Growth Amongst Preservation: A Proposed Social Media Campaign for Perez Hilton

Aubrey Burns Social Media Rockstars

Chief Executive: Publicity Department

May 4, 2015

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Executive Summary:

The gossip empire built by Perez Hilton, including his website, Perezhilton.com, and his personal brand and persona are in compromising territory. Hilton can fail in his attempt to incorrectly compete with both his competitors in the DIY blog and mainstream gossip industry or thrive under adjustments to his approach. The Social Media Rockstars consulting group has created a detailed proposal that attacks this problem forthright by making simple adjustments to the platforms, audience, tone, and content of Perez Hilton’s social media campaign while maintaining his trademark brand and voice. Through analyzing this campaign we understand Hilton’s desire to interact and mingle with celebrities through his blog, maintaining his unique voice in addition to also being a prominent name in the business. This proposal includes extensive analysis of what gossip readers are most attracted to in addition to research on what tactics Hilton’s DIY blog and mainstream commercial blog competitors are employing successfully. Within our critique of the current campaign we have determined that Hilton’s overuse of social media, sometimes derogatory and aggressive tone, irrelevant content, unfocused audience, and inappropriate use of his social media platforms will obstruct Hilton from reaching his goals within the gossip industry. Although he currently does not limit his focus when targeting an audience, through adjustments in tone and content within Hilton’s campaign we consider that a narrow audience of young women (15-30), who are invested in pop-culture and look for a combination of glamour, personality, and insight within the social media they follow will give Hilton more focus to his campaign. In addition to a shift in audience in our proposal, we suggest adjustments in content, tone, and platform usage to enhance Hilton’s campaign, making it more attractive to his new targeted audience. Implementing this proposed campaign will help Perez Hilton create a more cohesive, stable relationship with his followers in addition to attracting them to his blog while promoting his personal brand, best utilizing the assets of each social media platform to best fulfill these goals.

Introduction and Background

After three months of following, analyzing, and reporting on the social media campaign of Perez Hilton and two other entities in the publicity industry— a celebrity and a PR firm— I not only have collected ample evidence and analysis to support my proposal on Hilton’s campaign, but I am also more than familiar with how his industry and its actors operate in relation to the blogger. In addition to my research on Perez Hilton, my personal credentials include an MBA and BA in marketing from The George Washington University and my role as the head of our publicity division at Social Media Rockstars. I have worked with dozens of entities in the field of publicity, adjusting their social media efforts to generate more effective campaigns. When developing this proposal I considered all factors present: Hilton’s personal brand and image, the developing

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industry around him, and the history and progression of his blog. By combining both my research and analysis on the blogger, I have written a comprehensive proposal detailing how Hilton should adjust his social media usage to create a more effective campaign.

As I stated earlier, not only am I familiar with Perez Hilton’s current social media campaign, I have also collected ample research on his background and establishment within the industry of celebrity gossip. Hilton has a very colorful history. Although born by Cuban immigrants, under the original name Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., Hilton lived a very privileged young life, eventually receiving a scholarship to New York University to study acting. However, after graduating from college and attempting to pursue a career as an actor, Hilton’s focus shifted. He was driven by a desire to not only report on celebrity culture, but to also be apart of it. As a result of this goal, Hilton adopted the pseudonym, Perez Hilton, a play on the celebrity socialite, Paris Hilton. When discussing his pseudonym with reporter Anne Kingston, Hilton states “By "Hilton" I don't mean Paris or Nicky or her parents. I mean this group of people who are famous for being famous -- who don't have much, if any, talent. There seems to be a lot of them these days.” Through the creation of this pseudonym and his establishment as not only a celebrity gossip blogger but as a part of celebrity culture, he not only reports on gossip but inserts his own opinion into it. Through this Hilton introduced a new wave of celebrity gossip news and reporting— do it yourself (DIY) blogging. This style of blogging consists of websites and other forms of media that report on celebrity gossip, not as companies, like E! News or Ok!, but as individuals, inserting personal opinions into their reporting. When considering Hilton’s positionality in the industry of publicity and particularly category of DIY blogs, I frequently reference Maggie Macnamera, a scholar in the field of paparazzi and blogging media. Macnamera has composed detailed analysis and research on the sect of DIY blogs, particularly Perezhilton.com, their development and the evolution of their role within the celebrity gossip industry. Understanding these roles will not only help us make an effective framework for what to utilize this campaign, but also how to best confront competitors

When it comes to Perezhilton.com, readers do not just turn to the blog for celebrity gossip and news, as they could easily turn to the much more reputable sources of E! News or People Magazine for that. Readers choose Hilton because of the personality and input he brings to the table— it’s not just about information, it’s about entertainment. In addition to the links on his social media to his blog, Hilton will post tabloid photos with captions or funny doodles on them, as shown in the post below on page 3, to add flare and comedy to his reporting style.

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The articles accompanied with these photos are anything but objective. They are imbued with Hilton’s own personal opinions and commentary, giving life and personality to his writing. Hilton’s tone could be skewed as obnoxious or irritating to readers, and many a time it is perceived in this way; however, my goal is not to help Hilton with his website itself, but with showcasing this blog and it’s unique personality and attributes to his current and prospective followers through social media.

While keeping Hilton’s background and role in the gossip industry in mind, it is important to note his initial goal behind his business. Like I stated earlier, Hilton does not just want to report on gossip, he wants to mingle within celebrity culture. As a result of this Hilton has built a unique and opinionated persona within his writing. This is what distinguishes Hilton’s blog from the rest. His blog is flooded with both flare and first hand opinion, as he has access to celebrity social groups. He has gained his renown through his blog which has a primary goal to attract readers in order to validate Hilton’s voice. Perez Hilton’s social media campaign comes into play primarily to market Hilton’s brand and voice that he has worked so hard to establish and then to attract readers to his blog. The blogger’s brand and blog go hand in hand. The success of one depends on the success of the other, and therefore Hilton’s social media must be geared towards promoting both his brand and blog. With a trademark brand and blog already established by the gossip blogger, the goal of my proposed social media campaign for Perez Hilton is to maintain his brand and the voice behind it, while also making the adjustments needed to establish a more effective campaign and in turn grow Hilton’s follower base.

By far the most important aspect to Perez Hilton’s success in maintaining and growing his brand and his blog is his audience. From what I have gathered in my research on the celebrity gossip industry and Perezhilton.com in particular, I have come to the

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conclusion that his targeted audience is not clear cut, but rather transcends different demographic groups to create a hodgepodge of a follower base. A quote from Andrea Marie McDonnell’s philosophy dissertation “Just Like Us: Celebrity Gossip Magazines in American Popular Culture” sums this idea up perfectly: “Whether you thumb through them or thumb your nose at them, celebrity gossip magazines are a ubiquitous part of the popular cultural landscape in the United States.” Although there are going to be many people who do not care about celebrity gossip enough to actually pay or spend their time reading it, it is important to note that the industry is not limited only to a certain type of audience. Below is a table created by Quant Cast that represents the demographics interested in the popular gossip website TMZ. Although some groups may be more prone to reading gossip blogs and magazines, each group is represented in the audience.

! Due to the gossip industry’s ability to eclipse demographic boundaries, Perez Hilton is in the lofty position of being able to capture many different audiences. With this broad demographic in mind, Perez Hilton will have to maintain a social media campaign that is cognizant of this follower base and is diplomatic enough in its approach not to alienate any part of it. However, this is a very lofty goal for the loud and spontaneous character, so within my proposed campaign I will use the demographic information provided in McDonnell’s dissertation to suggest narrowing this targeted audience down to a sector that will be able to appreciate Hilton’s style and personality.

With the context and style of Perez Hilton’s blog established, it is important to keep in mind the framework we must not only stay within, but also utilize while developing a new social media campaign. The proposed campaign that I have developed is cognizant of and works within the context of the blogger’s history and development, trademark voice, audiences, and perceived goals of his brand and blog to best maintain what is imperative to Hilton’s brand, while fixing flaws to generate effectiveness.

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Case for Employing Social Media:

In the gossip industry and in the broader industry of publicity, image is imperative. This rule is not just applicable to celebrities anymore, but it includes anyone who may be in the spotlight surrounding them. Through extensive research in both the areas of gossip blogging and publicity as a whole, I have found that it is no longer the quality of writing that is important for success in the gossip industry, but the personality and credibility behind it. Keeping these facts in mind, it is imperative Perez Hilton must develop an amicable relationship with his audience that will keep them not only interested in his blog but will attract new followers as well. Today, the most viable way to develop this interest and attraction is through social media. Kim Macnamera, an independent media researcher, states: “The success or failure of a blog is viral, driven by online word-of-mouth.” This “online word-of-mouth” are social media platforms. Through social media, figures in the gossip industry are able to capture their audience’s interest and then maintain this interest by exuding personality through their social media accounts to promote themselves as blogger personalities and consequently their blogs themselves. It is also extremely important to note two driving factors that make social media a necessity for the blogger. The first factor is that Hilton’s audience directly overlaps with primary users of social media (ages 18-24), making social media the most effective way to communicate with this demographic. The second factor, that drives the essentialness of social media usage is the fact that gossip coverage is most effective and compelling if announced as it breaks (Macnamera). Social media one of the fastest and most effective ways to announce this news as it is unfolding, linking the stories to the posts.

Within my research about the general use of PR in social media, I have found ample evidence from José Gabriel Andrade’s scholarly article discussing the relationship between public relations and social media that supports the idea that organizations now must shift from traditional methods of PR, such as paper/media advertising, and focus on creating a greater online presence, utilizing all relevant platforms available to them— “in order to establish their presence and legitimacy in the marketplace [organizations], must communicate consistently across different audiences and different media” (Andrade). Hilton has already made the switch from traditional methods of publicity to using a multitude of social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, which has proven to help promote his blog. There is no doubt that Hilton understands these platforms are imperative to his DIY blog; however, it is now important for the gossip blogger to understand the ways in which social media should be used to advance his campaign and the ways these platforms can hurt it.

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Competitive Research Analysis:

Perez Hilton has a multitude of competitors, these actors range from those within his sector of DIY blogging to those within the industry of mainstream commercial gossip, such as E! News and People Magazine, to even celebrities themselves. With each of these competitors comes campaign aspects that Hilton can improve on and aspects in which the blogger has the upper hand.

Maggie Macnamera, a scholar in the industry of paparazzi and blogging media states that celebrity blogs can be described in four ways: the mainstream commercial enterprises “such as Entertainment Tonight Online, where content is a mix of gossip and thinly veiled publicity” (524). The second is the category that Hilton falls into DIY or “do it yourself” blogging which Macnamerra describes as fan-based gossip sites, often both criticizing and praising celebrities. Lastly, although it is a bit of a stretch, Macnamera considers a celebrity’s own social networking sites to compose the final category of gossip blogs (524). With such a wide range of actors that Hilton is competing against, the gossip blogger must be cognizant of what attributes they bring to the table and how they might gain the attention of his audience and even steal his spotlight.

By far Hilton’s biggest competitors within the celebrity gossip industry are the mainstream commercial blogs that Macnamera places first in her outline. These blogs not only threaten Hilton’s credibility and his position as a source for the most relevant gossip, but they also have the power and reach to crush Perez Hilton if need be. So, what stands in the way of these larger enterprises such as E! News and Okay! from obliterating the campaign of the much smaller and weaker campaign as Perez Hilton? Luckily, the Hilton has an important strength to combat this. These two entities do not compete in the same division of Macnamera’s categories of celebrity blogs. Although both Perezhilton.com and the celebrity gossip powerhouses of E! News and People do, in fact, report on the same subject matter, they each do so in much different manners. E! News and People bring credibility and a sheer greater amount of information to the table compared to the personality and unique voice that Hilton provides within his blog. Readers will choose E! News over Hilton for the fact that it’s trustworthy and established, and to combat this, Perez Hilton will have to use one strength a big corporation doesn't have— personality. Larger gossip corporations focus on the particular information itself such as Gisele Bundchen’s last runway walk while Hilton’s focus is on the sweet message Tom Brady shared with her afterward (below, page 7). In his posts Hilton focus’ the content and the rhetoric— “Awww!” to evoke pathos in his followers to develop and more personal campaign.

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! ! Although this personable content and rhetoric helps Hilton to establish himself apart from these larger competitors, he still needs to work on developing some of his content and subsequently the rhetoric supporting this content towards a more professional and reputable genre. This shift will give Hilton greater adaptability to compete with mainstream commercial blogs.

The next category of gossip blogs that Hilton must compete with is his own category of DIY blogs. These DIY blogs are trying to provide exactly what Hilton has worked so hard to achieve— a unique voice and perspective. The advantages that the Perez Hilton holds within this category are the blogger’s already established brand within the industry and his connections within celebrity social circles. Perez Hilton is consistently posting content about Hollywood from his own personal sources, even quoting celebrities themselves. In the post below, it is clear that Hilton has access to and interacts with celebrities themselves over Twitter, giving his blog the upper hand in content against these DIY competitors.

! Perezhilton.com has existed for over ten years now and due to his heinous headlines and ballsy, even outright offensive stories, Perez Hilton has become a staple name within

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popular culture. As for his ability to transcend the closed off niche of celebrity circles, Perez Hilton has done a remarkable job, befriending a handful of celebrities that give him first hand access to Hollywood news. However, while it is important to note Hilton’s upper hand in the category of DIY blogs, it is also important to be cognizant of his achilles heel as well: Perez Hilton is starting to get old. Compared to up incoming DIY blogs with fresh new voices, Hilton is losing traction with the younger population. According to Macnamera other DIY blogs have shown to be valid competitors for Hilton and should be monitored closely. However, through my research into these DIY competitors, I have found that this colorful and youthful writing style is not manifested in their social media efforts. If you look at a tweet from the popular DIY blog InCaseYouDidn’tKnow about Niki Manaj’s engagement: “Niki Manaj has finally announced her ENGAGEMENT to Meek Mill” you notice that besides the all caps on “engagement” its quite bland, has no link to the story, and only employs logos in comparison to Hilton’s exciting pathos filled post complemented by a funny picture and a link to his article.

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When comparing the social media campaigns of Perezhilton.com to those of InCaseYouDidn’tKnow it is quite obvious that they are not much competition for Hilton in the social media realm; however, their development needs to be monitered, for if their social media accounts become as successful as the DIY blogs themselves, Hilton will have some decent competition .

Finally, the last type of celebrity gossip source that Hilton must compete with is essentially a triple threat. The personal social media usage of celebrities themselves

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combines the credibility of mainstream commercial blogs with the personality and perspective of DIY blogs, all in addition to their celebrity status to create a worthy competitor for Perez Hilton: why follow Hilton’s accounts when they can just follow the celebrities themselves? The celebrities bring a credible source to the speculation that the gossip bloggers use. In Andrea Marie McDonnell’s philosophy dissertation she discusses the psychology of followers and how they are more attracted to the connection they feel from the celebrities’ personal accounts. Hearing an engagement announcement from Niki Manaj herself is much more personal and gives the follower a better sense of connection rather than than hearing about it through a second hand source such as Perez Hilton.

! News coming from the celebrities themselves generates a feeling of excitement and personality that Perez Hilton just doesn’t have access to. Although, this factor is very important consider in the threat that these accounts pose to Perez Hilton’s following, it is also important to note that these celebrities will not be posting scandalous information about themselves for the world to see. It is in this instance where Perez Hilton’s blog will always have the upper hand. As you can see below, digging up dirt is his specialty.

! As long as the blogger continues to report on and post about scandalous, intriguing content, he will be able to hold traction against the up-and-coming social media accounts of the celebrities themselves.

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With a multitude of competitors comes a campaign that has to be both combative and strategic. Perez Hilton must be aware of what his competitors are bringing to the table versus what he himself can contribute and utilize his attributes over others then install what he is lacking. In the case of larger gossip corporations such as E! News and People Magazine, Hilton has much to compete with. From their broad and relevant content to their glamorous rhetoric, the competitors have a great deal of factors working for them; however, they lack what Hilton has— personality. We must utilize this asset to make up for what these corporations are missing and in turn attract their followers. As for other DIY blogs, Hilton has very little to worry about on social media. He has the upperhand in almost every aspect of their campaigns, including celebrity interaction which he must continue to focus on. Finally, we must understand that in comparison to the social media campaigns of other celebrities, Perez Hilton does not have access to their celebrity status and desirable characters as he is not a celebrity. However, he does in fact have the ability to dig up scandal that celebrities would not otherwise report on. The strategies of these three sectors of gossip sources must all be analyzed in regard to the refinement and creation of a new, more effective campaign for the Perez Hilton, as they can provide both insight as to what he can utilize and what he must develop.

Critique on the Current Campaign:

I understand that my critique and analysis on Hilton’s current campaign is scathing and relentless. I do this because A: the social media campaign of Perez Hilton is truly ineffective and B: Perez Hilton has built an empire in the gossip industry and if he doesn’t start to adjust his social media usage to buttress and showcase the work he has done, he risks becoming irrelevant. According to the research done by Maggie Macnamera, as of October 2014, the popularity of the site is slightly down. PerezHilton.com was ranked by Alexa as the 1,234th most trafficked website on the Internet compared to its early 2000 ranking as the 1178th. I firmly believe that this dip in website traffic is a direct result of how Perez Hilton is using social media, as the content of his blog has not changed but rather the emergence of Hilton’s, not only ineffective but detrimental social media campaign. In my research and analysis on Perez Hilton’s campaign I believe that there are three factors that are hurting the celebrity blogger— his gross overuse of his platforms, his rhetoric in his posts, and his inappropriate use of individual social media sites.

When I first began researching and analyzing Hilton’s social media platforms, I was completely overwhelmed, shocked, and frankly even agitated by Hilton’s campaign. The blogger will post on Twitter and Facebook anywhere between 50-75 times a day, clogging up follower’s news feed with more posts than they even want (Stack). According to a scholarly article in the Public Relations Review about how nonprofits are

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using social media to engage stakeholders, this type of relentless posting has proven to be a tiring for followers and even detrimental to a campaign, causing people to ignore the campaign’s efforts all together and even decide to unfollow them (Waters et all). Followers do not want their news feed flooded with Perez Hilton’s tweets, as displayed in the screenshot below; they want the most newsworthy and shocking gossip at a minimum, the rest is irrelevant.

! Along with Hilton’s overuse of social media platforms it can also be argued that he uses each individual platform for inappropriate purposes. For instance, Damásio, Dias, and Andrade’s scholarly article titled “The PR Pyramid: Social media and the new role of Public Relations in organizations” discusses how Twitter should be used for releasing quick updates about a firm while Facebook should be used to share more detailed information. Instagram and Snapchat are said to be more engaging, promoting a relationship and likeness between campaign and follower and therefore should be used for more personal, although appropriate, postings. Perez Hilton’s campaign on the other hand does not follow any of these guidelines. As shown in the screenshots below, Hilton uses Twitter and Facebook to share the same exact information on each site, posting links to and captions with his most recent blog posts every few minutes concurrently on each site.

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! ! And although Hilton uses his Snapchat rather appropriately, showcasing his day-to-day life in a quirky manner, his use of Instagram only deteriorates the good relationship built by the former. As shown below, Hilton uses his Instagram account to advertise both his other social media accounts and his blog instead of developing his brand and personality alone. Within his new campaign, Perez Hilton must be aware of the roles that these different platforms play and how utilizing their individual assets within social media marketing will help develop a more cohesive campaign.

! ! Although a bit small, the captions here read: Check out/ follow me on Snapchat/

Facebook. Finally, the most detrimental aspect to Perez Hilton’s social media campaign is the rhetoric behind his posts. It is important to recognize that the voice and personality behind his writing is one of the key elements to his success within the celebrity gossip industry; however, using the same loud and opinionated rhetoric exercised in his blog is not effective within his social media campaign. The goal behind Hilton’s campaign is to

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attract people to his blog and although effective within the bounds of his blog, this abrasive rhetoric is not a compelling tactic to attracting and maintaining a strong following. The blogger frequently uses words and phrases like “Ugh” “Fail” “WTF” and “Grossssss” in his tweets, detracting credibility from his stories while also hurting his persona. Tim Stack, a professional in the industry of celebrity gossip reporting who works for Entertainment Weekly discusses the ineffective aspects of Hilton’s rhetoric in a scathing critique of his campaign: “Depending on your taste, PerezHilton.com is hilarious, juvenile, malicious, genius--or all of the above.” Hilton is very bold and even offensive within his use of social media which in turn results in turning people away. Although, this loud persona may have earned him his success in the first place, there is a line that needs to be drawn. Posts like the ones below are the breaking point for Hilton’s trademark rhetoric, they are offensive, crude and in turn will drive away his followers. We must completely eliminate posts such as these ones and any others that include derogatory pictures or words, childish rhetoric such as “Eww!!” or any direct celebrity attacks.

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! When analyzing the current social media campaign of Perez Hilton, it is imperative to realize the difference in the style within his blog compared to the approach required

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within his social media platforms. Although the abrasive and loud rhetoric along with his relentless posting may prove effective within the bounds of Perezhilton.com, the same tactics do not work as effectively in his social media campaign. Working towards developing a new campaign, Hilton’s behavior will need to focus on creating a balance between personality and diplomacy. At this medium, we will be able to create an effective campaign that can showcases the blog and the “hilarious, juvenile, and genius” attributes behind it.

Campaign Proposal

Proposed Campaign for Perez Hilton: Plan of Attack

When developing a campaign for Perez Hilton, there are a variety of factors to consider- from audience, tone, competition, platforms, and content. Social media is a large space to tackle and in developing a campaign for Perez Hilton we must consider each individual aspect of it. Currently, Hilton has established a presence and a strong following within a multitude of social media platforms and therefore does not have to start from scratch when developing a new campaign. However, there is still a more difficult task we are faced with: the reconstruction of his social media usage from what could be conceived as a “juvenile” and “aggressive” campaign to a more mature and captivating one while still maintaining the unique persona that made the “Perez Hilton” brand so successful in the first place. The transformation of this campaign must be based on adjustments not redevelopment. It is important to preserve the classic Perez Hilton brand and as a result I will be making tweaks to every aspect of the campaign without using any about-face methods in my proposal. The goal is to make Hilton’s trademark brand and blog effective through adjustments in his targeted audience, voice within his social media accounts, content, and platforms utilized.

Social Media Platforms: Understanding and Utilizing Purpose

With my method established, I now turn to the touchstone of this campaign: Perez Hilton’s platforms. It is important to first draw from the outlines established by Demásio in “The PR Pyramid: Social media and the new role of Public Relations in organizations” for social media use when deciding how to utilize each platform. Hilton must be cognizant of the bounds he is posting in and from there he will be able to capture his audience's attention more compellingly. Through this method the blogger will be able to promote both his blog and his brand in the most effective manner. Within the platforms offered on social media, there are four key avenues that Hilton must pursue in order to capture the full attention of his audience and promote his campaign: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. By far, the most captivating of the platforms that Hilton utilizes is Facebook. According to Demásio et al, Facebook is

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currently the most active social networking site with 1.35 billion users. A scholarly article in Revista Internacional De Relaciones Públicas states that the most effective way to use Facebook is with longer, more informational posts. Although, the platform is very useful in generating interaction between followers and campaigns, it is much more potent in releasing information and updates for followers. In this sense, Perez Hilton, should not just be using the platform for linking his Twitter posts to, as he generally has the same audience on both websites. However, the blogger should be focusing on using Facebook to announce large press releases about his blog and personal brand, as it is proven that these larger posts are much more effective when released through this site.

! Example: Hilton announcing a fun new campaign within his social media accounts Proposed: Use Facebook to post announcements about Perez Hilton’s company and

brand. He should inform readers on what is going on within his enterprise through this platform.

With the informational role of Facebook laid out, we must shift the focus of the proposal towards the platform with by far his largest follower base, Twitter. Twitter can be called on as a device to announce quick and frequent updates to followers which can be more expressive than Facebook (Demásio et all). One of the most important ways in which Hilton can utilize this platform is to announce new blog posts. Currently, Hilton uses this exact method, though to a detrimental extreme. In order for Hilton to be effective with his Twitter account, he needs to be selective with his posts by posting links to only the most compelling and captivating blog entries.

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Throughout my time in this field I have worked with many different campaigns that use metrics to analyze the effectiveness of their posts and then make adjustments to their campaign based on the results. I find this method imperative to analyzing and adjusting our Twitter strategies. In a scholarly article written for MITSloan Management Review Donna Hoffman and Marek Fodor conclude that “The social media metrics that reflect [these kinds] of social media behaviors are important not only because they measure the bottom-line impact of their social media efforts, but also because they focus marketers’ attention on social media strategies that take into account the objectives of both the brand and the online customer.” The basis of our approach to Perez Hilton’s Twitter account will be to try out the suggested adjustments in this proposal to obtain applicable results about what will work with Hilton’s follower base and what will not. Through these analytics we will be able to create a concrete, statistical plan on how exactly to approach the voice, frequency, and content matter within Hilton’s Twitter feed.

Although the analytics tools are an incredibly effective in managing Hilton’s Twitter feed, I would not recommend continuing this strategy when it comes to his Instagram and Snapchat accounts. From what I have gathered from multiple sources, specifically Patricia Dias, in regard to these platforms, is that Snapchat and Instagram are meant to generate a familiarity and likeness between a follower and the brand. These two platforms should not be used to announce gossip content about Hilton’s blog, besides maybe what’s happening during a “fun day in the office”. Hilton should be having fun with these posts, which he usually does; however, he should NOT be posting links to or announcements about his blog posts here. If his users wanted that information, they could easily check his Twitter or Facebook accounts. Not only is it incredibly ineffective to post the same exact content on each of Hilton’s social media sites, it also is ignoring the full potential and relevance of the platforms. That being said, Instagram and Snapchat need to be used in a more organic way, showcasing the blogger’s personal brand and making him a more likable character— to reiterate this idea: Hilton’s brand and blog go hand in hand. The success of one depends on the success of the other.

Although Instagram and Snapchat are in the same wheelhouse, it is important to distinguish difference between the posts that should be used in both. Instagram is meant to be slightly more calculated. Hilton’s posts within Instagram should include pictures of him and his family, particularly his son, doing relatable activities or Hilton out with his friends, to even his food paired with witty and outgoing captions. The screenshots displayed below are perfect examples of this type of content and captions.

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! ! We need to utilize the helpful effects of these types of posts on Instagram while nixing any posts that support his blog or social media accounts. This shift in content along with captions preserved in Hilton’s trademark voice will allow followers to relate to the blogger while also being entertained by the character they appreciate enough to follow.

This same method of reconstruction should be used on Hilton’s snapchat: a shift in content but a maintenance in tone. Hilton’s snapchat should be used for spontaneous fun, posts about his day— eg. a video of his son singing, dancing, etc. or a cool view he sees, using the posts below as solid examples. Basically Hilton should use the rule, whatever he finds interesting throughout the day, he should snapchat, using his typical tone in the caption or even his actual voice in the videos, as his followers will want to hear from him directly. In addition to avoiding any derogatory rhetoric, Hilton should most certainly not continue telling people to check out his blog through his Snapchat: his followers do not follow him on snapchat for this purpose. They want a glimpse into the day-to-day life of Perez Hilton— the blogger should give them exactly that and in return he will grow his brand and even increase his likeness.

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Maintaining a consciousness of the assets and specific uses of each platform in Perez Hilton’s campaign will allow the blogger to speak to his followers in the most effective manner. If Hilton follows the methods set out for him above, he will be able to maintain and grow his following and in consequence promote his blog and his brand in the most compelling way possible.

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Audience: Why trying to transcend demographic is an ineffective strategy Now that effective communication through Hilton’s platforms has been established, we must shift our focus on to who Hilton is actually communicating to. According to research conducted by Quant Cast, it has been determined that the audience captured by celebrity gossip magazines transcends demographic, as there are celebrities and sectors of Hollywood that almost every demographic has an interest in. However, trying to cater to such a wide and diverse audience means that Perez Hilton would have to communicate very diplomatically and strategically through his social media efforts in addition to covering the whole scope of Hollywood gossip. Although managed by the corporate magazine, TMZ, targeting this large and diverse of an audience is simply not attainable for the smaller DIY blog of Perezhiltcom.com. Currently, Hilton does not target a specific audience through his posting style. He posts what he wants, regardless of what his followers would be most receptive to. As I stated in my campaign analysis, this is a major failure of the blogger’s campaign; to fix it we must focus in and target a particular audience to cater to through Hilton’s platforms. From what I have gathered through his tone, rhetoric, and posting tactics, it appears that the audience Hilton is currently trying to capture is a population of tween girls— which is not only inefficient, because he could reach a much wider population, but also destructive to his business because he is losing a great deal of following and revenue. Instead, I suggest that Hilton caters to the population of young (late teens to thirties) american women who are invested in pop-culture, keep up on the times (especially in celebrity culture) and look for a combination, of glamor, personality, and insight within the social media they follow. Research conducted by Andrea Marie McDonnell in her dissertation shows that this group is the most receptive to this industry. Shifting his attention toward targeting this audience will not only allow Hilton to compete effectively with competitors such as E! News, but will also give his campaign focus and perspective.

Tone and Content: There is a Time, Place, and Audience for it

As I stated earlier, the goal of this proposal is not to reconstruct Perez Hilton’s campaign, but to shift certain aspects to generate greater effectiveness within it. Above, I stated that Hilton will need to shift his audience, not completely (as he already does include the population I suggested); however he needs to narrow it down to just that. In response to this shift in audience, the blogger will need to shift his tone and rhetoric. This part of the proposal will be the most difficult, as this phase is a balancing act between maintaining Perez Hilton’s hallmark voice and shifting this voice to generate better response. Hilton needs to adjust his tweets as a whole to avoid any derogatory or cruel rhetoric. The blogger needs to dispel words and phrases like “Ugh” “Fail” “WTF” and “Grossssss” from his Twitter feed. This small adjustment still allows Hilton to keep

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his trademark voice, while elevating his rhetoric to establish a better likeness and credibility amongst his followers. This voice needs to be a balance between the adjectives that Tim Stack uses in his critique of the blogger: “hilarious”, “juvenile”, “malicious”, “genius”. It needs to incorporate all four; while being balanced and careful not to highlight one more so than another. These adjectives that Stack uses to describe Hilton’s voice and content in his campaign are what made him so successful; however, his downfall with his new targeted audience will be exacerbating the features of “malicious” and “juvenile” either too frequently and or in an inappropriate manner. There is a time and a place for certain tones, rhetorics, and content and to create a successful campaign Hilton needs to be cognizant of when and where they are. Below, on page 20, we have generated some some sample Twitter posts that highlight Hilton’s audacious and fun persona while still straying away from any derogatory rhetoric or material. These posts use appropriate hashtags, complementary pictures, and, of course, include a link to the blog post.

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Maintenance and Growth: A Balancing Act

Maintenance and growth. This is the goal within this campaign and it requires a strategic proposal that balances the methods to achieve both. For maintenance, this campaign needs to preserve the character, voice, and brand of this well-developed,

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Hollywood icon that came to be Perez Hilton. With this fact in mind, this proposal needs to work to shift, not reconstruct Hilton’s social media efforts. On the other side of this campaign comes growth— in order to do this we must shift aspects of Hilton’s campaign and invite change to generate intrigue from our new targeted audience. Instituting these necessary adjustments will allow Hilton to generate a strong following and increase the likeness of both his blog and his personal brand. In turn, the combination of preservation and adjustments will allow Hilton to increase his social media effectiveness while also staying true to his original persona. This campaign is a balancing act between these factors of preservation and innovation and remains cognizant of this— “The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order” (Alfred North Whitehead)

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