Let’s face it. People love celebrities, and celebrities who have active Twitter accounts — those who truly use them to engage with their fans, can attract huge followings.
Ashton Kutcher is a celebrity from television, film, and of course, he’s married to Demi Moore. He’s also a Twitter celebrity (check out his Twitter page here). He tweets frequently and about all aspects of his life. His followers love him for it, and he made no secret of his attempt to be the first Twitter user with 1 million followers. Today, he has nearly 4 million followers.
That’s an audience that Nikon wants to connect with.
Ashton Kutcher has been appearing in Nikon television commercials for awhile now, so when Nikon had the idea to hold a video creation contest where people were asked to make 140-second commercials with its Nikon D5000 camera. what better way to drum up some hype for the promotion than involving Ashton Kutcher and his 4 million followers on Twitter?
Kutcher tweeted about the contest as did a few other celebrities Nikon added to the celebrity mix backing the promotion. Ultimately, those tweets about the Nikon promotion could be seen by a potential audience of their over 6.5 million combined followers — with just a single tweet by 4 celebrities.
I’ve actually witnessed celebrities working their magic and increasing their Twitter followers rapidly and in huge numbers. I’ve witnessed celebrities drive widespread awareness via Twitter for charities and boost donations. Brands like Nikon are recognizing that while celebrity endorsements on television commercials and in print ads might not be as effective as they were years ago, celebrity brand advocates who engage large numbers of consumers through Twitter just might be a goldmine.
What do you think? Is the Nikon and Ashton Kutcher promotion the start of a new trend of celebrity endorsements of brands via Twitter?
Image: Flickr
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
Absolutely agree! Just look at the Top 100 Twitter Users (by followers) and you’ll see the who’s who of celebs – http://social.implu.com
Including, of course Mr. and Mrs. Kutcher