Mel B: A pic of me in a bikini on Twitter could lead to a sponsorship deal, Martha Stewart suggests she tweets while driving
Former Spice Girl and X Factor Australia judge Mel B has said that she uses social media to create sponsorship opportunities for herself, as well as engage with fans.
“Twitter is great for engaging with fans. But it is also good for creating commercial opportunities,” she said in a session titled ‘Celebrities and the media’, hosted by Mail Online publisher Martin Clarke at the Cannes Lions festival today.
Martha Stewart, Mel B and Nick Cannon. Pic credit: streetfoxlondon
“A picture of me in a bikini could lead to a deal with a lingerie brand,” said the singer, who said she posts six-seven times daily on social media.
Sharing a panel with Mel B was US TV personality Martha Stewart, who said authenticity was key for celebrities in social media. She has 2.8m Twitter followers and 600,000 Facebook fans.
“It’s very important to be authentic and tweet yourself, because they [fans] know when someone else is doing it,” she said.
Also on the panel was American comedian Nick Cannon, the husband of singer Mariah Carey. He said that it was important never to apologise for any tweet, no matter how offensive or ridiculous.
“I am an impulsive tweeter. If something upsets me, I will tweet about it. And the number one rule is, don’t apologise,” he said.
“If you said it, don’t say sorry.”
“Again, it comes down to authenticity,” he said.
On saying this, a screen grab of a tweet Cannon once made popped up on the screen behind him.
Stewart agreed, saying that just because a celebrity makes a spelling mistake on Twitter, there is no need to apologise for it.
“If I’m tweeting in the car, I don’t check it, and I might make spelling mistakes,” she said.
“People think I’m drunk [because she makes spelling mistakes]. But whatever, you shouldn’t apologise.”
Mel B conceded that she was “a little bit addicted to it [social media], with Cannon adding: “We all want attention. We want Facebook Likes. That’s what we want. We just want people to like us.”
The former Spice Girl finished the session by saying that she sometimes felt bullied in social media, but did not like blocking people who follow her.
She concluded: “I don’t set too many rules for how I behave on social media. I rather keep open an open mind and play things day by day.”
“I keep things moderately decent. I’m quite open. But as things change [in social media] every day, I don’t set guidelines.”
Martha says she tweets ‘in the car’ not that she is driving. I doubt she drives herself to work in Manhattan. Most very senior execs don’t.
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