How To Use Streaming To Strengthen Audience Connection

In a world where everyone is vying for attention, and even your garbage man is on TikTok, brands are finding creative ways to connect with their audiences on a personal level.

Streaming platforms provide an ideal breeding ground for this creativity as they allow for the quality of network television plus the more casual, intimacy of social media.

Two high-profile celebrities, who are also each their own brand, show us how we can make the most of streaming to engage our audiences. Selena Gomez, who is known for her work on Barney, Wizards of Waverly Place and as a pop star, broke through as a relatable human during the pandemic with Selena+Chef. And Jose Andres, who began by simply inviting diners into his restaurants, now also invites them into his home with Dinner Party Diaries.

Selena’s Ingredients For Success

In Selena+Chef, Selena Gomez invites top-tier chefs into her kitchen “to learn the ins and outs of making a great meal.” Filmed in her own home, partly as a result of being born of the pandemic, the show positions Gomez as a learner, not an expert, as she works alongside renowned chefs to try and make more of a meal than a mess.

In fact, her role on the show is much like that of the viewer at home to a regular cooking show. This greatly facilitates the audience’s ability to connect with her and to do so in a way that they hadn’t been able to with Selena as Alex Russo or Selena as a singer. As one fan of the show writes, “Say what you want about Selena Gomez as a popstar… all I know is that on Selena + Chef, she is a normal young human trying to make the most of her quarantine life.”

The show also demonstrates Gomez’s caring nature, as every show gives some air time to the guest chef’s non-profit of choice. Not only that, Selena donates $10,000 per episode to that charity as a thank you for engaging with her. This tactic of turning each episode into a blend of entertainment and philanthropy is a successful strategy for connecting with her audience while reinforcing her values or, some might say, on account of her values.

What José Brings To The Table

While he started out as a restaurateur, and soon became an award-winning one, Dinner Party Diaries is not his first foray into television. From 2005-2007, he starred in his own cooking show in Spain, Vamos a Cocinar.

That being said, he seems to have learned a thing or two about audience connection since then. He’s taken a page out of Selena’s book—which perhaps is no coincidence since he did guest star on her show—and has taken a more relatable role in Dinner Party Diaries: that of host. While he is cooking, he’s not the only one in the kitchen; his celebrity friends Jamie Lee Curtis, Bryan Cranston and O’Shea Jackson help.

José is also known for his philanthropic efforts. He founded World Central Kitchen in 2010 following the earthquake in Haiti and made his values known publicly through his continued work with the non-profit and also through his podcast and Substack blog, in which he speaks directly to his audience in a particularly relatable way.

Of his experience on Dinner Party Diaries, he writes, “And the cameras! You have to get used to having so many of them focused on you, capturing every move you make.”

What’s Cooking Now

While some may argue that Selena and José started off in different worlds—one in television and the other in restaurant kitchens—there’s no doubt they’ve ended up on the same one: as a celebrity brand with a strong connection to their audience.

Both are relatable, charitable and personable. Their strategies are working for them. So now what?

José has made it clear he wants to do more. Selena+Chef has been so successful at this that, after four seasons, Selena is expanding the franchise with a new show Selena + Restaurant, in which Gomez and her best friend Raquelle Stevens will head to multiple Los Angeles restaurants to work with chefs like Keith Corbin at Alta, Stephanie Izard of Girl & the Goat, and Wolfgang Puck at CUT.

It’s also inspiring a copycat: Meghan Markle. Meghan’s new cooking series will similarly allow her to engage with her audience on a more personal level, showcasing her interests and offering inspiration in the kitchen and beyond. Her choice of a former Selena+Chef producer as showrunner just goes to show how much Selena has connected with viewers.