Using Online Services
Message through several different platforms. You should be sensitive when attempting this. In some cases, flooding a celebrity with messages through all their electronic accounts might be interpreted as coming on too strong. You might try two different platforms at first, then two others, and alternate between these.
Contact a celebrity through Facebook. If you can, add the celebrity as a friend on Facebook. Otherwise, "like" their page. Many celebrities turn off private messaging on this platform, but in many cases you can still communicate with them by posting on their wall. If you can send private messages, do so with a friendly, polite request for contact. Respectfully tell the celebrity in your message how you feel about them and why they are important to you. Making your message personal may improve your chances of being contacted.
Get your celebrity’s attention on Instagram. Although some celebrities may disable private messaging, it never hurts to try sending a direct message. Comment on photos and posts made by your celebrity. You never know when a celebrity will respond to a comment. Upload photos similar to the ones you see on the celebrity’s Instagram. Connect with the celebrity through pictures of shared interests. Hashtag the celebrity in your uploaded photos or use the same hashtags as the celebrity. Avoid hashtagging too much, though, as you may come across as over-assertive or obnoxious.
Contact celebrities through their official websites. Official fan or celebrity websites may have message boards your celebrity reads and comments on. Post on community online spaces like these to increase the chances of reaching your celebrity and getting a response. Look for recent posts or responses by the celebrity to other website members on the site. Inactivity is a good sign that your chances of contact are slim. In these cases, contact the celebrity through other platforms.
Investigate the platforms your celebrity uses. Target the platform(s) on which your celebrity is most active. Check their usage history to see if they have responded to other users. Twitter, especially, is a popular platform on which users often get a "shout out" from their favorite celebrities. If you notice that your star rarely or never uses a particular platform to interact with fans, focus your efforts on one where they're more active.
Message the celebrity persistently but respectfully. Write a thoughtful message expressing your feelings to the celebrity. Request a personalized response in your message. Send follow-up messages after some time has passed. Try to respect the fact that this person really doesn't know you, even though you may feel like you already know them well. Send follow-up messages two weeks to a month after messaging. Summarize your previous message. Reiterate that you'd appreciate a response. Limit your follow-up messages to two or three per month. Send more messages than this might be interpreted as coming on too strong, though it may also be taken humorously. Use your best judgment.
Write clearly and concisely in messages. Messages that are too long or that ramble without a point might be overlooked. Focus on specific experiences, like the moment you recognized how much you appreciated the celebrity’s work or the first time you saw them live. Write a unique and engaging message to your celebrity. Talk about the impact they've had on your life. Include a related childhood story. This will help you stand out from all the other fans. Remember to include a brief request for a response, like, “If you could write me a short, personal message with your signature, I’d really appreciate it.”
Participate in fan community events. Fan communities often put together gifts for their celebrity on special dates, like their birthday or the day of their first big release. Joining in activities like this could put you in closer contact with your celebrity. Some gift ideas you might suggest as a present for your celebrity include things like collages, gift baskets, handmade crafts, and more. Question and Answer (Q&A) events. Think up engaging questions and follow the directions of the event to submit these. Kick off gift giving or the celebration of a special event by posting something like, "Hey guys, I realized that so-and-so's birthday is coming up and I thought we could do something nice for it."
Wait patiently for a response. Depending on the celebrity, they may be getting dozens or even thousands of messages a day. It may take some time for the celebrity or their publicist(s) to sift through all these message and find yours. While you’re waiting, join fan community activities. Through these, you might hear about meet-and-greets or other contact opportunities.
Check out your favorite celebrity’s Twitter. Make a Twitter account and follow your favorite celeb. Tweet at them directly by using the @ symbol followed by their account name. Use tags that your celebrity is using to improve the chances of them seeing your posts. Follow Twitter accounts that your celebrity follows. Doing this may make your tweets more visible. Try to connect with these accounts as well. They might put in a good word with the celebrity. Make sure you’re following the verified account for your celebrity. This is indicated by a blue checkmark beside the account name.
Connecting with Celebrities Through Physical Mail
Find their address. Addresses for fan mail are frequently available on a celebrity’s official website. There are also special, pay-to-use directories that contain the contact information for famous people. This information often also includes representing management, like publicists, representing companies, and more. You may be able to find a suitable mailing address for a celebrity through a simple online keyword search for “fan mail for John Doe.” Pay-to-use celebrity directories are, in many cases, affordable and can greatly increase your chances of getting a response. Find these with a keyword search for "celebrity contact directories/service."
Write a letter. One that is written by hand will likely have more impact. Use your best handwriting. Try to write the letter without making any mistakes to improve its overall appearance. Mention specifics, like what you enjoy most about the celebrity. Ask the celebrity to send a brief response. You may want to include something to autograph, like a photo of the celebrity or yourself, a clipping from a magazine interview with the celebrity, and so on. Make things as easy as possible for the celebrity. Include a pre-paid and pre-addressed return envelope.
Send the letter. Address the letter and attach the postage necessary to send it. If you don’t know how much postage is required for your letter, take it to your local post office and have them evaluate postage for you. Send your letter as soon as possible so your celebrity receives it and can respond.
Stay abreast of news about your celebrity while waiting. You never know when the celebrity you’re interested in contacting will hold an online question and answer session. They might respond to a valid point you’ve made on a message board on their official website. Stay engaged with fan communities to improve your chances of contact while you wait for a reply to your letter.
Reaching Celebrities through Their Agents, Managers, or Publicists
Reach out to celebrities through their agent or publicist. You may wish to contact the celebrity out of a number of reasons: a chance to meet the person, get something autographed, or for business reasons like discussing advertising opportunities. Typically, celebrities don't handle their business deals directly; hence agents are used for booking celebrities for an appearance, concert, endorsement, movie, or similar activities. Publicists deal with anything related to the public, like magazines articles, blogs, and interviews. Agents, managers, and publicists each have their parts that they represent for a celebrity. They handle the business and image aspects of the celebrity. There are a few different ways of getting in touch with these representatives. The manager’s job is to provide career guidance and advice, and along with the agent (and the celebrity), they’ll need to sign off on any potential deals their client makes. The best way is through email, and it is how most business deals are done with celebrities. Email allows for a paper trail, and it is the preferred method of contact for representatives. Phone is another route to take, but it is not the preferred course of action. Also, it's important to keep in mind that many agents have assistants and gatekeepers, so you will likely be unable to reach the representative by phone. By snail mail isn't a feasible option unless you are sending free product to someone. Even doing this, you want to have spoken to the representative through email or by phone prior to sending your merchandise. Please note that representatives are only to be reached out to for business and publicity inquiries, not for fan mail. Celebrities change representatives frequently. You can monitor these changes through booking agent info databases. A celebrity’s manager is involved in all aspects of their career. Less known celebrities may only have a manager. These people are generally very busy, but can help you contact your celebrity. While the celebrity’s publicist usually doesn’t have much approval power over business deals, they are a valuable part of the team to ensure that the celebrity they represent is viewed as favorably as possible by the public. These are the ones you want to contact when you require a fan and press pass to your celebrity's events and concerts. You may be able to find manager, agent, or publicist information through your celebrity’s Facebook page. Look on your celebrity’s Internet Movie Database (IMDB) or Wikipedia page. You can often find publicist or management company information in these places. Then look up the publicist or management company contact information.
Craft a suitable message. Depending on the contact information you’ve found, this could be a written letter or email. You might want to break the letter into two parts, one for the publicist and one for the celebrity. Be clear and to the point. Be straightforward in your request for a return message to prove your contact. When addressing a publicist, manager, etc., you might want to say something like, “Thank you for helping us fans get in touch with so-and-so.” Include a request with your message when appropriate. It would be natural to ask a concert promoter, for example, for a ticket to a concert and a chance to meet the celebrity. Some celebrities have a considerable number of staff managing their public relations. If you have the contact information for a few of these, try them all. It’s unlikely these people will discuss amongst themselves fan mail they’ve read.
Send your message. It may take some time before you receive a response to your message. In some cases, you may get a “canned” response, where you receive a pre-made message that says something to the effect of, “The celebrity is too busy to respond to your message now.” After a reasonable period of time has passed, like a few weeks to a month, try another means of contact. Aim to make yourself noticeable among other fans, but not overbearing.
Comments
0 comment