I have experienced what it is like to be famous. To be clear, I wasn’t the famous one, my clients were.
With some ‘famous’ clients, one minute we would be in a room filled with their fans unable to walk an inch without being asked for a photo or signature; and then the next minute be in a restaurant both enjoying complete anonymity.
On the other hand, I had clients who needed security to walk down the street. I know who I would prefer to be.
In 2008, founding executive editor of Wired Magazine, Kevin Kelly, published an essay on his popular blog titled ‘1000 True Fans’.
It ironically went viral.
The premise of the essay summed up in the opening paragraph- “To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients, or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.”
Though social media has made it possible to reach almost any individual everywhere, the reality is we don’t need to reach everyone.
In the pursuit of social currency and the desire to win in the attention economy, we can be forgiven for thinking we must go big or go home.
It is what leads otherwise intelligent individuals to underestimate the value of their personal brand on social media because of what the vanity metrics say.
They assume only a handful of likes and followers suggests failure, well according to Kelly, if that proverbial handful is made up of true fans, then they are on a winning trajectory.
This is at the heart of what it means to be selectively famous. It is about making sure you are connecting with the people and audiences that matter.
The goal is not strictly about being well known; it is about making the right people aware that you are worth knowing. Keep in mind, the only way to create a true fan is to add value and create a mutually beneficial direct connection.
So where does one start on the road to becoming selectively famous?
Read the complete article on Forbes Australia
