How to Become Famous on the Internet

Finding Your Niche

Determine what you’re good at and what you like doing. There are a variety of different ways to become famous on the internet. Some popular ways are streaming gameplay online or making unique content in the form of videos or writing. Other famous internet stars are popular on social media. Think of things that you like doing and create a strategy based on your skills. If you can’t think of anything that you’re good at, then think of something that interests you and that you’d like to learn more about. If you know a lot of different makeup techniques, you can create video content showing others how to apply makeup. If you are excellent at games then you can stream or create videos on YouTube to gain a fanbase. If you already spend a lot of time on social media, you should consider actively growing your social media followers to become famous. If you think you have an interesting life you can create vlogs that people can follow. If you have an immense knowledge in a specific topic you can start a blog or create videos online to educate other people.

Watch people that you're a fan of. Another way to get inspired is by emulating someone that you look up to. If you don't follow any internet celebrities, start searching for them online to get a better idea of what you need to do to become famous. Look on websites like Twitch.tv, YouTube, and online blogs to find celebrities. If you are already a fan of an internet celebrity and you watch their content regularly, it’s likely you have a decent knowledge about what they do. Popular internet personalities include PewDiePie, The Jester, Nash Grier, Joy Cho, and Grace Helbig.

Do your research on the community you want to get into. Communities are made up of a variety of people who share the same interests and often share ideas and thoughts to one another. Some people in the community make online content and become famous off that content. Doing research on other content creators or famous people will give you an understanding of the competition as well as the potential fanbase that you’ll have. Also, within communities are sub-communities or niche communities that concentrate on more concentrated subject matter. Search for other content creator's social media profiles or any video or written content that they create. Places where you can find online communities include the PlayStation Community, Being Girl, Figment, Harley Owners Group, and Lugnet. Some popular gaming communities include the DOTA 2 community, the CSGO community, the League of Legends community, the FIFA community, and the Fighting Game community. Some of the most successful people to come out of the gaming community include Park 'Lyn' Joon, Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg, Jonathan 'Loda' Berg, Johnathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendell. Some of the most notable YouTubers include PewDiePie, Smosh, the Fine Brothers, and Lindsey Stirling. You can also get information on the community by visiting the community’s subreddit on Reddit.com. If the content you plan on pursuing already has a lot of up-and-coming content producers or established stars, you may want to choose something else unless you bring something exciting and unique.

Narrow down your choices and choose something to pursue. Now that you’ve done your research, you can narrow down all your choices. Think of your goals and decide if they are realistic. Write down all of the things that you’d consider doing and weigh the positives and the negatives. Once you’ve narrowed it down, choose something to pursue and start creating a strategy. Estimate the probability of success within the community by evaluating your competition, the overall viewer base, and the popularity of your content platform.

Managing Your Online Presence

Stay consistent across all platforms. Try to get the same username across your social media platforms so that people don’t get confused. Use your logo or profile picture and make them the same to create brand recognition for yourself. You also need to stay consistent on what you say and the type of person you are. If you say something but do the opposite, regularly break your word, or act hypocritical, the internet may turn on you and fans may leave you. If you have a logo or profile picture that you use regularly, make sure that the brand is represented across the different social media platforms. Think of your brand like a company. If a company has different logos and store layouts, it may become confusing to consumers. The same can be said about your fans. Regardless if you are angry, mean, happy, or silly, fans will be confused if your personality changes overnight or you do things that don’t seem consistent.

Register on at least two social media platforms. Choose two social media platforms that you can update regularly. This will give your fans access to you even when you aren’t creating new content. When trying to decide on which platforms to create, consider the age of your target audience as well as what platforms they are most likely to use. Cross promote on your different platforms and always give people an easy way to follow you somewhere else. If you are trying to appeal to a younger audience, platforms like Twitter and Instagram are the best. If you are trying to appeal to an older audience, platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are ideal.

Create a personal website or blog. Having a website will allow people to search you and find the different social media platforms your on as well as get direct access to your content. A website will also give promoters and advertisers an easy way to contact you. Lastly, a personal blog can also serve as another revenue stream if you decide to advertise or use affiliate links or promotions that lead to purchases for different product manufacturers. Make sure to create a responsive website that works on phones and different browsers. If you specialize in video, you can create vlogs instead of writing in a blog. Popular blog and website creation sites include Wordpress.org, Wordpress.com, Squarespace, and Wix. Wordpress.org requires more technical knowledge to set up and shouldn't be undertaken by someone with no knowledge of programming languages like PHP and CSS.

Use hashtags and memes. Hashtags and memes are both ways that you can reach a larger audience and create new fans. Find hashtags that apply to what you’re doing and use them creatively in posts to find fans that share the same interests. Encourage followers or fans to follow a specific hashtag and grow your follower base through social media. Jump on popular memes and share funny content that you find online. Engage with the online community that follows you. Share memes that are relevant to what's going on currently in the news. Popular memes include doge, forever alone, Good Guy Greg, Neil deGrasse Tyson's reaction, and overly attached girlfriend. For example, if you have a vlog about food, you might want to use the hashtags #food, #foodie, or #foodporn.

Increasing Your Star Power

Find an unclaimed niche. One of the best ways to get more of a following is to be one of the first people in a certain genre of whatever you are doing. Find a niche like a smaller social group, game, or topic that doesn’t have a lot of big stars. Luckily, because the internet has a ton of different groups and communities, there are a lot of choices that you can pursue. For instance, reviewers that review popular movies on YouTube is an oversaturated area and you’re likely to find a lot of competition in the space. In addition to finding a niche for what you do, you can find a niche for who you are. Famous internet stars often represent an underrepresented group of people in society.

Stay genuine. Online fans like it when people act genuinely in the content that they create. Being genuine helps keep your brand consistent and gives fans an idea of what to expect from you in the future. If you diverge too much from who you are and fans see it as negative, you may jeopardize your career being an online celebrity.

Engage with your fans and the community. If you aren’t used to using social media regularly, you can create a daily schedule to remind yourself to make posts and check your social media platforms. Doing this on a regular basis will show your fans that you're active and give them a reason to keep visiting your page. Make sure that you engage with your fans and only share quality content that you find online. If you post regularly you'll show up on some fan's feeds. Try to stay consistent with your content schedule as well. If fans are used to getting content every two days and then you take a week hiatus, some of your growth may be stifled. EXPERT TIP Ashton Wu Ashton Wu Board Game Expert Ashton Wu is a Board Game expert at Shelfside. After delving into the Yugioh tournament community while growing up, Ashton launched himself into the board gaming community in 2014 and went into reviewing board games as a career full-time in 2019. His YouTube channel Shelfside has over 35K subscribers and over 4 million views, assisted by written reviews on the Shelfside website and BoardGameGeek.com. He also consults with gaming companies to build high-quality gaming products. Ashton is a tournament commentator, board game playthrough director, and host of the Shelfside Podcast, where he talks about board games with his business partner, Daniel. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in addition to the Technology Management Certificate. Ashton Wu Ashton Wu Board Game Expert Engage with your audience to build an online community. Respond to comments across platforms like YouTube, Discord, social media, and relevant forums. Hearing your content inspire viewers is incredibly rewarding. No matter your niche, fostering a supportive community around your passion is a powerful source of fulfillment.

Appeal to your target audience. While you don’t want to alter who you are as a person, there are things that you can do to appeal to your fans. Emphasize your content on things that you think your fans would like to see. If you know that the majority of your fans don't like something, don't create content involving it. If there are things that your fans are always asking you to do, consider satisfying them. Reply to people on social media and read comments on your posts.

Keep an eye on your visitor and subscriber count. If you see a huge dip in followers or a particular video or article gets negative attention, you know that it’s not good to continue doing the same things for your career. When you see a random drop in viewers or positive comments, take your time to re-evaluate what you are doing and internalize the criticism that others are giving you. Alter your image and routine to maximize your fan count. If you come out with a really controversial video or article, create another video to elaborate what you meant or to apologize for your actions.

Create high-quality content at all times. Try to create the highest quality content you possibly can. Even if you don’t have the hardware, make sure that the quality of your content is worthwhile. Posting things that are irrelevant to people or things that haven’t been thought out could leave you with a cheap looking product and may cause fans to unsubscribe or unfollow you. If you want to create videos, it's better to wait until you can shoot them in HD rather than coming out with a sub-par product.

Keep working at it. What many people don’t understand is that being a famous online celebrity takes as much time as a full-time job for many people. If you are producing or creating unique content, you may not see an initial reward for all the hard work you’re putting forth. It’s important to continue to keep staying consistent and to take advice and criticism from those around you. In order to stand apart from other Internet personalities, you’ll need to have something unique and marketable.