Getting people excited about an event or a release of a product plays a major role in connecting with your consumer. When you can get people talking, it not only helps promotion by word-of-mouth, but it also helps build up anticipation.
Taylor Swift has had a Reputation (pun intended) of releasing albums every two Octobers. The process was: announce the album and lead single via livestream the summer before, then release the entire album during the month of October.
She’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, celebrity we’ve got around, and people noticed when she didn’t follow this trend and release an album in 2016.
Myself included, many fans begged and pleaded via Twitter and other social media outlets for Taylor to release something this time last year. I mean, I have had 1989 on repeat since October 2014. While it’ll always be an album I play regularly, I needed new Taylor Swift music. Honestly, I’m not sure how I made it an entire year later without it: but here we are.
You see, I waited in anticipation constantly for the last year. Not knowing when it could happen – or if it even would. I wanted to stay hopeful, but I knew she needed time out of the spotlight, and I had to accept it (ugh, even though I DIDN’T want to).
You have something special when you can get a country talking without saying a word. I knew we were getting close to October and around her typical announce time – just a year later that normal – so I started getting hopeful again. Then on August 18, 2017 – the TS6 era began, and anticipation from people all around the world has kicked up into high gear. Taylor didn’t post anything, in fact she did the contrary: wiping out every single social media outlet from any trace of anything she has ever posted. Monday, August 21st, we started getting clues about what was to come: TAYLOR IS BACK!!
Now we have a new single and an album name (Reputation, see pun above) and release date (November 10th).
With Look What You Made Me Do here to hold us #Swifties over until the full album in less than three months, anticipation is high on what to expect with the album. What will the sound be? Any duets? Any more word on the Katy Perry or Kanye drama? (Team Tay, always).
Now, instead of questions filling our minds of “what if?” questions we now can ask “what’s next?” and that’s the importance of anticipation. It’s when people get butterflies in their stomach when hearing your announcement or putting together your clues to piece together what’s about to happen: there’s a thrill in wondering what’s next. And whether we like it or not, waiting is a part of the fun. Life knows you need time to space events out so you truly appreciate what comes next: the art of anticipation.
Taylor Swift has mastered the art of anticipation. She knows she has the world at the tip of her fingers, and she knows that there are millions of us who sit around and are literally crippled at work with silent screams and constant Twitter notifications coming through to our phones (Sorry, Razonia). Love her or hate her, you're talking about her.
That’s why she’s the best in the business – she knows when to take time away, she knows people want to hear what she’s been going through – knowing that we’ll all be able to relate to a song or two. She knows that anticipation is what builds up the hype and makes her albums some of the most successful of all time. Of all time. (Looking at you, Kanye).
Next time you're looking to release a product or announce an event, think of Taylor Swift. Think of anticipation.
How can you get people excited about what you're doing next?