Unless you’re living under a rock, you no doubt heard about Charlie Sheen’s bizarre antics recently and his embracing social media channels to connect directly with his fans. Sheen joined Twitter 6 days ago, and already has over 2 million followers. And late last week, he started a show called Sheen’s Corner on UStream, and 2 episodes have so far been viewed over a million times.
Most of us will agree that it’s difficult for big brands to emulate the success that Sheen has had in using social media over the last week to connect with his fans. But while some would offer that it’s because Sheen is a celebrity, I will offer this: Sheen is willing to connect directly with his fans and most brands are scared to death of connecting directly with its customers.
What Sheen is doing is using social media tools to connect directly with his fans. And if you will notice, a LOT of people are using those same social media channels to tell him he’s acting like a complete idiot. Many companies are fearful of social media because they don’t like the idea of its customers having new tools to more easily say negative things about them. What they don’t realize is the enormous opportunity that social media gives them to connect directly to their customers, as Sheen is doing here with his fans.
Why is this significant? Because participating in a conversation changes that conversation. In the span of 6 days, Sheen has gone from watching the online conversation around him unfold, to literally taking control of that conversation about him, via his using social media channels like Twitter and UStream.
Also, compare and contrast what we saw of Sheen last week via mainstream media, vs what we later saw of him via social media. I saw clips of his NBC interview last week, and I honestly wondered if the guy had lost his mind. Then this morning, I was watching his first UStream episode, and I saw him hanging out in his living room with a few of his friends, and he looked, dare I say it….almost normal! Social media has an enormous capacity to ‘humanize’ a brand, and when that happens, it becomes FAR easier to connect with that brand or person. Last week, Sheen looked like a complete fruitcake (“He’s got raisins for eyes”) in talking to NBC, but on UStream, he’s just hanging out with his friends in his living room. It’s almost impossible to relate to him when we saw him on NBC, but watching him and his friends on UStream, he seems like a ‘normal guy’, more or less 
So what should your big brand learn from how Charlie Sheen has used social media over the last week? That connecting directly with your customers helps them connect directly with you. The last post I wrote here in 2010 was about the idea that the promise of social media lies in FEWER conversations. The idea that the companies that will ‘win’ in the future will be the ones that find a way to have the internal conversation they have about themselves and their customers, more closely match the external conversation that customers are having about themselves, and their brand. What Sheen has done over the last week is move those two conversations closer together, via social media.
There’s no reason why your company can’t do the same thing, but it starts with being willing to listen to your customers, and then participating in the conversation they are having about your brand. I never said it was going to be easy, but it will definitely be worth it.
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You know, this is a good take Mack.
I literally just posted a “4 Reasons Why Sheen Didn’t Win on Ustream” and approached it from an angle of what he could have done with that broadcast.
But now that I think about it, he really did kind of come across like an everyday dude just hanging out at his house. And that’s a good thing.
Maybe a kind of batsh*t nuts one…but not so “superstar” as before.
Nice post
@davemhuffman
David Huffman´s last post ..4 Reasons Why Charlie Sheen Didnt Win on Ustream
David you’re right, the flow and content was crap, but I actually think that helped here. It made him look more normal and accessible. He looked like a guy that had no idea what he was doing, cause he probably didn’t.
Guess what you and I would have looked like if we had done our 1st UStream? Probably about like Charlie did. That’s why I think it worked.
The big thing is, can he keep this up or will he get bored with UStream and drop it. My guess is he drops it, but we’ll see.
Yea, I dunno.
I mean we’re talking about an actor that has been through who knows how many performances over the course of his life.
The guy should know how to tell a story. Or at least pretend to know.
And I’m sure he does – per his “disorganized experiment” comment, he most likely just didn’t give a crap about “being good” and just wanted to hop on there and connect.
But I hear ya. All this is subjective as hell. When I left the stream there were still some 90,000 + still on there chatting and rooting him on…so someone definitely thought it was cool.
Still blows me away that we have free tools at our disposal to do things like this…broadcast live, etc. Really awesome.
Dave Huffman´s last post ..4 Reasons Why Charlie Sheen Didnt Win on Ustream
Dave we have these tools, and their potential, especially in a big business context, is generally untapped simply because companies aren’t sure what they CAN do with them. Simply because they have never tried. This is why I think it’s important to highlight events such as this, as silly as it seems, cause so many of us pay attention to celebs, and when they do something, it gets our attention, for better or for worse.
For sure. I’ve been a part of those companies working to knock down walls every step of the way.
It’s a beautiful thing to see when they fall.
Dave Huffman´s last post ..4 Reasons Why Charlie Sheen Didnt Win on Ustream
I like to think about this from the biz perspective. Sheen is getting very popular. But popularity does not feed a business or feed that kids. The verdict is still out on whether he can convert his popularity into a cashflow. I stopped being impressed with “popularity” awhile ago. Segue that popularity into a business plan fast and act on it. THat is real definition of #winning
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I was sitting through a social media presentation last week and the presenter discussed how social media should be a two-way communication gateway. He later mentioned using YouTube but disabled the comment section.
I think many companies want to raging success that social media can bring but don’t want the vulnerability that opening themselves up for potential negative feedback can bring.
Good points, Torrey. Most companies don’t want to use social media to connect with customers, and the few that do, only want to use the tools to connect when they have good news to share. You have to build the connections with your customers BEFORE you need them. Even if there’s no online conversation happens around/about your brand, then you can CREATE one instead of reacting to an existing conversation!
You know, Mack, I think you hit it on the head when you said he’s allowing people to see him as a normal guy. And I think that’s why this reaction to his life blowing up really works. We tend to see these people gliding constantly over red carpets and crushing us with an “it’s all good” smile. The unapproachable becomes approachable when they screw up just like us and then expose a more real and raw side in a medium we understand and participate in on a regular basis.
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Right Tim, I really think that’s the big lesson here, the contrast between how we viewed Sheen via traditional/mainstream media, and how his image changes when he uses social media.
And I wonder if he sticks with social media, will that change the image he portrays in mainstream media from this point forward? Will be interesting to watch.
Mack,
You’re spot on with this article. Sure, Sheen is a train wreck (I still think he is one despite his social media blitz) but he is at least attempting to be the one in control of the conversation. Well, for that matter, he is in control. He seems to still come off a bit crazy thought.
I went on a rant about brands ignoring their fans via social media about a week ago. You’re completely right. Even though these brands have their fancy fan pages with landing tabs and gizmos, they’re still not engaging in the conversation. Their pages are just another way to advertise. This, in my opinion, is completely missing the point of social media.
If you were to tell a brand this, they would undoubtedly be shocked that you would insinuate that they are not reaching their full social media potential.
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Thanks Mack, enjoyed this post. I, too, have been watching and marveling over the @charliesheen Twitter explosion of followers, and tuned into the first Sheen’s Korner episode to see what old Charlie had to say. When I showed my BF a bit of it, he said ‘it’s like me hanging out with my friends, only not as good.’
I think another interesting nuance is how now Charlie’s calling the shots and saying what he wants to, with 100% of it getting out into the public eye for better or worse, instead of the ‘fruitcake’ clips being packaged and presented in the more traditional media. He’s now telling his story directly, instead of others telling it for him through their agenda. Will be interesting to watch. Thanks again. Lisa
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Lisa I love that point because you are spot on. Sheen is no longer reacting to a conversation about him that’s being controlled by other sources. He’s taken the bull by the horns and is using social media tools to get his views out there, and to take control of the conversation about him and his ‘brand’.
By participating in the conversation, he has changed it. That’s the key lesson that I hope brands will take away from this post.
Charlie Sheen is an entertainer. I was so puzzled last week when we all acted surprised that he acted like an idiot. What did we expect him to do? Being a bird-brained moron keeps us hanging on his every word, and that’s how the man makes his living.
It’s not like he had to worry about tarnishing his legacy…
Here’s the difference for brands: Will Charlie Sheen still be connecting directly with his fans in May? In July? In 2012?
Entertainers love attention. They love cameras. As soon as some new shiny object captures our collective attention, Charlie Sheen will go back to whatever he was doing two weeks ago and the engagement will tail off. When the cameras vanish, so, too, will Charlie Sheen.
Brand’s can’t afford to walk away like that. Nobody expects Charlie Sheen to be accountable, but our standards are higher for the brands whose names appear on our Visa bills.
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Social media does have a nice way of humanizing folks. But the way Charlie Sheen is doing it isn’t replicable for most businesses. They can’t get a million followers and they can’t broadcast and be human.
Sheen’s example is mainly how not to use social, though you definitely pulled out the best lessons.
Phil most brands don’t need a million followers they just need to connect with the people that WANT to connect with them. As this post proves, the people that disagree with Sheen’s behavior last week, still disapprove of it this week. But now Sheen has a way to connect directly with the people that are his fans, and that’s powerful in that he is taking active control of his ‘branding’ and how people perceive him.
Last week he was interviewed by NBC, and came across as a raving loon. Then a couple of days ago he turned to UStream, a channel HE controlled, and looked far better. I think that’s a lesson for brands to consider.
Yeah, when you put it like that, Charlie Sheen’s a smart cookie – not just sitting back and letting people talk crap around him, but jumping right in and making his own platform. It’s kind of cool (whatever other criticisms one wants, rightly, to make about his personal life decisions).
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I have to strongly disagree with this post.
If what’s happening to Sheen is “winning”, I’m not sure your big brand wants to win. This is a human being who to all appearances is suffering from significant mental health issues.
The fact that he can pull a big audience to watch his self-destructive spiral doesn’t mean he’s doing something right. It means we are a society of rubberneckers.
Bob, the post isn’t about Sheen’s personal life, it’s about how he is leveraging social media to connect directly with his fans. I think that’s something that most/all big brands should attempt to do.
As I told someone on Twitter, I can divorce my personal thoughts on Sheen’s behavior from this issue. Yes, he comes across as at best a bit disturbed, and at worse, possibly having serious issues. But none of that changes the fact that by embracing social media, he’s connecting with his fans directly, instead of via traditional media.
What Bob said. Granted, I refuse to watch this circus because watching people act like mental illness is entertainment turns my stomach, but somehow I doubt Charlie Sheen is actually “engaging” with anyone because he’s not even coherent. Setting up shop on a public channel does not equal engagement.
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Gotta agree with Bob on this one. I don’t know how anyone could be encouraged to emulate, even slightly, what Mr. Sheen is attempting here. There’s so much more to this than just “connecting with his fans”. This is a desperate battle to sway public opinion. As for the fact that he appears “normal” on UStream, I mean, the man is an actor for crying out loud(!). Ultimately, he’s a troubled and self-destructive individual and we love to follow whacked-out celebrity train wrecks, yes? Britney Spears, anyone?
This post looks more like a lame attempt to cash in on “Charlie Sheen buzz” than something that any company or brand should take to heart. I must say, I’m really surprised by this post, I think you could’ve found a much better example than Charlie Sheen. Sorry, Mack.
Nuff said.
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There’s only one good thing about a train wreck. When it draws a crowd, it makes it easier to smack all the voyeuristic gawkers on the head and say “YOU’RE SICK!” Sorry Mack. After using Sheen as the thinnest kind of vulturish link-bait, this smack is for you.
Dennis if I was going to post about Sheen as ‘link-bait’, then I would have done it on Friday or Saturday, not on Monday. This is actually the 1st post I’ve ever written about a celebrity joining Twitter, and I did so because I thought there was a solid business lesson involved.
If you don’t like Charlie Sheen (and a lot of people don’t) that’s fine, but you need to understand that this post is NOT about Charlie Sheen’s personal life, it’s about how he is using social media to connect with his fans. I can divorce my feelings about Charlie Sheen the person, and examine what he is doing with social media and talk about how it could help businesses. That’s the focus of this post.
I think the salient point of this post is spot on – the conversation is going to happen with or without you, if you aren’t part of it you have no voice at all.
Whatever your opinion on Sheen himself, you cannot deny that the conversation has changed noticeably since he has started using social media. It’s impossible to say exactly how nutty or unbalanced he is without seeing the complete and unedited interviews given to TV. It’s very easy to slant an interview to reflect preconceived ideas.
By ‘grabbing the bull by the horns’ and engaging rather than sitting on the sidelines and watching, he is changing perceptions and I think that is the point business should sit up and take notice of. Well done, Mack.
Thanks Warren, you pretty much nailed the focus of the post.
I see the thing from a different perspective.
In Sheen’s case, his PR convinced him, a single person, to act this way, to open to social media to enhance the image people was having about him.
The same PR would have to convince a whole company’s board of executives of the very same thing, a handful of people with a potentially old-school mentality used to do things in a much, much different way, and used to believe their way is the only way.
Which of the two sounds easier?
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Mack,
I would have liked for @charliesheen to exercise a little more class, and use social media tools and traditional media channels for good (to help repair any damage he did from his bad behavior in his personal life) vs just a way to smear CBS and Chuck Lorre, and advance his bizarre agenda, which ultimately just got him fired yesterday– and I am sure that was not the outcome Sheen wanted.
However, the picture you paint about creating a deeper connection with your audience, whether brand or celebrity, is a good one, and valid. For companies, I’d add this: don’t take the Charlie Sheen approach with your messaging, but definitely embrace the tools to have the conversation and connection that is most appropriate for you. Here’s why.
As we know, in today’s digital world, customers, fans, consumers, people are going online to have whatever conversations they want about the brands they use, the experiences they have, etc. What social media allows a company to have is the opportunity to hear those conversations in real-time — it is low-cost focus group research in its most fundamental, raw form. However, what smart companies will do, I hope, is see the benefits of this, and embrace this opportunity as a way to engage and participate in the conversation because 9 times out of 10, they will shape that person’s opinion for the better. It’s a commitment, but it is well worth the effort.
The digital world helps build audiences instantaneously. Whereas in the analog world, it takes a long time to achieve, much less engage. Just ask Justin Bieber.
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Right Tami, I have never tried to endorse Sheen’s behavior, he’s clearly acting like his unhinged, and very possibly is. But what he’s doing is using social media to circumvent the traditional media and connect directly with his fans.
His fans are likely loving this, and the people that think he’s an idiot yesterday, probably still think he’s an idiot today. But the difference is, he’s using these tools to connect with his fans. IMO that’s something brands should emulate.
I really don’t think there is much to take away from the publics fascination with Charlie Sheen beyond the fact that most young Americans are star-struck. Charley is just capitalizing on that fascination by keeping his name in the public view. He doesn’t care if there is good or bad publicity. To him it all works the same way. I dont think a brand could take that approach and have any good come from that visibility.
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No, but a brand could take the approach that using social media to connect directly with their customers and changing a conversation by participating in it, might work. I could swear someone said that here
Sadly, Charlie Sheen’s last episode from Sheen’s Korner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFbd4mOruQA
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I watched the first 3 mins. The setup in his den/living room while semi-sober worked better for him, IMO
Clearly the guy is doing some things with incredible success, but other things terribly, terribly bad. I love the guy, but he’s got no idea what will work and what wont, until he tries it. But you’ve gotta admire his perseverance!
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