Meet Branden Hampton - The Largest Independent Social Media Publisher In The World

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Dec 18, 2014, 07:05 ET

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The name Branden Hampton may not sound familiar, but he is the creator some of the most influential brands on Twitter. Hampton's @Notebook brand has more than 5 million followers and was named the number one most influential brand on Twitter according to a study conducted for Nestivity by the UCLA Anderson School of Management to determine the top 25 most engaged brands. Hampton has perfected the recipe for branding businesses, celebrities and products online. His secret is to break most of the rules of traditional business and that's how he has become the millionaire next door.

Meet Branden Hampton, the largest independent social media publisher in the world.

Branden Hampton's @Notebook is the world's #1 brand.

By adopting social media early on, Hampton quickly found out that creating content that highly resonated with people was the key to gaining followers. When he joined Twitter in early 2008, he created the account @DaveChappelle and posted content as if he were the famous comedian. Hampton explains, "My goal was to determine if a famous comedian's name would inherently attract more followers and if the tweets would be retweeted more often. The results were amazing. Plain and simple: people expect a comedian to be funny. The voice of the message is more powerful than the message itself." The same original jokes that Hampton created and shared on his own Twitter account would get 500 retweets, but would be retweeted 5,000 times when coming from @DaveChappelle. By using jokes and content that Hampton created himself, he quickly got the account to 500,000 followers.

Recently, when Chappelle appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, he spent much of the segment referencing "the fake Dave Chappelle" (i.e. Hampton). He also acknowledged that the fake Dave Chappelle "was hilarious". Hampton wants to meet "the real Dave Chappelle" and suggests that maybe Fallon could invite them both to be guests on an upcoming show.

After seeing the success that jokes had on social media, Hampton created @Notebook and began posting quotes about love and relationships through the account modeled after the famous romantic movie, The Notebook. The concept paid off immediately. Using his method of creating and posting resonating content, Hampton has built the @Notebook number of followers to more than 5 million.

These accounts are not the only ones that Hampton oversees. He has more than 31 million followers across all the social media platforms from the accounts he owns and manages on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. He is, in fact, the largest social media influencer and publisher in the world.

Early on, Hampton realized that owning the most digital real estate and the best digital real estate put him leaps and bounds above other users. He equates capturing social media space to the land grab mentality of buying real estate in lower Manhattan in the 1930's. Not everyone knew it would be so valuable…but those that did, made a fortune. The same was true of domain names in 1998. He also learned that the generic brand name handles like @Cats, @Fitness, @Marijuana, etc. translated into immediate recognition and value.

In 2011, Hampton evolved beyond The Notebook and added other accounts that cater to specific niches and industries. Currently he manages and/or owns Twitter and Instagram handles related to personal fitness, nutrition, love & dating, sports, marijuana and entertainment, to name a few.

Here is a partial list of Hampton's highest monetizing categories or generic brands: @marijuana (Twitter and Instagram), @Fitness (Instagram) @FLTNESS (Twitter), @BeautifulSkin (Twitter), and @noteboook (Twitter and Instagram).

While many media companies believe that they must focus on building a website and then connecting social media to it, Hampton has flipped that idea on its head and has proven that his methods work. He has adapted his business philosophy to this generation's ideal method of thinking and communicating, keeping it surface level to garner mass attention.

According to Hampton, the old school belief, "If you build it they will come," is no longer true. Hampton's model is, "If you get them to come, we can build it." He proved the viability of the model when developing the Twitter brand @SecretAisle, a brand that focuses on women's fashion and makeup. Hampton muses, "I knew nothing about the subject but knew exactly how to create content that was compelling and could/would be retweeted. I found an experienced CEO in Iowa, had the site built on Shopify, created a product line from a few different wholesalers and promoted it from social media. No store, no hassles, just profits." Hampton's business models and companies are more than virtual, they are virtually perfect.

Hampton also uses his finely tuned skills to help well-known celebrities, sports stars, and musicians brand themselves on social media. Clients include poker pro Phil Ivey, Playmate Sara Jean Underwood, rapper/producer Mally Mall, and many others who are under protection of confidentiality. Some of his followers include, Jennifer Lopez (since 2012), Rihanna (2012) and Chris Brown (2012). Kim Kardashian has been following Hampton since 2011, as well as her little sister, Kendall Jenner. And, let's face it…who doesn't need to hear more about the Kardashians?

ABOUT BRANDEN HAMPTON
Branden Hampton is the largest independent social media publisher in the world. He has more than 31 million followers across all the social media platforms that he manages and owns on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Some of his highest monetizing brands include: @marijuana (Twitter and Instagram), @Fitness (Instagram) @FLTNESS (Twitter), @BeautifulSkin (Twitter), and @noteboook (Twitter and Instagram).

Hampton is followed by celebrities, sports stars, musicians, and some of the most prominent names in the entertainment industry including Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Chris Brown, and many more. His clients include poker pro Phil Ivey, Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood, rapper/producer Mally Mall and numerous others who are under protection of confidentiality.