Hollywood star and Twitter legend Ashton Kutcher, recently announced that even he is having trouble dealing with the magnitude of his Twitter account. Kutcher has always posted directly to Twitter, keeping his 8 million followers entertained with random thoughts, insights and personal discussions.
Courtesy of ctv.ca
But now, Kutcher is feeling the keen sting of a tweet gone wrong.
Even Celebs Need Management Teams
After the firing of Joe Paterno, Kutcher published a tweet in his defense – without investigating why the man was fired in the first place. As it turns out, Paterno was accused of covering up an incident of child rape, not something you want to be aligned with. The outpouring was tremendous and violent. Followers protested by sending Kutcher thousands of hate tweets.
Eventually, Kutcher recanted, apologized and came to a sudden realization. He is not qualified to speak to 8 million people. With such a large, powerful following behind him, his tweets affect people. That’s why he has decided to filter all of his social media posts through a social media management company. It’s the only way he can prevent this from happening again.
Social Media Management: Crucial To Brands
News like this reminds us that brand management in social media is a necessary part of online exposure. Both small and large business, personal and private accounts need to be monitored, filtered and prepared for online readership. It’s not only about getting more followers, earning money or gaining exposure – it’s about reputation. Every brand, everywhere needs reputation management.
There are two sides to social media. On the one hand it has a never ending list of benefits, but on the other – severe repercussions for brands that ignore its cloud-based power. When your brand interacts with people, it invites feedback, good and bad. When this feedback is bad, it can bring your business to a grinding halt.
Celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, who have had to learn this the hard way, act as cautionary tales to businesses across the globe. Luckily, there are affordable social media management companies in the world that provide customized solutions for businesses that take social strategy seriously.
We do this for brands on a daily basis. With our “Social Media Success Path” we’ll help you build a presence online, while maintaining the integrity of your company. Instead of investing in template solutions, we collaborate with our clients so that they get the most out of their strategies.
The Social Media Success Path
Whatever your business goals may be on the internet, we’re equipped to help you achieve them, safely and efficiently. From a comprehensive consultation call, to profile setup, content creation and maintenance – our goal is always to see your business thrive in this social environment.
A big part of that is managing your social reputation. With years of experience handling client profiles, we’re confident that we can keep you on the right side of social feedback. If you’ve been looking for a social management partner, call Social Media Magic now, or contact us here.
What do you think about the Ashton Kutcher debacle? Are social management companies becoming indispensable? Leave your comment below!
It’s very clear that “reaction” in the social media world is a very dangerous thing to engage in because the internet is written in pen, not pencil. You need to research different sides to things before committing in Twitter or Facebook…or just wait a day and don’t worry about being first
Mark
@Mark – even when you wait a day, one small piece of info can mislead armies of other bloggers. Its all about learning to refine your research skills! Thanks Mark.
I too agree that the “Most” brands need a social media management team to filter and censor what is being put out to the millions. I also feel that a leader in the social media world such as Kutcher might benefit from some low level assistance more than that of a management team.
He made a very common mistake of commenting before doing research, it happens every day but in this case his followers and fans alike are millions strong. They have reacted badly to a misinformed and quick to react tweet.
I teach my clients, before they post comments, tweet or make blog posts, first you need to do basic research so you are educated on the subject or incident and can defend your comment if someone questions it.
With Kutcher, that is the kind of direction I feel he needed and would benefit from most. As for the thousands of flaming comments towards Kutcher, at this time I feel he would best benefit from a team responding to each comment in a specific manner and handle the fallout in his best interest.
@Kelly – well said Kelly, and certainly a valid point. I think most of all, it was a rude awakening for Ashton, who never really considered the implications of his words before then. While we don’t think it’s necessary to reply to each individual tweet, a blanket apology has been issued which will do the trick! Keep reading:)
While brand management is important and what is posted online is more indelible than permanent marker, I don’t believe that means that every business needs a social media management team. Rather, everyone who is online — whether a business, a celebrity, or just an individual — should have a strategy for what is okay to post, what is questionable and requires further research, and what is simply not okay to post online. Having this kind of guidance would have helped Aston avoid this situation.
Considering that the majority of job offers are not made without first checking the candidates online profiles, no one who is online can afford to post things indiscriminately.
@Lesa – Perhaps what we need are different levels of management? Light filtering or editing could be all that is required for someone like Ashton, that enjoys tweeting. Small businesses are able to manage their own strategies certainly, but they lack the time and resources to do the necessary work. While some will succeed, others will give up. It’s up to all of us to make sure that the businesses that do decide to manage their own campaigns are informed. Thanks for a great comment!