# A Founding Father Took Over The Internet, And So Can You

- Link: https://chatterblast.com/blog/a-founding-father-took-over-the-internet-and-so-can-you/
- Published: 2016-03-10T16:03:37-05:00
- Author: chatterblastteam

[_Disclaimer: If you have not yet listened to “Hamilton: An American Musical,” do
so now. Like, right now._]

The life story of founding father **Alexander Hamilton** isn’t exactly common knowledge.
Most people either recognize him as the guy on the $10 bill, that he was the first
Secretary of the Treasury or that he died in a duel with his political rival, **
Aaron Burr**. Contrary to somewhat-popular belief, he was _never_ a president.

It wasn’t until 2015 that the story of Hamilton was thrust back into the spotlight
in Broadway’s hottest new musical, aptly named **_Hamilton_**. The show tells the
tale of Hamilton’s life, from his role in the American Revolution to his political
rise and eventual downfall.

But what makes this show _so groundbreaking_ is that it’s performed as a rap musical
and features a cast almost entirely composed of **people of color**.

The refreshing, energetic showstopper is revered by its fans, and a large majority
of them haven’t even seen the musical live. (Broadway’s not cheap, and not everyone
can make a quick scamper over to New York.)

Even if they haven’t seen the show, many Hamilton fans feel just as involved as 
those who have because of the _energy_ and _personality_ the musical and its cast
have shared with their world online.

#### **Hamilton on Social Media**

That’s not to say that there aren’t other fans that feel this way about their favorite
musical; **_Wicked_** and **_Rent_ **fans are arguably just as passionate. What 
separates _Hamilton_’s fans from the rest of the crowd is that their fandom is all
over mainstream social media, and the show is benefitting _tremendously_ from it.

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Broadway isn’t unfamiliar with social media. Like other shows, social media is normally
used as a means of promotion. Photos of the cast accompanied by song lyrics tend
to have your standard “_Come see the show!_” message.

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That’s a tried and true strategy, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. 
_Hamilton_’s social media presence, however, offers something a little more substantial.
It doesn’t just promote and inform; it **engages** and **encourages** a level of
fandom not often seen on Broadway.

“_My company’s goal with social media is to act as the ‘DVD Bonus Features’ on the
accounts we oversee. We have always strived to provide content that people will 
love whether or not they’ve seen the show_,” explains [**Mike Karns**](https://twitter.com/MKarns_Presents),
Social Media Manager for _Hamilton_.

“_The first time we really saw the interest explode on a piece of content was when
the show was still at The Public Theater, and we created a _[_video parody _](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-KoAi3Nl9Q)
_of the original _[_‘Got Milk’ commercial_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLSsswr6z9Y)_
featuring _[**_Leslie Odom Jr_**](https://twitter.com/leslieodomjr)**_._**_, who
plays Aaron Burr,” _Karns says. “_We were able to use people and ideas from the 
show to tie into a greater conversation, and fans seemed to eat that up_.”

The fans absolutely adore this strategy. Anything they can tie Hamilton into, they
do. They’re almost _always_ impulsively spouting lyrics from the show and applying
it to any situation. [Any situation at all](http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/im-a-general-wheeee#.hbLjNYJVy).
The show’s material is so dense and memorable that simply saying “_take a break_”
is enough to get a fan singing. That kind of flexibility within the lyrics makes
Hamilton **very** easy to meme.

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Of course, the _Hamilton_ Twitter wouldn’t look quite the way it does if it weren’t
for the musical’s creator, composer and star – yeah, he plays Hamilton – [**Lin-Manuel Miranda**](https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel).

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“_We knew that we would inherently have a strong early following due to Lin’s visibility
on Twitter and the early buzz about the show, but we never could have imagined that
it would take off in the way that it has,” Karns says. _

_“We’ve loved having the ability to directly connect with fans using social media
in order to bring them along for the ride_,” Karns added.

### **How Two Popular and Engaging Twitter Accounts Work Together**

Miranda is notoriously unable to remove himself from Twitter. Since his first Broadway
show, **_In The Heights_**, he’s been a formidable social media presence, willing
to share backstage photos, videos of him [singing on the subway](https://vine.co/v/OJPlOgJ7lVz)
or little quips that are completely unrelated to the show.

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His cute demeanor and willingness to engage with fans over Twitter and Tumblr is
charming to say the least. Going into _Hamilton_, Miranda already had a large fan
base that he was regularly communicating with. So when it came to promoting the 
show, the collaboration came naturally.

_“We work in tandem with Lin’s account, and I am in close contact with him pretty
much every day, but there is rarely an explicit decision to post on one platform
versus the other,” _Karnes says of managing the two Twitter accounts._ “More often,
we typically will coordinate who will launch something, and then the other page 
will share it.”_

If you look at Miranda’s Twitter feed, you’ll find a lot of retweeted Hamilton posts,
and vice versa. The two accounts work together seamlessly, and keep fans both informed
and entertained. Interestingly enough, Miranda’s account has more followers than
the _Hamilton_ account.

#### **#Ham4Ham**

There’s no doubt that Miranda’s account is a major player in this social media game,
but to see where all real fun is, you’d have to take a look at **#Ham4Ham**. #Ham4Ham
is a lottery to win tickets to _Hamilton_ for only $10 (_get it?_). Lotteries for
Broadway tickets are nothing new, but #Ham4Ham spawned something a little different…

_“The lottery for inexpensive front row seats was a concept pioneered by lead producer
Jeffrey Seller during the Broadway run of Rent back in the ‘90s. While Hamilton 
was at The Public Theater, they offered a $10 ticket lottery, and we created one
as the show moved to Broadway,” _says Karns.

_“The #Ham4Ham shows were derived organically. Lin came out before the first preview
lottery to chat with the crowd, and realized that there was a large, passionate 
group of people coming in hopes to get a chance to see the show. He decided that
there needed to be some way to thank and reward those people, whether or not they
won tickets.” _

#Ham4Ham was a bonafide **hit**; not just for the crowds of hundreds outside of 
the **Richard Rodgers Theatre**, but for the online community as well. Because of
the amount of people that showed up for the lottery, #Ham4Ham quickly found a home
online, where performances of all kinds sprouted up, including this one from none
other than **Jimmy Fallon**:

As it turns out, #Ham4Ham was just the beginning. Fans have taken the format of 
the hashtag and given it multiple lives of its own that expand on their amusement
with applying the show’s characters and lyrics to other pop culture phenomena. They
literally love _Hamilton_ so much that they want to make it a part of everything
else they love.

When the news broke late last year that [Miranda had worked with ](http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/lin-manuel-miranda-talks-joyous-star-wars-cantina-music-20151207)
[**J.J. Abrams**](http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/lin-manuel-miranda-talks-joyous-star-wars-cantina-music-20151207)
[ to compose the cantina music](http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/lin-manuel-miranda-talks-joyous-star-wars-cantina-music-20151207)
for **_Star Wars: The Force Awakens_**, people were so excited by this fandom mashup
that #Force4Ham became a full-blown Twitter game in no time.

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They’ve done this with everything. [**Parks and Rec**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParksandHam?src=hash).
[**Harry Potter**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/potter4ham?src=hash). [Kanye’s Twitter meltdown](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ham4Ye?src=hash).
The list goes on.

These little Twitter hashtag games are crowdsourced social content that end up becoming
_promotional materials _for the show. It’s nearly impossible to be on a social platform
without seeing somebody talking about their favorite [#Hamiltunes](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hamiltunes?src=hash),
and the show’s reach has massively expanded as a result.

Miranda and the _Hamilton_ team don’t even have to start these trends – creative
fans do the work themselves because they _want_ to.

Perhaps the most brilliant (and socially relevant) version of the trend came during**
President Obama**’s final State of the Union address in January. Fans quickly realized
how applicable the show’s lyrics were to their feelings about Obama’s imminent departure
from the White House, and thus **#Ham4SOTU** was born.

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And the most poignant of them all:

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Of course, being his Twitter-obsessed self, Miranda watched as the #Ham4SOTU tweets
rolled in, amused and impressed by people’s love for the show.

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Miranda is **constantly** engaging with fans on Twitter, whether he’s answering 
questions or retweeting accounts like the new fan-favorite [Hamilton as dogs](https://twitter.com/hamiltonasdogs).
His social engagement with fans doesn’t stop there, though – he also has a personal
Tumblr where he [reblogs fan art](http://linmanuel.tumblr.com/post/136291020560/heartbleats-sorry-for-the-lack-of-updates-ive),
[comments on funny pictures of the cast](http://linmanuel.tumblr.com/post/137287140050/not-angiee-ok-wow-i-dont-know-where-this)
and makes the occasional [request for a gif of his castmates](http://linmanuel.tumblr.com/post/135319737830/captrxgers-a-special-request-from-linmanuel).

There’s even an entire Tumblr genre of _Hamilton_-inspired text post memes, most
notably in the styles of **Cher** and **Jaden Smith **tweets:

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_via _[_impossible-barry.tumblr.com_](http://impossible-barry.tumblr.com/post/133028742155/cher-tweets-hamilton-linmanuel-im-so-sorry)

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_via _[_gratnaire.tumblr.com_](http://gratnaire.tumblr.com/post/133810683004/hamilton-jaden-smith-tweets-insp)

Plus, when Miranda gave a now-infamous description of internet fandom during a recent#
Ham4Ham show, he was quickly [gif’ed and reblogged over 27,000 times on Tumblr](http://scorptaire.tumblr.com/post/132349820045/ham4ham-lotto-103115).

_If you love Hamilton, you’re probably Hamilton trash._

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### **Social Media Lessons from Hamilton – Take Some Notes**

So, as always, here’s the burning question: How does any of this apply to other 
brands? How can lessons learned from a bunch of Broadway nerds be translated elsewhere?

Simply put, it’s about listening to your fans. Crowd-created content is a blessing
that you should **immediately** take advantage of if given the opportunity. If your
audience memes _(yes, that’s a verb)_ something related to your brand, don’t just
have a quick laugh in the office. Engage, engage, **engage**!

Taking the time to retweet and share jokes, memes and simple interactions initiated
by members of your audience allows people to feel like a part of your brand’s world
from far away, just like _Hamilton_’s social takeover has created an engaged fandom
that expands _far beyond_ Broadway’s usual reach.

Basically, be ready to meme anything, and encourage your followers to do the same.

Take it from Karns himself. _“Regardless of the show and the excitement/breadth 
of the fan base, I think it’s always important to find ways to connect with and 
engage your audience without saying ‘Buy This’ [or] ‘See our show.’ It’s imperative
to create content and conversation that a fan base will latch onto and continue 
to come back looking for.” _

Oh, and one more thing: Don’t be afraid to monetize and have fun with mistakes people
make about your brand. It’s like having an inside joke with your audience.

For example, this:

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Turned into _this:_

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The next time you have an opportunity to engage with fans, expand on your brand 
or make a meme out of anything. Do **_not_** throw away your shot.

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Have you seen a _brilliant use_ of social media like Hamilton’s? Tell us about it
in the comments!