Corporate Contortion: How Outsourcing Social Media Limits Authentic Celebrity Influence

With the rise of social media as a brand necessity, high-profile celebrity influencers have increasingly turned to social media managers to curate their online image. In the last few years, the shift has been stark — gone are the cat selfies that once filled Taylor Swift’s feed, here to stay are professionally-shot tour photos and album promotional material. Celebrities turned over their accounts, no longer taking the time to carefully mull over possible captions or meticulously sift through their favorites album to craft a photo dump. While some hoped to disengage, others aimed to professionalize their content with the help of digital specialists.  

Swift provides a prime example of the latter, quickly transforming what once largely resembled the account of an ordinary person into a hub for marketable content. Once commended for an authentic online presence of Tumblr rants and spur-of-the-moment selfies, her feed now relies almost entirely on generic photos of her tour, captured in high-definition by a production team. For celebrities like Swift, the change has not only drastically altered the composition of her social media, but has also disappointed fans who enjoyed seeing a more intimate portrait of the singer’s life — especially considering that Swift, like many artists, has long maintained a secondary “fanbase account” as a designated space for promotional content like release dates, merch sales, and career milestones. To many, it feels that @taylorswift has become a mere extension of this corporate marketing account, with nearly-identical feeds and captions, too generic and polished to be written by anyone other than a social media manager. Taylor’s online content doesn’t read as personal; regardless of her current level of input on her social media presence, her posts read as generic statements written by employees trying to capture her voice in vain. With little diversity, much of this content maintains the same purpose: promoting the Taylor Swift brand and capitalizing on potential monetary gain. The importance of fans as listeners, connecting with the artist over shared experiences, has been dwarfed by the importance of fans as consumers, millions of prospective purchasers for all four new editions of Taylor’s 1989 rerecord vinyl. The account has become a brand commodification, devoid almost entirely of the artist’s authentic perspective.

I don’t mean to single out Taylor Swift. Loads of A-list celebrities from Beyoncé to Zendaya have stripped their social media of original content, instead outsourcing their accounts in order to consolidate their online image around corporate success. Whether filling these feeds with professional magazine photoshoots and project promotion can effectively connect with fans remains to be seen. At worst, these accounts seem to present distorted and shallow versions of these stars, and at best, they provide a bland and disconnected representation of the talent, charm, and depth that they have to offer.

Celebrities like Billie Eilish, however, provide a striking contrast. Another artist of high caliber, Eilish is no stranger to posting tour pictures or album announcements. But unlike many of these other celebrities, Billie’s promotional content is tempered by the consistent inclusion of her authentic personality. She posts photos that clearly come from her own phone, she features moments that speak to her particular sense of humor, she writes captions that you might see on a friend’s Instagram — all of this could be entirely the work of a social media team, but it still feels authentic. With a little bit of genuine involvement and content variety across her social media platforms, Eilish is able to maintain an online presence that is true to her voice and herself, while still using these accounts to invest in her own career. 

Social media teams can certainly serve a practical purpose, assisting in the time-consuming job of content creation and curation — I’m not advocating that Béyonce take time out of her demanding schedule to hit “post” herself on the Instagram app. But without the personal essence that she brings to her image as a brand, @beyonce simply doesn’t give fans the aspects of insight and personability that they’re searching for. Instead, we are left with a corporate account trying to further sell the celebrity’s product, whether it be an actual business endeavor or just their warped professional image. Many social media users are already hyperaware of the idealization created by these platforms that encourage the framing of carefully-crafted moments as spontaneously genuine ones, and are quick to spot the curated nature of these celebrity accounts. Their perfectly-composed captions and sole focus on promotional content leave us with a distorted version of our favorite celebrity, creating a further disconnect for fans and inherently limiting the outreach they hope to achieve. 

Celebrities don’t have to take over the entirety of their own social media branding, but even the smallest amount of their involvement and influence could substantially help these accounts reignite a connection with their fans and function as a real source of insight. No one is expecting Taylor Swift to forgo the corporate aspects of her brand on social media, but she shouldn’t forgo the inclusion of genuine, personal content either. Melding these two selves gives us a better picture of who she is, in both her job and in her everyday life. Stop pushing fans to buy a new CD or rent a movie for one post, and instead throw up some pictures from a night out. While it may not immediately emphasize commercial action, it much more valuably offers fans an authentic look at who the celebrity is, building connection and increasing the likelihood that someone will want to invest in the celebrity’s personal brand.

Social media empowers us to be the curators of our own story. Songwriters in particular, who make a living off of sharing emotional stories and forging bonds with listeners, should understand the importance of genuine authenticity and the impact it can have on their public image. Have Taylor send her social media managers a mirror selfie every once in a while — I guarantee it will make all the difference. 

Strike Out,

St. Louis

Written by: Bea Scanlon

Edited by: Emily Bekesh