Clever Pr Or Genuine Kindness
Previously we wrote a blog regarding the power of social media and how it can bring similar or geographically close businesses together to communicate with one another. It also enables individuals to find people without needing the Yellow Pages! We now look to other opportunities for social media and how organic, real-time content can be incredibly powerful…
A fantastic campaign by West Ham Football Club is currently asking people to use their social media accounts to spread the picture of a ‘crying boy’ who was shown on TV during a football match. During the match West Ham were kicked out of the FA cup after losing 5-0 to Nottingham Forest, but are now trying to identify the boy to offer him a prize. Although accusations are emerging to claim this is just a PR stunt, the football club is offering the ‘fan and his family a chance to watch an upcoming fixture at the Boleyn Ground from the Directors’ Box’.
Lost Teddy
This isn’t the first example of social media helping to track down people – another recent example is from Lauren Bishop, who found a lost teddy on a train and tweeted a picture of it to try and track down its owner. After the image was retweeted over 6,000 times and was added to a ‘spotted on the Train’ Facebook page, the father of the little girl that lost the teddy came forward commenting “Wow. The power of the internet and kind folk. That is my daughter Phoebe’s bear – she has been in tears all weekend and I have just shown her the picture and she is over the moon. Thank you all so much”.
John Lewis's bauble
Another recent example of the power of social media is a story regarding a child, aged 5, who accidently broke a bauble in a John Lewis shop and sent a written apology to the store to say sorry and even attached two £1 coins to pay for the damage.
The store however hadn’t even noticed the broken item as they were so busy but they wanted to thank Faith for her honesty. Store boss Dominic Joyce took to his Twitter account to try to find out who the little girl was after the letter was only signed with “Faith aged 5” and no contact details.
Tweeting, “@johnlewisretail the cutest letter sent to JL Cambridge. There is no address so we wanted to thank Faith on Twitter!”
After #FindFaith trended, the girl’s parents contacted the store and Dominic Joyce was able to thank Faith and her parents and wish them a Happy Christmas.
“We didn’t have much to go on – just a first name, a Cambridge postmark and what might be a self-portrait. We get lots of nice letters but nothing quite as special as this”.
These two examples show that it is highly likely West Ham will find the boy featured in their picture. They also show how businesses can use Twitter for good deeds and make the most of the positive pr too!