Stars seek ‘social’ assistance

Excited (to be) on this digital journey” was superstar Rajinikanth’s first tweet when he officially joined Twitter last month. His fans were perhaps even more excited at this chance to hear from the Thalaivar himself. The number of followers on his Twitter account quickly rose, and now stands at 4,49,215, and counting.

If Rajinikanth’s joining Twitter was a momentous occasion for his fans, then it was even more so for Fluence, the agency that looks after the digital presence of stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Mohan Lal, Karisma Kapoor and Manju Warrier, among others. Ashish Joshi, the business head at Fluence, calls the moment when Rajinikanth signed on with them as “a euphoric one for the team”.

“We all know what an enigmatic personality Rajini sir is, and his fan following is beyond belief. He had been toying with the idea of interacting with his fans using digital platforms for a while and we are glad that he chose to work with us,” Ashish says.

Fluence was started in 2012 as a “connection builder” between fans, celebrities and brands in the online space, but the agency’s work today encompasses much more. Ashish describes their role as that of a “digital media network”, which helps celebrities build their social media presence, digital endorsements and investment and business opportunities in the online and mobile space.

Saurabh Kanwar, of another leading agency in this space, the Mumbai-based Flarepath, chooses to describe their work in a different way. Social media, he points out, has enabled striking up and maintaining personal bonds across distances and in much greater numbers than ever before.

“Take this in the context of fans and their favourite celebrities and suddenly, you can form a potent and large ‘constituency’ of folks who, if treated right, would like to do anything for you,” he says. “Social media management for celebrities is doing whatever it takes to keep this virtual constituency happy, rewarded for loyalty, and accentuating the sense of belonging to an inner circle.”

Flarepath, that currently manages the digital presence of 25 celebrities for a media house (and has looked after the digital promotions for films like Fukrey, Shaadi ke Side Effects, Main Tera Hero, Bol Bachchan, Force and Talaash), had previously taken on the challenge of ensuring that Priyanka Chopra’s pop single Exotic, featuring the rapper Pit Bull, was popularised among international audiences as soon as it was released.
Flarepath’s strategy at the time included engaging Priyanka’s “Rockstars” (her most passionate fans) and fans of Pit Bull with sneak previews of Exotic and fun contests to see which group could trend higher on Twitter. When it was released, the single made it to the number 1 spot on the Indian charts, entered the top-40 on international charts and the top-100 downloads on iTunes.

Perhaps Flarepath’s task was made a little easier by the fact that Priyanka Chopra was among the earliest Bollywood celebrities to use social media to connect powerfully with fans, back in 2009. And helping her do this was Natasha Pal, who used to head Vitcom Consulting, which handled the actress’ PR mandate at the time.

“Priyanka and I understood fairly quickly the power of the (online/social) space. Priyanka is hugely tech-savvy and was excited about this space, especially since it allowed her a direct connect to her fans,” Natasha recounts.

Priyanka and Natasha devised a strategy that incorporated PeeCee’s personal Twitter account (@priyankachopra), an official account where the actress’ team could disseminate information about her projects and answer queries from fans (@teampriyanka), a Facebook page and the website iampriyankachopra.com. Today, while @priyankachopra has 60,65,739 followers, @teampriyanka has 87,772.

“We have always maintained the sanctity of Priyanka’s relationship with her fans online,” Natasha explains. “We structured a system which allowed her to have her own individual identity ‘Priyanka Chopra’ across all platforms while creating a separate one for us.”

While helping build a “digital reputation” for a client can encompass a range of platforms (Fluence, for instance, looks at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, e-commerce, games, apps etc) a distinction is maintained between what a celebrity posts and what the team puts up. “We don’t post or tweet on behalf of any of our celebrities. We only impart the know-how for the various mediums that helps our clients use these platforms in a more effective way,” says Ashish Joshi, while Saurabh Kanwar clarifies, “In virtually all cases, the basic tweets about the star’s personal status will be by them. The team comes in around their work, for ‘housekeeping’, community management. Transparency trumps creativity in this case.”

How each of their clients’ accounts will be handled also differs. There is no one-size-meets-all approach. “Every client’s social media presence is tightly integrated with their personality and the work they do, so implicitly, (our work) is bespoke and customised,” says Saurabh. With celebrities wanting to project a specific brand/image or wanting to reach out to a certain audience, it is natural that their digital presence will be leveraged in different ways, these professionals maintain.

With so much customisation being called for in every celebrity's account, Natasha, Flarepath, Fluence and other players in the field, have to ensure that they work closely with their clients. “What we are, is the digital arm of the celebrity,” says Ashish. Saurabh says the relationship between Flarepath and a client varies, depending on how much of a role social media plays in the celebrity’s plans. “For some clients we are tightly integrated into their daily schedule. For others, we are more relevant when big projects break out. Rarely, we are like distant relatives who are avoided!” he says.

When there’s a crisis, however, these managers certainly aren’t treated like unwanted relatives! The digital world is “uncontrolled” and that does make protecting celebrity and brand reputations online, challenging. Ashish says that a lot of Fluence’s work focuses on not just managing their celebrity’s reputation (ensuring there are no fake pages or impersonation, or misinformation), but also protecting any intellectual property they share. For Flarepath and Saurabh, “a big concern is stories (about celebs) breaking in different parts of the world, through unofficial channels and leaks”.

The past three years have been when the field has really grown, feel these professionals and the times ahead should be even more interesting. “More brands are focusing on using digital platforms to promote and market their brands as they get measurable eyeballs on digital platforms,” says Ashish. “This is the most efficient, direct way to interact with fans.”

Indeed, for their celebrity clients, this seems to be the primary lure — connecting with a dedicated community of fans. “My fans have been a constant in my life. Earlier through letters, now through the digital medium,” says Sonu Nigam, whose digital network is managed by Fluence. “My fans are my extended family; with whom I share my music, moods, life. With Fluence’s expertise, I’m exploring new platforms to communicate with them.”