When you were growing up you would have to say / do certain things to protect or defend your reputation. Now we all use social media to protect our reputations, because if we don’t monitor or respond who knows what will be said about us online.

Bear Grylls is well known for his crazy stunts and gross survival tips on the Discovery Channel Show, Man vs. Wild. I am sure most of you have heard of or seen the British Survival Expert on television, but he also has a nice size following on Twitter (just shy of 250k).

Apparently a fair amount of his followers have continually asked Bear if he fakes the grosser elements shown on TV or if he actually did all the things that make us gag.  Grylls, who works for a network very active on social media, saw these Tweets and also some more focused on him drinking his own urine. Bear followed up with a great response:

The twitpic inside the tweet is the picture at the top right of the blog, just look at his facial expression! He will probably receive more disgusting requests from his fans but my guess is most of those people who thought Grylls was an actor, have changed their minds.

How is this relevant with what we do at Social Strategy1?

Answer: Bear Grylls’ Brand (himself) was challenged online by people who thought he was a fake. He responded by showing his “haters” that he indeed does everything shown on the TV and that he is willing to defend himself with transparency and humor online.

Most businesses are missing out on conversations that are destroying their brand online.  Grylls may have not been at a serious risk for a social media backlash but he now will answer any questions about his survival training commitment with one picture!

We all need to look, listen, and engage!  See how our reputation management experts can help you today!