3 Jun 2014
There were two excellent examples of brands taking advantage of social media to create great PR this month. They follow on nicely from my recent advice on ‘How to go viral‘ where I stressed the importance of ‘Picking your moment’.
First up was the case of Greg Heaslip @gregheaslip1, who works as a security guard at retail group Arcadia, owner of Top Shop and other high street stores, and whose boss mistakenly sent his request for a holiday to the company’s 3500 staff. Several of Greg’s colleagues supported his holiday request and pretty soon, #GiveGregTheHoliday began trending in the UK.
Tour company Trek America was quick to notice the hashtag and offered Greg a holiday in Vegas.
This was great opportunism and their offer was in context, appropriate and made with a sense of fun. Other brands began to notice and subsequently there were some tacky approaches that just didn’t work. But @TrekAmerica were rewarded with plenty of retweets, mentions and favourites.
Greg had the last word and donated his holiday along with other offered items to the Stephen Sutton Cancer Appeal.
Next up is comedian Chris Ramsey @IamChrisRamsey of Celebrity Juice who didn’t fancy the snacks from the buffet car when on a train from London to Newcastle and decided to order a pizza. Dominos Pizza @dominos_uk happily obliged.
As the delivery at Doncaster got closer, the anticipation on Twitter became feverish.
The pizza delivery firm’s enterprise and opportunisme were rewarded with massive exposure on Twitter even before the pizzas were delivered.
Dominos did indeed deliver, providing pizzas for Chris as well as for passengers and staff.
If you have any examples of brands capitalising on Twitter trends, please let me know.
