Who doesn’t love a good makeover?
It’s what movies, music and magazines are made of.
What if the makeover has to happen within, though, or in the public eye? Maybe it’s your image, reputation and character that are on the line, not your haircut and wardrobe. Maybe you just want to reflect on the outside who you are on the inside, even if you were pretty great to begin with.
Whatever your reasoning for your revamp, take inspiration from – and find solace in – these eight celebs who did wonders for their rep by using social media and not much else.
Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Milano is gorgeous and (usually) classy, but she’s also Samantha Micelli from Who’s The Boss? and Phoebe (a witch) from Charmed. You can imagine why it may be hard to take Milano super seriously, right? Thanks to the power of Twitter, though, she’s become a veritable social media influencer, posting links about everything from Andy Warhol to fracking.
Chris Hardwick
If you’re old enough, you remember Chris Hardwick from Singled Out on MTV and the 90s musical group Hard ‘n Phirm. Don’t brush him off as a has-been, though. Not only is he still a successful actor and comedian, but he leveraged social media, blogs and podcasts to build Nerdist Industries, a media company that rakes in 15 million visitors a month.
Conan O’Brien
We all know about Conan O’Brien’s very public, very distressing fallout with NBC, but did he let that snub keep him down? No way! O’Brien saw the massive amounts of support his fans offered thanks to Twitter, especially after publicizing the #TeamCoco hashtag. One true fan even secured the domain name TeamCoco.com in case O’Brien’s team wanted to make something of it.
Fran Drescher
Fran Drescher uses both Facebook and Twitter to champion for Cancer Schmancer, the website and cause she founded after winning the battle against uterine cancer. Bonus: You don’t have to hear that all-too-familiar laugh from The Nanny over social media.
George Takei
George Takei was in three seasons of Star Wars, not to mention six of the franchise’s films. While his character, Hikaru Sulu, is something I’m sure Takei is thankful for, his real identity eventually became synonymous with his fictional persona. That was until he jumped on the Facebook bandwagon in 2011 and struck social media gold. Now, Takei is on basically every social media platform you’re on, including Google+, and he has millions of followers who hang on his every word.
LeVar Burton
Don’t recognize that name? LeVar Burton is the guy from Reading Rainbow, a show that you assume couldn’t have stood the test of time. Via his Twitter account, though, he encourages his 1 million plus followers to crack open a book. Even better is that the Reading Rainbow brand is still kicking, only now it’s digitized and functional for today’s youth.
Louis C.K.
Louis C.K. is probably one of the best comedians of all time, but did you know that he’s a whiz at entrepreneurship, too? In 2011, he put his social media following to work by offering a downloadable video of a standup special online for just $5 a pop. In a mere eight days, he had earned $1 million, setting himself apart from the comic crowd by showcasing his business savvy to boot. He also proved that if you offer something for cheap enough, most people won’t find a way to skirt the system.
Roger Ebert
How is one of the world’s most influential movie critics supposed to have his voice heard after losing it to thyroid cancer? It’s a good thing we live in the 21st century – social media let Ebert continue to critique through the written word once his vocal chords had been damaged.
LeadMD matches clients with specialized marketing automation services, including an expert marketo consultant. James Flint is an independent writer and marketing guru.