Draya Michele is one hard-working businesswoman. The Basketball Wives: LA star and young entrepreneur is at the helm of two wildly successful clothing lines as the sole designer of everything from chic swimsuits to evening attire and coats. Aside from stellar business acumen, Michele boasts an impressive social media presence totaling over 3.5 million combined followers.
Draya Michele, Photograph by Chris Paul Thomas
Here, the Mint Swim owner talks to DuJour about the best practices to follow on Twitter to gain more followers and how social media has helped her brands grow.
What’s the best way to stay relevant on Twitter?
The first thing is recognizing who follows you and staying current with them. It’s just about keeping your audience entertained.
Any advice on how to gain more of a following?
There are so many people that have a lot of followers by just being funny. There are fashion-forward people who have a lot of followers just for having a fashion sense, so it depends. Whatever your niche is, find it and stick with it.
Are there any topics to avoid?
I try to never talk about any other celebrities in a negative way. Whatever is breaking the Internet at the time, I won’t comment on because I don’t want to offend anybody. Social networks can make or break someone. If I go on [Twitter] and say a movie stunk or someone’s album is not good, there’s going to be a lot of people that actually believe me and will not support it because I don’t. I just try to be positive.
Is there a minimum amount of Tweets you should post per day?
I do sometimes binge and go crazy and sometimes I’ll talk on there all day, otherwise I’d say two to three. I definitely use Twitter a lot for reading purposes, I think it is hilarious; it’s like my newspaper.
What do your followers love about you?
I think they love the fact that I’m real and I only post things that I believe in and that I stand behind. I’m also very positive on social networks.
How has social media helped your businesses?
It is the biggest form of advertising you can have. I think social media is bigger than a Super Bowl commercial at this point, so I use it heavily. It’s my commercial. Everything I post helps my businesses. Without it, I don’t really know where I would be. I don’t even like people joking and saying, “What if your social media accounts got hacked?” I’m like, that’s not funny. Let’s not joke about that.
