It is very common for any body new to Twitter to immediately follow names and brands that they recognise, indeed new accounts now are prompted to follow some of the better known faces and companies on Twitter upon sign up. Once you are aware that celebrities are using the likes of Twitter it is natural to start to want to chat and say hello! But there are ways to do this which requires some thoughts before simply saying ‘Can I have a hello and a follow please!‘ or ‘Can I submit my new business idea to you?‘.
A good point to take in is that celebrities are most probably using Twitter to be social and let their admirers know what is happening in their lives within reason, they are most likely not Tweeting for the sake of their business as they have a website and management / PR company doing that side of things for them. If you approach celebrities with anything relating to business then it is likely to call upon deaf ears in most cases, unless you’ve a complaint (though you’ll still be directed back to their management team).
The best way to communicate with celebrities is to take your time and study what they are talking about and the subjects they follow / support / enjoy…
As an example, let’s look at someone who we have corresponded with on Twitter, Duncan Bannatyne. Duncan uses Twitter regularly and has over 675,000 followers, on most days he shares news with his followers to include his family activities, holidays he is on (shares photos) and sometimes on current trending topics. He will also be actively responsive to comments towards his businesses to include Bannatyne Hotels where he responds upon hearing negative and positive news. Remembering that many people admire this business man, your correspondence with Duncan needs to be on topics he is currently discussing which will grab his attention and response – ‘How do I apply to appear on Dragons Den?‘ will simply not get a reaction as he has heard it time and time before. Duncan, just like the rest of us, is a person and enjoys people to people communication so see Twitter as your chance to talk on mutually interesting topics.
Duncan Bannatyne on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DuncanBannatyne
The example of Duncan is just one way of thinking about communicating with well known faces on Twitter. Many will be active, most will have things to say and engage with their followers – You have a great chance of not only them Tweeting to you, but also following you and even the likelihood of them contacting you outside of Twitter if you are working on a project that interests them and this comes from a writer of this blog who has had that happen on a couple of occasions.
Enjoy Twitter – Enjoy talking to the Celebrities!