Six months ago, Richard Simmons was better known for his spandex and '80s fitness videos more so than his social media following. On the edge of falling off the pop culture radar, however, the 65-year-old recently made a resurgence into the spotlight.
Simmons' seemingly random red carpet appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in August netted him 37 million mentions across social networks and turned his name into a trending Twitter topic. Meanwhile, at the Emmys in September, Simmons' camp live tweeted the ceremony, sharing memes and GIFs of him dressed as characters from nominated shows. The content reportedly reached nearly 20 million people.
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As impromptu as his antics at the VMAs and Emmys appeared, they were meticulously planned and executed as part of a strategy known as "culture jamming." Simmons and other celebrities are employing specialty digital companies such as theAudience and WhoSay, which are helping the stars deliver social interactions and buzz.

theAudience "culture jammed" Simmons' career by having 18 employees help him create possibly viral live moments on the VMAs red carpet. The magic viral moment happened when Simmons posed with Miley Cyrus for an Instagram photo, which fans favorited on her account roughly 284,000 times.
Simmons' social reach has since ballooned to more than 100,000 total followers.
"We're a little bit like the man behind the curtain,"  Oliver Luckett, founder and CEO of theAudience, told Mashable. His company builds and grows social presences for stars as well as film and television properties on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. With solid analytics tools, he's helping artists know who and where to target.
theAudience, which represents about 700 entertainers such as Pitbull, Mark Wahlberg and Russell Brand, is venture backed by a group that includes William Morris Endeavor as well as Napster co-founder and Facebook's first president Sean Parker.
To get a feel for his clients, Luckett sits down with them and asks them what they think fans respond to. "It's like a psychology session," he said, adding that theAudience doesn't post on their behalf as much as help them devise a plan.
Next, theAudience stages an object, such as a tweet, that they email to clients to get to rewrite or approve copy before any social material is posted. He said the secret to good content is unlocking the voice of a celebrity or brand and creating an emotional reaction to drive shares, comments and clicks. 
"Marketing companies don't think that way," Luckett claims.

His clients' content is seen by about 1 billion people ever month, with 10 billion impressions — staggering numbers that allow theAudience to charge monthly retainers ranging from $10,000 to $150,000. All profits garnered through subsequent deals with clients and third parties are shared in a 50-50 split.
"There isn't another group out there who has the skill, the creativity, the talent or the resources to reach the masses via social media," the energetic Simmons told Mashable.
Competitor WhoSay — venture funded by WME's rival Creative Artists Agency (CAA) — has about 1,500 celebrity clients such as Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey. The agency lets them manage their own digital presence and publish directly to social networks. 
Steve Ellis, WhoSay's founder and chief executive, said his company never posts on behalf of clients, instead guiding them on best practices. Thirty percent of clients are from CAA, while more than $20 million in investments comes from Amazon, Greylock, Comcast Ventures and others.
Last month the company launched a free iOS app that lets fans use celebrity-generated content to create their own customizable digital magazines.

Unlike theAudience, WhoSay doesn't charge anything. Monetization hinges on the success of the new app, and making enough ad revenue from it, explains Ellis. The plan is to eventually build a revenue-share model with clients.
"We empower celebrities themselves to be their own business," Ellis said. "We don't charge clients fees."
It's a gamble, but with 12 million fans visiting the site every month and more than 2 million already using the new app, Ellis is confident banking on clients' star power.
"If you have an audience you have a media business," he said.
United Talent Agency, Creative Artists Agency, International Creative Management and William Morris Endeavor are the big traditional firms farming out celebrities to the above companies — or using in-house staff and services. Then there's hybrids such as Fanpagedirect, Maker Studios, HUGE Inc. and Giant Media, with niche and mainstream clients.
One management company going in-house is United Talent Agency. Eric Kuhn, a social media journalist turned agent who joined the company three years ago, shepherds clients' digital presences. Kuhn said the agency never posts on behalf of clients. Rather, he trains them on how to best navigate the social landscape, everything from which startups are ripe for partnership to social media practices and emerging trends. He said the total social reach for UTA clients is in the billions of impressions every week.
"Every client has a different goal," he said. "Some to sell movies, some to sell books, some to share a charity."
Josh Spector, who directs social for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, manages celebrities much differently. Spector overseas a team of eight people, who post to the Academy's four million social fans. They work with stars on more than 100 events each year, including live-tweeting the Oscars.
See also: 66.5 Million Facebook Interactions Occurred During the Oscars
Spector said a problem with outside agencies running campaigns is that everyone calls themselves an expert these days.
"We've reached a point where everybody in Hollywood knows social media is important, but a lot fewer people know how to judge who does it well," Spector said.
Courtney Holt, chief operating officer of Maker Studios, agrees with Spector. Holt said his business differs by partnering with talent and distributing content instead of directing what to post or piggybacking on high-profile celebs. Maker distributes content through YouTube, boasting 4 billion views a month and 260 million subscribers on 60,000 channels. Partners include Snoop Dogg and Robert De Niro's Tribeca Enterprises.
The Culver City, Calif. company has raised more than $62 million in funding, and in August, acquired the video distribution network Blip. Distribution is what sets Maker apart, and social is the secret sauce, Holt said.
"Twitter and Facebook are huge amplifiers," he said, noting artists like Snoop see social as the end game to monetize their social following. "Snoop wants to have a vehicle to connect directly to his fans.
"We provide the fuel in the engine."
Eccentric fitness personality Richard Simmons stunned attendees with a flashy appearance on the red carpet. The 65-year-old even stopped to kiss singer Katy Perry on the hand, to which she laughed off.
The playful girls of X Factor-grown Fifth Harmony, as usual, made some quirky faces along the red carpet, like when Camila appeared to want to bite us.
VMAs' Artist to Watch winner Austin Mahone pulled out his custom red-plated iPhone for Mashable. After seeing a similar one while at a Texas radio station, he had one built just for him. The artist said he's a big fan of the CNN app.
Pre-show performer Ariana Grande rushed past fans and reporters, impressively sprinting in white heels to fulfill an on-air commitment.
The stylish guys of One Direction dressed down for the VMAs, with Liam wrapping a flannel button down around his waist, akin to some rockers from the 1990s.
This happened.
TLC's T-Boz and Chilli grooved to the background music, dancing and walking from reporter to reporter.
While the celebrities all paraded in the same direction, a black-clad Lady Gaga and her entourage confidently walked in the opposite direction.
When Mashable asked Wanz, who spits lyrics in the "Thrift Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" hit, what his favorite line from that song is, he sang it. "I wear my grandad's clothes," he sang, before Mashable's Brian Anthony Hernandez finished the lyric with him. "I look incredible."
'N Sync wasn't the only group to reunite at the VMAs. Making the Bands' Danity Kane rejoined forces, after splitting in 2009, without D. Woods on the carpet. Shannon went shirtless underneath tuxedo blazer. And the rest were no fans of pants either.
Images: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for MTV, theAudience, Emily Dyan Ibarra, WhoSay