We all know that celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher have taken to social media sites in a very big way over the past year. We see stars coming from all industries carrying millions of fans and followers. Many of these people interact on a regular basis, sharing their lives with us just like anyone else would. However, some of the VIPs have begun to turn over the handling of their accounts to marketing and PR companies. I’m not so sure this is a great idea.
I’m going to pick on Ashton for a few moments to illustrate an important point. We’ve all heard stories of his big Twitter oopsie. The man received a lot of flak over saying something he felt was right at the time. OMG… he made a mistake. So what? I’m willing to wager every single one of us has – at some point – Tweeted out something we later wish we hadn’t. Do we hire a PR person to write on our behalf? Of course we don’t. We may apologize or even pretend it never happened, but we continue on as before. We’re human after all. We screw up. We learn from our mistakes and we keep going.
Ashton’s blooper wasn’t the Tweet itself. His flub was in giving up on himself. He still has a bajillion followers, but how many bother to follow the stream now? They know the words aren’t coming from Kutcher. Mr. celebrity is no longer sharing his life – someone else is simply sharing his work. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather find out what he thinks about current topics, how he feels about the world around him and what his plans are for the future. I don’t give a rat’s patootie when his next appearance is. I wanted to understand and know Ashton as a PERSON – not as some Hollywood icon.
So what should these stars do? They have to be real. They shouldn’t have some mouthpiece sending out missives for them. Why can’t more of them embrace social media like WWE star Shawn Michaels does? Shawn talks WITH people – he doesn’t talk AT them. He interacts. He answers questions. He lets us into his life – good and bad. Sure, he may talk about his upcoming adventures in showbiz occasionally, but more often you’ll find him discussing his latest hunting trip or something fun he did with his kids. That, my friends, is a perfect example of a superstar getting social media absolutely right.
I’m sick to death of the PR people taking over Twitter, and it’s time the hotshots themselves take it back. Social media marketing is powerful, yes. It’s a great way for musicians, actors, sports bigwigs and writers to promote themselves, yes. But they need to learn to just hang out and BE THERE, instead of only trying to sell us – well – themselves.
Talk to us, folks… I guarantee we’ll love you a lot more (and buy more of your stuff!!) once you do.






