On this week’s artist profiling case study we take a look at the early 00’s powerhouse that is Curtis James Jackson III aka 50 Cent. And just like last week’s profiling of @diplo we’re going to explore what celebrities are doing well by sharing examples of techniques and strategies that anybody can replicate.
Who are YOU?
Obviously most people know 50 Cent as the OG 2000’s hit machine and since then he’s branched out to TV production, business ventures and on the way has started a family. We know this because he openly shares with his followers news and updates of the different parts of his life. And he does this through a variety of different methods. Let’s take a look at some examples:
The Loan Shark & ‘Bully’
Over the course of 2019, 50 Cent has become seen as somewhat of a loan shark as his personal dealings with money owed by other stars has been brought to the public’s attention, through online social media spats. Rather than backing away from these potentially reputation damaging issues, 50 Cent has put his own spin on it and turned himself into a caricature of a loan shark. As he is all about the money and not carrying dead weight with him, his ‘big dog of hip hop’ identity, this new persona ties in perfectly with his brand.
By way of including many other artists in his content, he is ‘monetizing’ his power of exposure and claiming that they owe him money in return for the visibility. Through this he is creating a funny movement of being able to ‘bully’ people online into giving back what they owe. Allowing lots of content and collaborations to be created through something that doesn’t really exist.
The Business Man & TV Producer
Through working in many different sectors in entertainment, 50 Cent has made sure everybody knows about it too. This is giving his followers an insight into the way he conducts his business as well as living up to his TV show ‘Power’ persona. Giving him lots more content to keep his stream fresh and changing.
The Father
Rounding up the content wheel with images of his kids regularly, is another way of targeting a different audience and showing another side to his personality and likeability. Of course, his kids owe him money too, what with all the celebrities they’re seen with and hanging with the man himself while being touted over his Insta… The amount must be in it’s billions by now!
The Ladies Man
And of course, what rapper’s Instagram wouldn’t be complete without a lot of beautiful women around them?
The Comedian
50 Cent is commonly beefing with other celebrities. Most notably is his ongoing ‘feud’ with Floyd Mayweather where 50 straight up clowns him through memes, personal content and conversation starters. Floyd is just one of very many stars that have been under fire from 50 Cent on social media. And let’s not forget the amount of memes made when Meek Mill took a stab at 50 on his song “Gave ‘Em Hope”. It took 50 Cent seconds to respond through social media and generated A LOT of content around this, and involved his followers and other celebs in the online beef. We still don’t know whether the feud was real or not, however it sure was entertaining, so who cares! Though, we do not promote bullying and would rather everybody was nice to each other. 🙂
Another way 50 Cent likes to clown around online is to show off just how much dollar he’s got in the bank. Splashing cash on things he doesn’t need. Just to be the biggest, flashiest baller in the game!
50 Cent the Musician.
50 Cent the Loan Shark.
50 Cent the TV Producer & Business Man.
50 Cent the Father.
50 Cent the Comedian.
Even though Fiddy has been killing it for over two decades now, he certainly still knows how to school us on social media.
When you have found your core identity you are able to transform that from music to other areas such as products and TV. His alcoholic beverages and TV shows he’s behind, like Power, are a reflection of his identity, just spoken through different formats.
He started his career as a rapper but is now so much more because he’s been able to expand his brand and monetize it effectively. This is also reflected through his social media where he shows every side of him both professionally and personally. His personality is what is core throughout the content, and it’s almost like you can hear him actually saying the captions he’s written because its so real.
Tuning In
50 Cent likes to share photos from scenes on Power, and adding his thoughts which really reflect what everyone was feeling when they saw the show. Even though the show airs every Sunday, he keeps the show alive through the week by starting up conversations around the episode.
Recently Comcast dropped ‘Starz’, that includes 50’s own show ‘Power’, which triggered a lot of content on his profile. Starting conversations around these subjects and pushing out more content which was reaching more fans. From the issues of Comcast dropping Starz, 50 Cent used this as a platform to push for more diverse programming on TV.
Another great way, and simple way of adding more content to his ammunition is to share content from the internet and commentate his own thoughts around it.
Creating conversations about news by tuning in with his thoughts on the gossip or other news related items is also another easy way to start gaining traction through engagement and keeping relevant.
Creating Good Content
50 Cent’s feed is full of great videos to capture his events and travels. And yes, it is costly to have a full team of videographers and editors at your disposal, but you can create some very cool videos with 3rd party apps using only your camera phone. Invest your time in creating good video content to showcase yourself from the artist side. You can also ask a friend that’s hanging around to be of use and capture moments in the studio, gigs or anywhere else!
Meme Factory
All good Insta personalities have great meme-game. The most versatile art form of modern times and the most shared type of content in the world! 50 Cent knows this, of course. And he creates his around subject areas that he’s actively involved in. Whether it’s gossip, beef, Power, messing with friends or even events like his Tycoon event from last Summer.
Conversation Content
A genius way of collaborating on content is to involve other people and get them to create content and tune in on the conversation via video and picture responses, not just writing comments.
Check this out: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B1l3rXwHoVr/?igshid=1ponj1htn7cdd – Snoop Dogg chimed in to the conversation and offered to pay what Rotimi owes 50 Cent so the TV show Power doesn’t get affected.
Another incident where Trey Songz and 50 Cent were staying in the same hotel during an event, so 50 took it upon himself to troll Trey on Instagram recording videos letting the world know Trey was in the restaurant with lots of girls, but he still had to ‘pay the bill’. Prompting Trey to reply on 50’s comments section. Entertainment within entertainment!
Then Snoop Dogg decided to turn the tables on 50 Cent and confiscated his custom Lamborghini as payment for what he owes Snoop! Prompting both of the guys to resond to each other using funny videos posted on Insta. In turn, this resulted in 50 talking about the incident on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
And as 50 Cent was earning the “most famous debt collector” title, he decided to up his game by employing a muscle-man to confront comedian Michael Blackson while he was enjoying a dinner out in public. Again, prompting more video responses. Creating a circus show.
Another interesting use of this method was 50 Cent allowing other stars to come to his Tycoon event after ‘letting them off’ their debt- resulting in other celebrities to get involved in creating content to promote his event Tycoon. This is an achievable strategy for upcoming artists to get their friends and network involved in creating content together.
Listening To & Involving Audience
Back when season 6 of Power aired, the show’s intro had been switched to a remix from 50’s friend Trey Songz, someone who is strategically involved in lots of his pranks and content. The fans of Power however did not like change of show intro. This triggered celebs like Snoop (another person heavily involved in his content) to join in the backlash and get the intro reverted to the original. So in true 50 style, he listened and gave the people what they wanted. He used his influence of people power to get the fans involved in the beef with Comcast dropping Starz too.
What You Can Do
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Break down your life into categories of interest and figure out how you can create content relating to these interests.
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Try and tie in areas of your life together so that you can create more of a brand. Do you have any other business goals that might work with your music?
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Use comedy and light hearted content to create an approachable persona that followers want to return to see. It also gives you more content ammunition!
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Keep on top of current trends and put your own spin on things. Even just resharing content and chiming in with your own opinion works.
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Involve your friends or create an online network of other artists where you can record video responses for entertainment value.
