Many identify senior Zoë Willis as an accomplished runner and dancer, but also a music enthusiast and ardent concertgoer. Willis has used her affinity for music and Justin Bieber to begin a career in music industry and marketing.
Willis’s concert-going career began when she took over the domain name of @bieberfever in August of 2009. “I had a Twitter that was about Justin Bieber and it was just a little fan Twitter. Then I saw that someone had the username, ‘bieberfever,’ but they weren’t tweeting from it…so I just emailed her… and she gave me her username and password. So I just took over her account.” More than just fans have coveted Willis’s Twitter. In fact, some of Justin Bieber’s personal team has asked about taking over the account. “I’m just not sure I want to give it up yet,” said Willis.
Besides having over 12,000 followers, Willis has enjoyed perks beyond compare. “A lot of it is not about the amount of followers I have, but who’s following me…a lot of Justin’s crew and celebrities…It’s cool because whenever I meet a celebrity and I tell them I’m @bieberfever, they’ll follow me…like Sean Kingston followed me.” Willis remains in touch with Justin’s crew. “Every time Justin comes I’ll tell them [his crew] what shows I’m going to and they give me passes…it’s all about knowing the right people.”
Although Willis has been granted the opportunities in part because of her username, many of her opportunities are rooted in her personable disposition and excellent social skills. “Everyone always asks me, ‘How do you meet so and so?’ or ‘How do you get tickets to so and so?’ It’s really just knowing people and getting your name out there.” Willis cited the time she and a friend were talking to one of Joe Jonas’s best friends. Both girls were given front row seats at the Jonas Brothers Concert in Los Angeles.
When asked her main tips in getting tickets and backstage passes, Willis replied, “Sometimes you have to break the rules.” Keeping in contact with the cast and crew of shows is a large step in the equation of meeting a celebrity. Talking to security is also an important part in getting good seats. “We were sitting in row 11 and we were talking to security and then the guy was like, ‘Oh, we actually have some seats up here.’ We were moved to front row.”
Willis also suggests calling in to radio stations. “There’s always set times for when they have the contests… you don’t always have to be listening all the time to these radio stations. You just know the times they have the contests and call in or text in at that time”
Online pre-sales are another way to plan ahead for great prices on tickets. “There’s always pre-sales on Ticketmaster and if you care about where you’re sitting, I highly suggest pre-sales… The main thing is: get there early and talk to people.”
But when desperate times come for desperate measures, Willis suggests the risky business of scalping. “I was at the Lady Gaga Concert and got front-row tickets five minutes before the concert started from a scalper.”
Willis adds, “You sort of have to be careful with that… you don’t want to get yourself into a sketchy situation.”Although Willis remains an avid concertgoer, she remains loyal to Justin Bieber. “…Now he kind of knows me by @bieberfever.” After all, that was how Willis began her career. “A big part of the whole Justin Bieber thing has been social media,” added Willis.
Willis is more than just a “Belieber.” Willis adds, “I’ve always been into different bands…” Willis’s affinity for music and the music industry stretches far beyond the teen pop sensation. Willis has used social networking to help Paramount Pictures promote movies as well, including Justin Bieber’s movie, “Never Say Never.”. “Basically I used Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, all that stuff, to promote the movie…I went to Paramount Pictures, in L.A. two years ago, right after the movie came out and they said that it actually helped promote the movie a lot and it was free for them.” Willis will be helping to promote a new band. In the past, Willis has promoted movies as well. Willis promoted the re-release of “Titanic,” “Katy Perry the Movie: Part of Me,” and “Super 8.”
In the summer, Willis will be interning at Paramount Pictures as a social media correspondent for marketing. “Every movie has a different audience or different age group and there are different types of people so you really have to tailor the hash tags or the way you’re marketing it to that audience. So it’s basically just figuring out what works for what people.”
Willis’s experiences have influenced her future endeavors as well. Willis will be attending University of Southern California where she will major in business and minor in music industry and international relations. “I want to be more involved on the business side of it all. I think marketing is really cool… seeing what works… it’s really fun and exciting.”
(For more words from Willis, see the guest music review in A & E.)