Backstreet's Back...With Killer Social

Contrary to popular belief (at least according to everyone who makes fun of me for still being a fangirl), the Backstreet Boys are still around and they still have a huge following. With 6.5 million Facebook fans, 395,000+ Twitter followers, a quickly growing Instagram community (at 15,000+) — they've even opted to join Pinterest to stay on top of things — and a pending star on the Walk of Fame, they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Though I could gush a lot about my love for the boy band of all boy bands, I wanted to take this time to share a marketing lesson about the music entertainment industry. Why is BSB my example? Simple: They are getting SMM (that's social media marketing) right. Sure, Taylor Swift does a great job, too, because she offers a personal relationship with her fans — mainly by showing adorable vidoes of her cat, Meredith — but BSB, on top of doing fabulously wonderful "throwback" posts of them back in the day, have recently amped up their game since Kevin's return, and it is paying off.

Sprinkled through this post are behind-the-scenes photos that BSB has been sharing from their London recording studio, where they are currently at work on their eighth studio album, including shots of them behind the mic (top left), collaborating with other artists/producers (middle right — that's Craig David, remember him?) and goofing off in their free time (left). What's so genius about this? In my experience as an Internet creep, I have never once seen an artist give fans this much of a glimpse into their everyday work life... in real time. Not only is it interesting, but it's exactly what fans want to see. Thumbs up, boys.