If anything can convince you that participating in social media is worth the effort, it’s the story of Tardar Sauce, a two year old playful kitty born with feline dwarfism. It is this dwarfism that led to Tardar Sauce’s transformation to the one and only ‘Grumpy Cat’, the beginning of a fortune for her owner, grossing more than $100m in two years.
A random posting on Reddit by owner Tabatha Bundesen’s brother quickly gained momentum, and soon became one of the most shared memes on the Internet. Grumpy Cat was everywhere! But as with most five minutes of fame, financial reward is far from guaranteed and in fact can become a stress on most people unprepared for their new found notoriety.
Enter Ben Lashes, social media entrepreneur and creator of the world’s first Meme Manager service. Through creative marketing, strategic partnerships and the constant grumpy grin of Tardar Sauce, Lashes turned a comical internet meme into a brand on the internet, producing web shorts, merchandise, and paid event appearances. All for a happy-go-lucky cat who just happens to look like he is permanently having a bad day.
The moral of the story?
The internet works in mysterious ways, but it is the cheapest lottery ticket you will ever purchase with limitless reward. Posting content over various social media forums is fast, free, easy, and gives you a chance for the ultimate reward. Sure, on the surface it seems random those things that become the flavor of the week, but leaders in media such as Ben Lashes know that there is a big difference between random luck and organized filthy rich chaos.