From Susan to Shaheen, Why Social Media is the new Mass Media

by Mitchell Hunter

When Kelly Clarkson first auditioned for American Idol in 2002 (singing “Express Yourself” by Madonna and “At Last” by Etta James), chances are, if you caught that performance, you saw it on your television and lived in the U.S. (or maybe Canada). That performance, while strong, didn’t make her a star overnight. In fact, I’d be surprised if many people even remember it. It was the subsequent performances over the course of the summer on the popular reality TV singing competition that launched Kelly Clarkson’s career, not a single performance alone.

Seven years, 20 million albums sold, 8 chart topping singles, 2 Grammy awards, and six more American Idols later, Kelly Clarkson is undoubtedly and rightfully still a star. But, somewhere along the line, the star making machine that launched her changed. And I can’t help but wonder how Kelly’s first audition would stack up in the world of reality TV stars were she competing in American Idol 2009.

So what changed you ask? It’s a pretty simple answer really – YouTube and the explosion of social media networks. Launched in 2005 as a video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips, YouTube is now the 5th most visited website on the internet, with more than six billion videos viewed in January 2009 alone. YouTube and other social media networks (like Facebook and Twitter) have made the world smaller, and have in a sense shifted marketing control away from corporate headquarters and placed it into the hands of consumers.

Take Susan Boyle and Shaheen Jafargholi for example. Both are competitors on the UK show Britain’s Got Talent, both were underdogs (one older, one younger), and both are now international sensations (virtually overnight) due to standing ovation worthy performances and emotionally charged stories that virally exploded online. This all occurred after a single airing of the show on British airwaves, followed by individuals sharing the videos on YouTube, and subsequently sharing the links to the videos on social media platforms. Their stories, Susan’s in particular, were later picked up by many of the major news networks who ran PR pieces about the performances and their online buzz. With over 40 million views on YouTube in just a few weeks, fueled by countless tweets and Facebook wall posts, 38 year old Susan has already landed a recording contract (yes, after just one performance). 12 year old Shaheen is well on his way to securing a similar fate, already having passed 2 million views in under a week.

Mind you, comparing Kelly to Susan and Shaheen isn’t really comparing apples to apples. There was no shock value in Kelly’s first performance; she was the attractive all American girl with a great voice, the kind of girl you would normally expect to get a record deal…the kind of girl labels would be fighting over to mould into the next star. Her story doesn’t really have the makings of a viral internet sensation, but that’s kind of what’s interesting. Before YouTube, would Susan or Shaheen have a chance of getting noticed by the industry? Now with YouTube, does the music industries next Kelly Clarkson clone have a chance of standing out to the audience?

You no longer need the “full package” to get the attention of the music industry; you just need to resonate with the audience. And, thanks to YouTube and the power of viral word of mouth exposure through social media networks and communication channels, it no longer takes three months on primetime television to win an audience over – one compelling performance will do it.

I’m not trying to downplay the importance of a holistic strategy that includes traditional media elements. There are mass elements at play in Susan/Shaneen’s stories that are mighty important, but the key thing to notice is that in comparison to Kelly’s case seven years ago, a social shift has occurred that has empowered the public to make marketing decisions far faster than network television can, and with greater global reach – so much so that the mass media (in this case) recognized it, and publicized it.

So what implications does this have for marketers? Three key ones come to mind:

1.    Be compelling in your message and execution; you need to resonate with people. You need people to love you enough to talk about you.
2.    Don’t force your message on the masses; if it’s gripping enough, they’ll come to you.
3.    Embrace and participate in social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter; they are where the conversations are happening, and they are where the public is diverting their attention towards.

To sum up, don’t overlook this phenomenon when developing your marketing strategy – social media now has the power to dictate the mass media.

[Ps: For the record, this blog is in no way bashing or attempting to downplay Kelly Clarkson’s talent. She deserves all of the success she has had, and those who know me know I am one of her biggest fans. I’m merely trying to illustrate how social media is now able to compete with the mass media.]

Susan:

Shaheen:

Here’s Kelly’s first performance as well for fun. Note that YouTube didn’t exist when this first aired. Also note the narrative commentary – “…we don’t think Kelly is going to need that plan”. Is the network telling the audience what to think before she sings?

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