Celebrity Endorsement Using Twitter

Billions of pounds are spent annually by global brands to have celebrities endorse their products or services. In this article I will be discussing the power celebrities hold over the general public and how businesses have got a piece of the ‘blinging’pie that is celebrity endorsement using Social Media.

Firstly, I however wanted to give the Wikipedia definition of a ‘celebrity’.

A celebrity (often referred to as a celeb in popular culture) is a person who is famously recognised in a society or culture. Generally speaking, a celebrity is someone who gets media attention and most frequently shows an extroverted personality.

The key thing here that stands out here is ‘famously recognised’, and this is exactly what brands are taking advantage on.

So why celebrities?

Well, consumers, particularly women it must be said, love celebrities and hearing about their daily lives. For years the big brands have utilised the fascination we have with celebrities by associating themselves with the right people in the media.

The influence of the media and ‘celebs’ on our daily lives are becoming ever more obvious to the average consumer, so it’s important that marketing teams tap into this.

But you don’t have to be a massive brand to give this a go, when the key tool that many marketers are using to aid celebrity endorsement is Twitter, and hey it certainly does not have the overheads that traditional advertising has.

Interestingly, it has been commented that the reason behind the popularity of celebrity advertising is the belief that a brand image built through celebrities achieve a higher degree of attention and recall for consumers, which will eventually lead to an increase turnover.

Twitter and Celebrities

The majority of businesses simply do not have the budgets for ‘A list’ celebrity sponsorships. Campaigns including Tiger Woods for Nike, Britney Spears for Pepsi and Uma Therman for Tag Heur ran into the millions of pounds and as we know with Tiger Woods, the risks for brands can be high when they start to misbehave.

So Twitter has now become an opportunity where costs are much smaller but also, when things do go wrong, it can be used to control the impact of a public embarrassment.

Now one of the world’s most popular social media outlets, Twitter was first popular with cyber geeks. But the traction it eventually gained with high-profile celebrities is arguably one of the leading reasons that Twitter is today a mainstream phenomenon.

So Twitter was actually propelled into the social landscape by using celebrity endorsement, and whether this was intentional or not, it has proved what power they have.

Foursquare’s Celebrity Mode

One startup that appears to be following Twitter’s lead is the rapidly-growing Foursquare, so much so that Yahoo! has shown interest in buying the company for $100 million.

Foursquare is a consumer mobile service that encourages people to share their location information with others. This is an interesting current example of celebrity endorsement because Foursquare have just signed a new deal with MTV Networks. The plan is showcase personalities from hit MTV and VH1 shows such as Jersey Shore and The Hills using Foursquare’s new Celebrity Mode.

‘Celebrity Mode’ basically enables fans to stalk follow their favourite celebrities and opens up the opportunity for location-based sponsorship opportunities.

Pros of celebrity endorsement

Mainstream exposure – For better or worse, Western culture is obsessed with celebrities. For a business looking to gain mainstream exposure, high-profile celebrity users can drive a lot of interest very quickly.

Increased credibility - Even celebrities that the public loves to hate can help generate the appearance of credibility for a brand. For many individuals, if a well-known celebrity has chosen to use a particular service, that service must have something worth checking out.

Compelling content - Content is always a challenge for content-driven businesses. Celebrities by their very nature are likely to produce the type of content that even money can’t always buy: timely, exclusive and controversial.

Cons of celebrity endorsement

Decreased credibility - Despite the infatuation we have with celebrities, a large number of consumers don’t care about what Cheryl Cole or Johnny Depp are doing. Some are even likely to be nauseated by celebrity happenings. For these consumers, too much celebrity involvement on a particular service is likely to be a real turn off.

Lost focus - Consumer internet companies in particular walk a fine line when proactively courting celebrities. If they’re perceived as being too focused on not knowing to the needs of their celebrity users, they may lose the respect and loyalty of their regular users.

Fleeting relevance - The only thing that fades faster than external beauty is celebrity. Thus, building a service on the back of celebrities can be difficult, and businesses that want to remain relevant may need to develop an alternative source of relevance to the mainstream consumers.