Celebrity Social Media Mistakes (and what you can learn from them)

We all know that one person who Tweets the wrong things at the wrong time…and we’ve put together some examples where we think valuable

lessons can be learned.

If Mary J had asked a competent friend to proofread before she tweeted, she never would’ve posted about her “intelligents.”

Remember that your Tweets are your brand: it’s fine to make the occasional mistake, but never let your emotions push you into posting content that doesn’t help grow your brand.

Read, then Re-Read:

Don’t Complain:

Kris Humphries got into a post-game scuffle with the other team. He then tweeted his complaint and a photo of his “battle wound.” He then got reamed on Twitter for his rather unimpressive scratch.

Note to event planners: Don’t make small problems seem like big ones. Slap a Band-Aid on and soldier on.

People are reading your Twitter because they care about your event…and while a complaint made in jest can go over well, you don’t want your Twitter feed to become a laundry list of complaints.

Remember Where You Are:

As an event planner, it’s extremely important that you KNOW BASIC GEOGRAPHY.

Does your event take place in Springfield, Illinois, or Springfield, Missouri?

You might want to double check before you start up your email marketing campaign, or else you might end up being retweeted for entirely wrong reasons.

Rapper 50cent seemed to think he was above menial tasks, even when assigned by his grandma.

As a team member, you’ve got to do your part for the good of the team, even if it’s dirty work. No matter how “rich” you may be.

One of the fastest ways to alienate fans and followers is to talk about how you don’t want to do tasks that they do every day (and a double no-no is not being nice to your grandma!).

Remember Where You Are:

Know the Media You're Using:

This may seem obvious, but you need to know the difference between direct messaging and tweeting.

Charlie Sheen didn’t, and he had to change his phone number. Also, keep your personal info off the company or event Twitter account.

Yes, learning social media can be complicated if you’ve never used it before, but you should ask someone on your team with experience in it to help you set things up rather than risk tweeting out something that makes it seem like you don’t know what you’re doing.

Keep It Relevant (and not weird):

Your event’s social media posts should make sense. And not be terrifying. Like the time Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a video of himself at his office wielding an enormous knife with little to no explanation why.

Don’t Knock Your Sponsors (or clients):

If you have problems with sponsors, venues or presenters at your events, don’t post about it to the whole world. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban got fined by the NBA for using social media to bite the hand that fed him.

Don’t make the same mistake; keep personal problems personal. As far as your followers need to know, everything is just peachy on your end.

If you have problems with a sponsor or performer, bring those problems up in a proper meeting…not via Twitter. Have you ever seen a Twitter feud end well?

Take Care of Your Followers:

Take a lesson from Lindsay Lohan. Don’t minimize your attendees’ concerns or problems at your event.

A call for your attendees to “Think positive and pray for peace” when the portapotties are overflowing is not going to be well received.

Learn from the epic fails of these celebrities, and hopefully you can avoid experiencing the soul-crushing humiliation they did.