The White Guy Post #1 (Lil B)

Why #Swag Has Become the New “Cool”
How Lil B the BasedGod’s social media marketing genius has influenced the world
permanently… for the next 6 months
Lil B is a marketing genius. I do not believe it to be by accident either.
Utilizing the power of the internet complemented by the human yearning to investigate eccentricities,
Lil B has captured the minds of young people all across America.
Lil B’s genius is centered on two common themes; being “Based” and having “Swag.” Even if they do
have some intrinsic meaning, it’s unnecessary. This is a common marketing tool; you could call it his
slogans. On top of that, he has the word “God” in his name. Whenever someone refers to themselves in
a deistic way, it catches people attention.
In the 21st century when a human being makes a concerted effort to make their living in the arts, there
are some basics steps that most internet savvy people utilize to make themselves digitally visible; you
create a Facebook fan page, a Twitter profile, a Youtube channel, and a Myspace page.
This is how Lil B combined social media marketing and hilarious content to become an entertainer for a
living:
1. First off, instead of discussing why Lil B’s content is appealing, let’s just all assume it is appealing
in some way to some people (and in fact it is, so no need to assume.) On top of having appealing
content, Lil B stands out in many ways. When people do things that are unique, it gets people
talking and asking questions. If you would like a hint at Lil B’s style, here are some album and
song titles: Wonton Soup, I’m Paris Hilton, Black Ken, The Pretty Bitch is Back, Everything Based,
and Hoes On My Dick (featuring comedian Andy Milonakis).
2. He created a twitter page called @LILBTHEBASEDGOD playing on the over-exaggerations we see
frequently in social media posts and status’s utilizing all capital letters. He continued to play on
the theme by making all of his posts in all caps.
3. He created 120+ Myspace pages all with the word “Based” in them and flooded them with his
content. This got people talking and asking questions; “this is outrageous”; “what the fuck does
‘based’ mean?”; “are these all the same person?”; “what genre of music is this?”; “if they are all
the same person, why does he have so many pages?” – the answer was one click away; all of
these pages linked back to one main Lil B the BasedGod myspace page.
4. For his Twitter page, he bought a program that made him follow anyone who would follow him.
Some twitter users follow other profiles because they will “follow back.” Annoying, uneducated
people would tweet that they are on #teamfollowback and it just reeks of desperation (and
never forget, desperation is a stinky cologne). Twitter followers can be a sign of status and even
give someone the allure of celebrity. This increased his followers faster than actual fans could be
generated, at the same time giving all of his followers a one click away outlet to all of his
content.
Using these tactics, Lil B created a platform for his content that reached an overwhelming amount of
internet users in a way that no one had before. The most effective quality of his content is that it is
humorous. The term “Swag” has become synonymous with confident and cool. Putting a hashtag (#) in
front of a word on twitter makes it searchable and viewable to anyone. Suddenly “swag” and “based”
flooded the internet as new, hip terms.
We hear about “viral videos” all the time. Viral content is generated through word of mouth. If someone
were to ask me – “why is Lil B famous?” I would answer that he maximized the virility of all of these
social media applications. I even remember the first time I began to follow Lil B on twitter, his
immediate, computer program-induced “follow back” immediately piqued my curiosity. He ended up
filling up my timeline and then I was like fuck this dude, but his content was all around me. People were
“re-tweeting” funny things he would say or videos he would post. But the most fascinating thing in all of
this, is that Lil B found the most effective way to get his content to the masses for the least amount of
money. There are million dollar companies dedicated to social media marketing that charge thousands
of dollars for their services. Lil B the BasedGod should be a case study for all social media marketing
gurus.
If the backbone of Lil B’s content was great musical compositions, he might have some longevity. He will
always have a cult following but I would anticipate his fame soon fading. At the very same time, only a
genius could have so deftly utilized social media unlike anyone ever has before in its short history. Lil B
will be remembered as a social media marketing genius who built a dedicated following with very little
monetary costs. After reading this, you might ask yourself if I follow @LILBTHEBASEDGOD – the only
answer I have for you is that I am #based.

The White Guy

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