The nobodies are the new somebodies

I didn’t say that; Guy Kawasaki did.

It came out in an interview a week and a half ago about Fast Company’s Influence Project, in answer to a question about why Social Media is so powerful.

It’s true in so many ways; the faceless, nameless, abbreviation-filled world of social media allows anyone to do just about anything online, from creating Super Bowl ads (for $2000) that win a million dollars to sending in stoopid piktures of kats with misspelled capshuns. Both of which, millions and millions of people have seen and loved.

Appropriately enough, the interview was short, but full of interesting tidbits from Kawasaki, the former chief evangelist for Apple. I follow him on Twitter and have always been intrigued by the fact that he offers up almost no original content, just links to things he finds interesting. Which, if his followers go check out, makes him eminently more influential. He’s definitely a somebody.

But the interesting thing is, it took him a while to become a somebody that people trust and believe and are willing to stick with and listen to over the long haul. He wrote books, he spoke, he got visible. he worked it. I haven’t heard about the guys who created the winning Super Bowl ad since they created the winning Super Bowl ad. They spiked and faded.

Guy might be right in his assessment of nobodies being the new somebodies. But as in any marketing effort for a brand (which he certainly is), in order to create loyalty and relationships, you need to have a diligent, consistent, strategic effort. It takes a lot of time (or in Kawasaki’s case, a staff of ghosts).

In the era of social media, nobodies can be somebodies, but if they’re interested in anything other than fleeting fame, they better work at it. With apologies to Andy Warhol, everyone will get their 15 seconds of fame. If they want it more than once, they better work at it.