Charlie Sheen Really Is “Winning” - Leveraging Social Media Catapults Sheen's Visibility

Is Charlie Sheen really “winning”? Some would say he is, while others would disagree, but no one can deny the fact Sheen has exploded his visibility through the utilization of Social Media. Social Media expert and Founder/CEO of WebiMax, Kenneth C. Wisnefski is one who has been awed by Sheen’s ability to gain so much traction so quickly. “What has transpired over the past week with Charlie Sheen has been nothing short of amazing”, discussed Wisnefski. “From having essentially no Social Media presence to becoming the biggest factor in Social Media today, is something we have never seen before. His strategy has been brilliant”.

In an effort to gain fans amidst the recent news concerning him, Charlie Sheen moved to Twitter and gained over 1 million followers in the first 25 hours, setting a new Guinness World Record for fastest person to reach 1 million followers. In a report dated March 3, 2011, the actor told TMZ “the reason I’m taking up Twitter is simple, it’s a cash cow”! Not only is he leveraging social media to gain support, companies are reportedly now signing celebrity endorsements with Sheen to “tweet” on their brand. In addition to using twitter, he also uses uStream, (comparable to YouTube) to broadcast “Sheen’s Korner”, which first went live on Saturday night (3/5/11), with more episodes to come. Sheen’s Korner has been viewed by 1,020,000 people since Saturday night.

“I think there is the perception out there that Charlie Sheen has lost his mind, when I feel I am seeing something completely different”, furthered Wisnefski. “I see someone who has basically controlled just about every news story and discussion over the past week, which is no small feat”. Experts have questioned whether Sheen’s strategy has any staying power and that once the initial luster of this platform has worn off, so will his fans. “Kim Kardashian has been labeled a genius for her ability to gain notoriety and leverage social media to her advantage, I feel Charlie Sheen has done the same thing”, exclaimed Wisnefski. “I think more importantly, both Charlie Sheen and Kim Kardashian have proven how effective online media has become and just how important it is to any marketing campaign”.

This furthers the trend that social media is evolving in to the “new era of marketing.” When Charlie Sheen and Kim Kardashian wanted to gain supporters and launch personal marketing strategies on themselves, they turned to social media, instead of creating costly, traditional mass media advertisements. The marketing industry is continue to evolve and move toward social media, especially as more examples arise that illustrates to marketers how powerful social media campaigns are.