What Your Brand Can Learn from MTV’s VMA Host Pick

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“Justin Bieber To Perform at 2010 VMAs”

Obviously…

“Kanye West To Perform At 2010 MTV VMAs”

Wait…didn’t he get kicked out last year?

But what about the host, don’t we usually have a host by now?

As promo videos started rolling out, I wondered what wacky, outspoken, memorable (or not) host would be the ring leader of the musical circus known at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Just when I started to assume they would have Russell Brand host for the third year in a row, the tweet arrived: “@MTV: BREAKING: Introducing your 2010 MTV #VMA host…the hilarious @ChelseaHandler!!!” And the Twitterverse goes wild! “Chelsea Handler” shot to the top of the trending charts in a matter of minutes. Well played MTV, well played.

Chelsea Handler makes sense for so many reasons. Her late-night cable show keeps you adults up way past their bed times and her top-selling books, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang and Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, can be found in beach bags and on e-readers from coast to coast.

But besides being snarky and hilarious, Chelsea’s a great fit to host because her social media presence is sure to help amplify to conversation around the show – a PR team’s dream.

Handler has more than 900,000 fans on Facebook and more than 2 million followers on Twitter (@chelseahandler). Then you have her personal website, MySpace profile, E! Online page, on top of dozens of fan pages that can be found with one simple Google search. Her social media fans will be louder than  the VMA host from the past two years, Russell Brand a.k.a @rustyrockets, who comes in with 1,327,038 followers and a mere 24,630 fans on Facebook.

The VMA host pick got me thinking beyond glitzy award shows to the events additional Text 100 clients’ host. Ranging from panel discussions to product launches, typically our clients will select well-known talent or third-party voices to add a different perspective or create a unique draw. However, when selecting talent, a candidate’s social media presence is often overlooked when determining the right fit.  Most often my clients look for talent that will grab traditional media attention or fill seats. Rarely are there social media activities examined to see how conversations could be sparked online. This is surprising since many speakers charge for their time and you’ll see a stronger ROI by taking the time to choose someone with a concrete social media presence.

Value and Evaluate

What should you look for next time you are looking to book talent for an upcoming event?

• Check out their Twitter following and fans on Facebook:  Take a look at the numbers to understand their reach but also look at who’s following them? Does it map to your target audience?
• What do they tweet about or post? : Do they tweet only about the minutia of their day or night club stops? Or do they talk about the events they participate in and the topics they’re passionate about or interested in? You’ll want to be comfortable with what they’re talking about because anything they say – positive or negative – during their releationship with you can affect your brand.
• Who’s in their inner circle? : Who do they commonly engage with? Are there influencers that can be reached through their social media circle? Are there people you wouldn’t want associated with your brand that could be too close for comfort online?

An award-worthy example of using social media to the max was at this year’s Emmy awards. Tech-savvy host, Jimmy Fallon, gave viewers at home a chance to be a part of the live event using their Twitter accounts. Fallon asked Twitter users to submit tweets about celebrity presenters for the chance to have them read as part of his introduction for those presenters. The day after the event he was responding to Twitter feedback about his performance and sharing links to the online video of his opening monologue.

The Double Edged Sword

But be warned. A social media presence can be a double edged sword — making it even more important that you aren’t turning a blind eye to it.

Anyone remember this year’s TED conference?

To attract the attention of the younger generation, TED conference organizers decided to book Sarah Silverman to perform. Unfortunately, her raucous presentation shocked the audience and organizers (who must not have been familiar with Silverman’s style and catalogue of work).

In an attempt to do some damage control, TED Organizer Chris Anderson took to Twitter: “I know I shouldn’t say this about one of my own speakers but I thought Sarah Silverman was god-awful.” Anderson tried to recall the tweet, but it was too late. Silverman, who is an active Twitter user with a massive following and sometimes aggressive tweets (something the organizers might have overlooked), responded by calling him a “barnacle of mediocrity….” Soon a Twitter flame war started with CEO if AOL trashing Silverman on Twitter as well. She responded: “You should be nicer to the last person on earth with an AOL account.”

Before you knew it, TED’s novel idea turned into THE news story from the conference. Anderson’s damage control tweet did just the opposite – it ignited the story and brought more attention to Silverman’s performance. In fact, a quick look at Google blogs shows that 85 % of the 33,000 posts about Sarah Silverman and TED mention the Twitter war. One has to wonder if this would have gotten the media attention at all if Anderson didn’t push send on that one tweet.

So next time you’re about to book a big-time speaker for an event, remember that it’s perfectly acceptable to do a little stalking of the candidates on Facebook and Twitter before the papers are signed.

I’ll leave you with a one final client plug:  if you’re a fan Chelsea (or perhaps Justin Bieber?!), make sure to tune-in September 12^th at 9pm/8pm CT for the always entertaining MTV VMA event. Rumor has it there may be a Kanye West/Taylor Swift reunion not to be missed.