There have been plenty of instances in which we’ve all wondered why the Kardashians are so famous (despite the baseline fame they began with: their father’s famous defense of OJ Simpson and their step parent’s Olympic prowess). In fact, why is a family any more famous than your product? How did a reality star find her way into some of the world’s top news agencies like the New York Times and BBC – not to mention the cover of Forbes? The answer is tantalizingly simple: social media. Here are 4 ways to market your business like a Kardashian.

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This concept applies to the business world in the simplest of ways: the Kardashians have created a product out of their personality, and a brand out of their name. Whether we like it or not, the Kardashians are one of the most successful “businesses” of the day. For those who have somehow avoided her constant flood of media attention, Kim Kardashian is star of reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, boasting 44 million Instagram followers and 46.8 Twitter followers. She used her fame to create an iPhone game worth over $43 million and an emoji keyboard that is currently raking in about $1 million a minute, among other things.

Using the tricks of Mrs. Kardashian-West can help your business accelerate in the age of social media marketing and thrive off of the potential lying within Internet stardom.

Personal Interactions

Effectively using social media is already a well-accepted fact of modern marketing. However, part of what makes Kim so notable is her engagement with the public. Businesses that use social media as marketing in the broadest sense (i.e. as promotion, research, and advertising) are those that, like Kim, truly understand it’s potential. Consider Whole Foods: it was ranked as a “social media superstar” by Fortune Magazine in 2014, and Catherine Walsh of SMC points out that this comes largely from engagement. Using social media not only to post, but also to respond, interact and listen to consumers gives your business a competitive edge. Personal interactions through social media offer:

  1. Feedback
  2. The opportunity to answer questions
  3. Targeted product improvement
  4. A source of trust among consumers – followers value validation

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Notice how Whole Foods replies to comments in a personalized fashion, suggesting resources to further connect customers with the store.

Variety

Posting the exact same content to every platform of social media is boring, repetitive, and wasteful. Kim is known to post a controversial picture on one site, and then use the excitement spurred by that post to rally interest in a big announcement posted later on a different site. This can be applied to your business, too – for example, posting about a big event or exciting change on Facebook can be made even more effective by posting teasers on the other sites to attract attention towards the original post and get people talking. Some rules of thumb are:

  1. Twitter is for small, intriguing, real-time updates
  2. Instagram is for making a product look stylish, attractive, and desirable
  3. Facebook releases practical updates, announcements, reviews, and local events
  4. Snapchat shows “raw” and relatable experiences

Consistency

Post early, post often, and post consistently. The Wall Street Journal reports that Kim posts an average of 3 pictures a day to Instagram, and while most brands increased their “posting rate” this year by about 36%, consumer activity on all sites increased by 83% – there is clearly a disconnect in those numbers. Take advantage of this fact and keep consumers interested – also, most certainly never go MIA for long periods of time or you will lose valuable followers.

(Check out this article for more examples of celebrity social media skills)

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Thoughtful Promotion

One of the biggest draws of the Kardashian clan is their fiery personalities and “captivating” lifestyle – which is something businesses can capitalize on, too. Not every post should be purely promotional; adding in anecdotes and funny posts keeps followers interested. If followers wanted to see purely sales and marketing, they would read a catalogue. Ford Motor Co, for example, uses “throwback Thursday” posts to add interesting content to their account.

With that said, all of the Kardashian sisters still use all of their accounts to grow interest in their respective products. Kim has a balance of personal pictures and brand promotions on her Instagram, giving the public multiple reasons to follow her (check out the photo below of Kim’s Instagram – she has interspersed photos of her family, her game, and her TV show evenly).  This is what has made them so wealthy: using social media fame to create more tangible products including emojis, iPhone games, lipsticks and cookbooks.

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All in all, the Kardashians have accomplished an incredible feat. However, they have also paved the way for businesses to do the same. Social media is growing rapidly and its no longer just for the stars. Using these tips can help make your business the next “talk of the town”, in hopes that maybe we won’t have to hear about the Kardashians quite so much anymore.

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