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Social media has drastically changed the way we interact with the stars, firstly allowing us to have access to them and their lives. However, how these celebrities have used social media has truly become influential. There are studies being done that look at the statistics behind celebrities social media accounts including; Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube accounts along with each of their scores with online influence calculator Klout which allows us to determine the top influencers. In order to make the cut celebrities must constantly be engaging with their social media accounts, being active, have a strong fan following and must be individual accounts meaning no brands. But how exactly does a celebrity achieve all this? Firstly, the idea of perception comes into play. This means how you want to see yourself and how you want others to see you. Identifying yourself and your online persona are usually the first steps when it comes to becoming an influencer. Knowing who you are allows for a greater connectivity with people, it’s a simple result of the network effort. For this final project, the personality I am going to analyze is our very own Drake. Drake started from the bottom and quickly rose to great heights, but where exactly was the “bottom”. Not necessarily having the highest number of followers but Drake has achieved something in a very unique way that sets him apart from other celebrities. Drake simple “told his story and made history”. Drake has been a very successful and impactful influencer through his use of social media. Whether it may be memes or the release of his new album, drake has always managed to generate high amounts of profit and more devoted and loving fans, which is priceless. Perhaps more than any other celebrity and artist, Drake recognizes the power of a meme. Last year, he released a visually stunning simple video for “Hotline Bling” in which Drake is seen preforming peculiar dance moves along with a neon backdrop. This music video just screamed to be parodied and the result was that the Internet blew up showcasing countless GIFs, vines and memes that aided in making that song his biggest hit. Recently Drake addressed meme culture to “get back” at Meek Mill by using fan made pictures to taunt him during a performance.

Making strong connections with fans and people who could possibly be beneficial to your future is crucial. We can see this strategy used effectively by Drake who always creates a buzz before his albums release. Along with this timing is everything. When looking at Drake’s fight with Meek Mill, there was a twitterstorm that occurred around July 21st. In response to what was going on Drake used the song “Charged up” which premiered on his OVO records show. Not only did he do this but also he released “Back to Back” without waiting for a formal response. The track gained an enormous amount of success producing about 22,000,000 plays on his SoundCloud account. Meek Mill attempted to respond with his musical song “Wanna Know” but Drake had already immensely overshadowed him by releasing 2 songs. In order to be a successful media influencer the you share is key. Photos are seen as “the truth” at face value (Hamza Lecture). Through Drake’s love for the 6 and continuous effort of representing Toronto he creates a special affiliative bond with many followers. This allows the wall between celebrity and fans to be somewhat broken, making fans feel like they really know Drake making him more authentic and influential. Along with this Drake constantly seems to be producing images that go viral. Statistically, Drake won the battle against Meek Mill because ha posted twice as much content. Perhaps the most important lesson from Drake’s social media use is that it allows you to have the capability to make the most of any situation. It allows us to reach out to a wide range of audience and engage in conversations that exist in the outside world. Again this allows for connectivity, which is what fans love. Despite Drake’s clever social media strategies through research I found out that during an interview he mentioned how social platforms like Twitter and Tumblr are damaging to young fans. What he meant by this is that people are so caught up living in other moments, that they don’t live in their own present one. This reminds me of a topic that came up in a lecture earlier this year. We discussed how people emphasize more on capturing the moment rather than being in it and enjoying it. Its good to see that Drake isn’t using social media for his own benefit but also truly cares about his fans, again adding to authenticity. No body thought that the nerdy goofy kid on Degrassi would rise to be such an influential and famous rapper one day and throughout his career, Drake constantly gives a tribute to his hometown making people proud and falling more in love with him. He once stated “Toronto is the reason I do this, all I did was found a way to make people proud of our city” (Hamza’s Lecture). Along with social media as a promotion stunt for his albums, drake has constantly reinvented himself and continued to establish a special and meaningful connection with his fans. You can date this back to when “Nothing was The Same released” and trolls also took over the Internet with Drake’s cover art. This generated an Internet phenomenon with many memes that went viral, taunting Drake’s album. However, all those trolls/memes did was constantly put Drake on everyone’s mind, making him generate profit for his album. Drake completely harnessed the power of social media.

It was said that Drake’s surprise release If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late in order to break out of a contract with his record label. Regardless of this fuss, Drake concentrated on what worked on his last album’s launch. He made the his album artwork mock that of peculiar font, and created a meme creation tool in order for any and every troll out there with an opinion could construct their own personal memes. Recently when his album views dropped, it promoted another meme, which again was controlled by Drake. He was photoshopped having his face on athletes such as Micheal Jordan. What Drake has done is that he was able to achieve a large audience even if it was through memes and trolls. Therefore by having an identity for himself he was able to target a certain audience, which helps him as an artist and performer to be able to generate the best outcomes for him. At every step of the way Drake used social media even it wasn’t appreciating his work, it still spoke about it. This is similar to Donald Trump’s campaign. It wasn’t about what he said but how and when he said it. This ability to constantly be spoken about and stay on people’s minds is a very powerful tool. The number of followers is important when you’re trying to reach a large audience but it is certainly not everything. What the point of you are the most followed person in the world but you are not capable of generating large amounts of profit. That is just vanity metrics and Drake was clearly aware of this. What one needs to do is monitor real results and create effective strategies with that. Drake has evidently reflected on his past promotional stunts and has continued to use them. The reason I chose him for my analysis is because he is from Toronto and his journey just fascinates me. It really shows you how anyone is capable of reaching great heights with hardwork, intelligence and constant perseverance. His use of social media is truly influential and is an excellent example that shows, if done correctly, can be very beneficial. What set him apart from other celebrities is his connectivity with Toronto which reaches fans on an emotional level. Along with this he has recently preformed twice at Ryerson University which is only winning the hearts of more and more people. As the saying goes “bad news is good news” and through this analysis, it is definitely evident to see how Drake successfully uses the power of social media like a god, the 6 god.