring in less fans. However, the subject of fair pay is put in question since there is a $19,500,000 pay gap between both comedians. Although Chris does have more followers, he does not deserve that much more money as they are both professionally qualified for specials. In addition, the amount of money a comedian is paid by Netflix should have the comedian’s resume in consideration like any other normal job. Mo’Nique is an Oscar winner and an influential stand-up comedian who deserves just as much money as Amy Schumer, who got $11 million deal just because she sold out Madison Square Garden and had a hit movie (Fox, 2018).
In today’s society, social media plays an important role between creators and customer base. It is highly important for creators to use tactics online that will gain them fans since the majority of individuals use social media. The debate on whether actors should get paid or not for promoting films could be addressed in film contracts. Netflix needs to find a way to pay comedians in an equal manner pertaining to an individual’s resume and online fanbase.
References
Brook, T. (2014, October 21). When actors go ‘off-message.’ BBC. Retrieved March 13,2018 from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130815-when-actors-go-off-message
Fox, J. (2018, January 19). Why Mo’Nique Is Asking Her Fans to Boycott Netflix. Vulture. Retrieved March 13, 2018 from http://www.vulture.com/2018/01/monique-netflix-amy-schumer-chris-rock-dave-chappelle.html
Patel, N. (2016, August 19). 8 Ways Your Social Media Audience Can Help Increase Your Revenue. Forbes. Retrieved March 13, 2018 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2016/08/19/8-ways-your-social-media-audience-can-help-increase-your-revenue/#234c660431a5
Spargo, C. (2014, December 23). Actor Kevin Hart was ‘paid $2 MILLION’ by Sony to tweet about two films,’ leaked email reveals. Daily Mail. Retrieved March 13 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2885093/Kevin-Hart-refuses-say-work-Sony-labeled-whore-emails-new-leak-reveals-actor-paid-2million-promote-film-Twitter.html
