How do you gain a large online following/presence?

[Niall]

I am in need of some very intelligent online marketers! If you have any good ideas, please feel free to share them, I need everything I can get!

So the thing is... I'm a 16 year old musician from South Africa. My goal is to get discovered by a large record label/company (preferably in America) that can help fund my career and promote my music. I know that if I send these labels a demo tape, chances are they will throw it in the trash as they don't have time to listen to unsolicited material, plus the fact that they probably receive thousands of submissions every single day. Everybody wants to be a star!

I've realized that many musicians have gained the attention of a record label by having a large online following or having a strong internet presence (example: Justin Bieber) because the label realizes that if they invest into this artist, they know that the already large fan base owned by the artist will buy his music automatically. I have established many social platforms including my own website, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and ReverbNation. But for some reason, none of these things have generated a substantial amount of buzz... The strange thing is, I've become quite a celebrity at my school due to the discovery of my YouTube videos (the school has 1800 kids by the way) so I can't understand why my internet ratings haven't soared yet...

So i'm asking you, is there anything else I can do to up my internet game? I know there is no miracle pill to make me an internet sensation, but I need to keep working on some concrete strategy in order to get anywhere with my music career. Please share your knowledge with me, I will be forever grateful! Thanks again

[Kevin]

Look at what other successful 'internet sensations' do and copy them.

Do your research.

One of the most recent YouTube smash hits was Gangnam Style by musician Psy. I think the key here - apart from a very catch dance tune - was a unique dance style and silly video that went viral. Viral is what you want.

Psy was huge in South Korea before his international success, but in the YouTube hit Psy was extremely entertaining - so much so that people who did not even understand Korean were sharing it on Facebook. Think about that: it was not just the song itself, but the presentation of the song that made it go viral

I believe video will be the key to your success. Find (or write) your catchiest song. See which video was the most successful in your school. Then brainstorm with friends about how to present it in a catchy video. You do not need to spend many thousands of dollars like Psy did on video production. A clever idea shot on an iPhone will take you just as far - and evidence for that can be seen on a YouTube video by the band Atomic Tom singing Take Me Out (on the New York subway) with 5.3 million hits.

[Mr]

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Thank you