What Hannah Montana and Social Media Have in Common

I have a confession. I’m smitten with a teenage pop star. Yep, you guessed it, Hannah Montana (aka. Miley Cyrus). No, I did not just fall off the turnip truck and yes, I may have been born at night, but it was NOT last night. However, I did take my 6 year old daughter to see “Hannah Montana: The Movie” Sunday afternoon and in the end it was difficult for my wife to determine who liked the movie more.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not an Oscar Award winning film. This is Disney and it’s predictably cute and funny. There are some “Apple Dumpling Gang” (sans Don Knotts) moments and not one, but two love interest story lines going on at the same time. No, it’s not a Scorsese or Tarantino experience, it’s not even Ron Howard. What it is, is Miley Cyrus (ahhh, be still my heart).

So, here’s my next confession. I had seen the Hannah Montana Show on our television at home, but I never really watched it. So, I didn’t really know what the show was about. I knew who she was and that Hannah and Miley are the same, but I knew and know very little if anything about the person. Yet, after an hour and a half of that movie, I was totally hooked on Miley Cyrus – singer, actor, pop star, daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, etc.

How did this happen? Hannah Montana: The Movie works because Miley Cyrus is engaging. In this movie she appears to be authentic, genuine, kind and caring. She seems selfless and helpful and it doesn’t hurt that she comes across as the kind of teenager you would like your daughter to be. Keep in mind, I’m talking about the movie character, not necessarily who she is in “real life.” (For the record, I’m not a huge fan of celebrities as role models for our kids). In essence, she comes across in the movie, the way we need to come across in social media.

Think of the qualities:

• Engaging
• Authentic
• Genuine
• Kind
• Caring
• Selfless
• Helpful

Just as spam took over so much of the email world, “marketers” and “advertisers” are flooding the social media space. How do you filter through the noise and find the people to whom you would really like to connect? Stealing a page from the Perry Belcher playbook, how do you avoid the guys at the party that walk in and say, “hey, I’m Ed and I sell stuff, you wanna buy something?”

You look for the qualities mentioned above. Who are the people out there who are really trying to help? Who are the truly engaging people (by the way, all you “auto-reply” Twitterers, don’t you think it’s obvious that your generic response to a “follow” is an auto reply?). Who are the people who really are interested in getting to know you? You can’t fake it. Remember the kids growing up who were “fakes” and “phonies?” As I always say, “they don’t change, they just get older.”

Authenticity, as overused as that phrase has quickly become, is the key to communicating effectively in social media. When you’re authentic, engaging, kind and helpful and your objectives are clearly to help others, people will know.

Just as Miley Cyrus has created a level of authenticity and trust among her followers, you as a social media participant can do the same with your friends and followers, albeit on a much smaller scale and fewer pre-adolescent children. Nevertheless, if you betray your following with disingenuous objectives and behavior that is inconsistent with the persona you have established then your reputation will, no doubt, suffer.

By the way, does anyone know what time the Hannah Montana show airs on Disney?

Ed Heil is the owner and president of StoryTeller Media & Communications an inbound marketing and public relations agency and video production company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ed blogs on topics related to inbound marketing, social media, media relations, news media, video production and crisis communications.

Tags: apple dumpling gang, Authentic, Billy Ray Cyrus, disney, Engaging, hannah montana, hannah montana the movie, marketers, martin scorsese, miley cyrus, Perry Belcher, Quentin Tarantino, Ron Howard, Twitter

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