How to become famous

Somewhere along the way, fame has become a goal in itself.  It’s not necessarily to become a famous musician, a famous writer, or a famous artist  it’s simply enough to become famous.

One of the most asked questions is how to become famous? In this modern age, it’s no big issue to get fame. But still many of us couldn’t succeed in becoming famous throughout life.

Why is this so?

Because most of them always try to find shortcuts, but they don’t follow the steps that make people famous,

1.  Decide how famous you want to be. Fame comes at many different levels. For instance, you could be famous in your school or workplace. You could be famous in your hometown or your state. Alternatively, you could go for ultimate fame and attempt to be famous around the world. Each of these has its own unique pros and cons, so it's up to you to decide how much fame you want.

2.  Create a unique solution to a problem. Think about the problems in your life and in the world around you. If you can come up with a unique solution or a unique invention, you may become famous for it.

• For example, Marie Curie became famous as a scientist and inventor of the X-ray.
• Think about problems in your life. Maybe you're always late, or you hate having to hunt around for your shoes every day. What solutions could you come up with to help yourself and others with these problems?

3.  Stand out from other people. Sometimes, you'll get noticed for just being yourself, if you have a unique way of doing things or a unique way of looking at the world. The key is to go your own way and be just who you are. You shouldn't change how you do things just because you do them in a unique or odd way.

• Break away from stereotypes. If you love to skateboard, find your own unique tricks. Instead of going for a typical "skater" look, find your own flair.

4. Begin By Making It All About Others, Not Yourself:  If you are going to reach niche celebrity status, your first step is to become a truly trusted resource for others. This means that you do the following:

• Inspire, entertain and educate others without thought to making sales or promoting yourself or your business
• Be a real person behind that company, not a faceless entity
• Be accessible and transparent; have a social media presence that involves conversations; answer emails; be present wherever there are important conversations occurring, especially in groups related to your niche
• Do not be “better” than others; rather be helpful and friendly and humble
• Engage others daily, especially influencers. Hanging out with influencers makes you one too.
• If you succeed, don’t be the first one to boast, but try to share the lessons you’ve learn and inspire other people to follow your path. And if you don’t succeed from the first attempt, don’t be discreet about your failure either. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes and talking about that, rather than trying to appear as a super human.

Compare this to the traditional concept of a supposed industry leader – one who gave an occasional interview; one who had “gatekeepers;” one who knew s/he was “better” than the others; one who was inaccessible. This won’t work for you, because you don’t have any fame yet.

5.  Get Your Face and Your Personality “Out There”:   Brands are not really spread by products and services anymore. They are spread by personalities on social websites and news media.

It’s almost as if we have returned to days of old when storekeepers had personal relationships with all of their customers. Of course, these can no longer be face-to-face, but they can be strong relationships nevertheless. Today’s digital consumers of anything demand relationships.

If you have written a book, for example, you need to show online communities who you are, your sense of humor, your sense of compassion, your incredible expertise, whatever it is that makes you a bit of a “giant” in your niche. Provide excerpts from that book for free to every digital community possible. Set up book signings everywhere possible and call the local news media to cover them. Offer an additional benefit with a book purchase. Get buzz going by pushing your face and your personality, not just your book.

Inject your personality into everything you do online and on the ground. If you are in a business niche, hold events, make videos, and plaster them all over the place. Feature your customers in your blog posts, on your social media platforms. Do anything that you can to spread your brand by spreading the people factor, not by pushing the product or service. Come up with something that people will look forward to every week – things that will draw them to you and make them draw their communities to you too.

6.  Be generous in a unique way. While this may seem counter-intuitive, some people become famous by doing something for other people in a really unusual way. It could be making a large donation, but you could also just raise money in some way that's out of the ordinary.

• For instance, one man, Si Burgher had famously long eyebrows, nearly 3 inches (7.6 cm)! When friends suggested he let people shave them off to raise money for charity, he agreed and became famous in his hometown of Bloomfield, Indiana.
• For example, you could make it your goal to bake and sell a million brownies to raise money for a cause.

7.  Post a silly video. In a social media-driven world, you can win 5 minutes of fame by posting a goofy video that takes the internet by storm. It doesn't have to be anything terribly difficult. It just has to be engaging and entertaining. It can involve something as simple as your cat doing something funny.

• You might post a video of you playing a funny song on your instrument, or doing something funny in a public place. Get creative, and make sure you're having fun! If you're enjoying yourself, your audience is more likely to like the video!

8. Provide Consistent, Public, Interesting, and Free Content

Jack Daniels is a well-known brand. It has been a well-known brand for years. And it has done this by consistently keeping itself in front of the public. Now, in years past it relied on TV advertising – expensive advertising. Advertising that those of us who would just like to become famous in our niche cannot afford.

We have to find cheap ways to become famous, and even Jack Daniels is going the cheap route now. It’s not all over TV – that’s a thing of the past. What does Jack Daniels do now? It has an amazing website and an amazing social media presence. It sponsors contests for people to submit new drink recipes. It asks customers to submit weird bar stories, which it publishes – consumers love it and they continue to love Jack Daniels. Jack Daniels will be famous for years to come because it understand how fame is now built. When you use the same strategies that Jack Daniels uses, you can build your fame too.

Get your “public” involved in everything you do. Other than the cost of maintaining your websites and social media platforms through employees or contractors, your cost of providing amazing and interest and entertaining and inspirational content is cheap. No one wants to read what looks like a textbook; and no one want to just hear about products. They want some fun and some education and they want it in engaging ways.

Even if your niche seems “boring”, there’s still a way to interact with your audience successfully and leveraging your authority status. Simply, by offering free detailed information of every aspect related to your business. For instance, Moverscorp publishes loads of amazing guides, covering pretty much any aspect of moving from choosing the company to packing to tipping movers and things to do after the move.

You can build your fame if you are committed to giving your public the best content ever. On the Internet there are no walls and there are few rules. You build a fan base and that fan base reaches out to its communities, as long as your content is great. People share what is free and what is publicly provided. So give free and public!

Shock = Attention = Fame

As you can see, our formula here is fairly simple. If you want to become famous, you’ve simply have to find a way to get people’s attention. Once you get people’s attention, you become famous.

You see fame (unlike talent) is nothing more than capturing someone’s attention.

Shocking people by doing something stupid and outlandish used to be the province of disc jockeys, graffiti artists, and Jerry Springer but now it has apparently become mainstream.

So not only is Picasso famous for his artwork but now so is the idiot who walked into a museum and vandalized one of his paintings.   It doesn’t take talent, hard work, or skill to become famous.  All it really takes is the ability to capture someone else’s attention by doing something completely unexpected.  It doesn’t even matter whether you do something “good” or something “bad” to get attention — the result is exactly the same. 

And it’s not just beginners who are struggling to get noticed, it’s also those who may already be famous but want to become even more famous.  Do you think that it’s merely coincidence that so many washed up celebrities publicly announce the fact they are checking into rehab or “accidentally” leak a sex tape.  Even these B-list celebrities understand that fame demands attention, and if they are no longer getting enough attention, they need to do something that will.

As a culture we used to try and hide these little indiscretions, now we go out of our way to record and publicize them.

This tried and true formula has revived the careers fame of countless actors and musicians who have then gone on to a lucrative second career in reality television.  After all, everyone loves to tune into Bravo and watch a good celebrity train wreck because it makes us feel morally superior to these idiots and their self-serving shenanigans.

Okay, that’s great, but what if you’re not already a washed up celebrity?  What are your options?

Well lucky for you, there have been plenty of other people who have used controversy to worm their way into our collective consciousness. In the process, they’ve left us a detailed blueprint on how to become famous for being infamous.