Sun Scores Blogging Own Goal In World Cup Competition*


The Sun newspaper, since the events of 15th April 1989, has struggled to find favour with passionate fans of ‘the beautiful game’. Their recent World Cup sweepstake game provides us in social media with a perfect example of how not to foster relationships with the blogging community.

The sweepstake works by allying a UK football blog with a World Cup team, for example Who Ate All The Pies were drawn with Uruguay (don’t fancy their chances there too much!). Each blog was then sent a ‘supporters pack’ for them to promote the competition on their blog. The winning team/blog wins the, ahem, ‘lucky’ prize of interviewing the paper’s chief sports writer, Shaun Custis. As well as being ‘a bit of fun’, the competition exists to help promote The Sun’s World Cup Sweepstake app.

The Suns World Cup Sweepstake

The Sun's World Cup Sweepstake

Now, The Sun sent out emails to the blogs concerned informing them of the competition. What they weren’t banking on was being ignored or encountering outright opposition from the blogs to being involved. Or maybe they were. Because they went ahead and used the blogs anyway. Now the blogs have picked up on it and what they’ve got to say, unsurprisingly, isn’t all that complimentary.

Whilst not a PR campaign in the traditional sense, there are lessons to be learned from this blunder. The main one being DO YOUR RESEARCH. This can mean a number of things, but in this sense it means actually reading the blogs. If they’d spied an anti-Sun/tabloid sentiment (and, as mentioned before, this is often the case with those passionate football fans, of which football bloggers undoubtedly are), it would have been a good indication of whether to get in touch or not. And even if they hadn’t found this sentiment and still emailed the blogger, a lack of response usually tells its own story. And the story in this case the story is that the football blogging community are pretty upset that their names have been used without permission, leading to negative blog stories, outrage in some cases and, in most, an impassioned desire to spread the word of the ‘evils’ of The Sun further. Which, let’s face it, is bad PR.

*I would like to point out that this headline is an ironic take on tabloid headline writers who, when faced with anyone connected with football doing something wrong, continue to use the phrase “Scores Own Goal” unaware of their endless repetition and glaring lack of creativity.

About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about stuff that he does here.


Paul Barnett, Social Media News


How Brands Can Find Their Way Into To The Mummysphere.


Unless you’ve been working under a rock for the last four years, you’d know what a mummy blogger is. And you would know how important they can prove to be for your PR campaigns (unless you work for Caterpillar, Burton or Carling). No two mummies are the same, so understanding what makes that mummy ticks helps. But overall, apply a certain etiquette and you will be successful. You just need to keep your ears open, come clean and participate in the conversation. Pretending you do (ie, saying you love a blog without having read it ) won’t get you very far.

Cyber Mummy

CyberMummy

To connect with this blog arena, you can also do worse than looking at Cybermummy. The mumsphere will be paralysed on the 3rd of July when bloggers and companies meet to talk about…stuff (blogging, bad PRs, good PRs, SEO, being a mummy, being a blogger, etc). Only bloggers with a £100 ticket can attend but companies can look at various ways of participating in the conversation. One very advisable and cost effective way of doing this would be to sponsor a mummy to be your representative (see FAQ). You just need to pay for their ticket and expenses and they could help you out with insights and by promoting your brand. In that case, just ensure you find a blogger that actually likes your brand, because they won’t be talking up your brand when you’re not around if that is the case!

There are many other sponsor opportunities available, so just send an email to sian@cybermummy.com or reach her on 07894 575 070.

About The Author

Xavi Izaguirre

Xavi Izaguirre

Xavier Izaguirre joined Social Media Library in November 2009 working as part of the Research Team. Prior to joining Social Media Library, Xavier completed a Masters Degree in Marketing and Communications at Westminster University, London. An active user of Social Media platforms, Xavier is very passionate about new trends in communication and Social Media Marketing contributing towards a number of online campaigns within the Educational Sector.

Follow Xavier on Twitter at @Xavi_izaguirre


Social Media Tips and Tricks, Xavi Izaguirre


The Perfect Fit…How Brands And Bloggers Can Get Along Just Fine.


There’s been a lot of talk recently about bloggers receiving freebies from brands and PRs and the ethics of it. Most of that talk focussed around so-called ‘mummy bloggers’, those bloggers who share their parenting and family stories on a quest to help each other on a variety of issues. A recent campaign by Reebok, to promote their Easytone trainers (which can apparently tone your bum and thighs whilst you walk), provides a good example of how this relationship between brand and blogger can be a success – for all concerned.

In addition to a TV advert, which this blog termed ‘asstounding’, and an earlier ad campaign that featured Helena Christensen wearing the trainers (and nothing but the trainers), Reebok approached a select group of UK mummy bloggers, inviting them to a an event in London to take part in a trial for the trainers. At the event, the bloggers were briefed about the trainers so they knew how they worked and what they could expect from wearing them. Then, questions were answered by a fitness expert, Reebok’s Marketing Manager and more from their PR team. As Jenny from The Style PA said:

“The whole Reebok team were lovely and really helpful and knowledgeable about the product.”

The bloggers were then given a pair of trainers and a goody bag to take away with them. After this, they were invited to join the Reetalk: Toning community to share their experiences with the trainers. Which, of course they did. Some bloggers reported at great length, others weren’t so sure of the offer at first but eventually capitulated and others ran competitions without mention of any approach from Reebok.

This campaign tells us a lot about the ways in which brands should be working with bloggers and the way in which bloggers work with their audiences. Brands should take an open-minded approach to blogger relations, realising that in any given sector a range of standpoints will exist regarding PR approaches like this. They should expect a different range of responses from acquiescence to suspicion to enthusiasm and all points in between. Reebok’s approach in being open, honest, helpful and likeable wins favours and if not, it doesn’t create animosity. The way in which the Reebok campaign was reported by the above bloggers also shows that in these more transparent times, audiences understand how PR works and interacts with media. Some bloggers are happy to detail their experiences, others actually write about the PR process itself in an honest, often bordering on critical way and others don’t mention it all, acting in a more closed, old-style media way. Each way works for each blogger, depending on the style of their blog and the relationship they have with their audience.

The key here seems to be open-ness and honesty. Reebok have acted with this approach and the bloggers have too and that proves a successful campaign for the brand and gives good, readable content for audiences. Whether those trainers can actually give you a workout though, I’m not so sure!
About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about stuff that he does here.


Paul Barnett, Social Media Case Study


Like It Or Loathe It, Marmite’s Clever Use Of Social Media Merits Love


Marmite have always had particularly good marketing. I can remember their My Mate Marmite campaign from way back when and their more recent love it or hate it campaign (which actually started in the late 90s) has led to the word ‘Marmite’ now being used as an adjective to describe anything that people tend to either really like or really dislike. Brilliant stuff.

Marmite

Marmite

Their latest campaign is also worthy of some praise. It introduces two spoof political parties, the Love Party and the Hate Party, who are battling it out to determine whether we are a nation of Marmite lovers or haters. Using TV, print and online advertising, the brand have also put a good deal of money into their digital and social media campaign. With extensive Facebook, Twitter and Youtube coverage, fans can view election broadcast videos, manifestos and place votes on each party’s online blog (which also allows fans to sign up to mailing lists).

By exploiting the divisive nature of their product (it took them some 94 years to come up with this idea by the way!), Marmite are extremely lucky to have a readymade catch that can be used in a variety of fun, interactive ways that creates talk value from everyone whether you love, hate or are indifferent (I’m fairly sure that actually these people do exist!) to the product. But it’s the way that they exploit this attribute that is so impressive.

By latching on to interest in a current trending topic (the upcoming General Election), the campaign is bound to achieve coverage from the media and interest from a public already tuned in to Election-style media. Also, the quality of their content is high. The campaigns are funny, light-hearted and pitched with the right level of silliness to entertain rather than annoy. The ads are funny and well constructed and the blog is well written and thoughtfully constructed to look genuine. Finally, their use of social media takes the campaign to the next level, providing the public with a place to view each area of the campaign in their own time, to cast votes and to spread the word through links.

The only fly in the ointment could be the campaign’s clash with the BNP’s campaign in this year’s election. Whilst the Hate Party’s ‘party political broadcast’ is clearly a spoof of the BNP’s broadcasts, the association with the party may be one that does them no good in the long run.

About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer and blogs about stuff that he does here.


Paul Barnett, Social Media Case Study


Art and Craft Blogs In The UK


Currently, as a research team, we’re trawling through each UK blog on the Social Media Library, checking, updating and adding to the information that we have on the database. What this means for us working on the front line (maybe the back line actually!) is that we each take a blog topic and research the life out of it. One thing that’s become clear is that each subject has its own peculiarities and distinctions. In this way, the blogosphere mirrors real life, where groups of like-minded people gravitate towards the same kind of lifestyle choices such as clothes, music, film etc. But with blogs, it tends to be that people blogging on certain subjects tend to mirror each other’s choices in terms of the information they provide, how much the use other online technologies, the design of their sites, even words used etc.

This week, I’ve been researching arts and craft blogs. Here are some observations on the factors that make these blogs distinct:

-    The colour pink
-    Use of the word ‘lovely’ and ‘yummy’
-    Almost 100% female
-    Describing their husbands as ‘wonderful’
-    Most have a dog or a cat that they consider ‘part of the family’
-    A low usage of Facebook, even less so Twitter
-    Crowded website design with tons of logos, links, widgets etc, basically there’s stuff everywhere!

The other new thing that I learnt from researching these blogs is the existence of the Challenge Community. These blogs work by setting a challenge (there are loads of these, usually they set a challenge on a certain day of the week) such as ‘create a card with the theme of friends’. Other blogs then respond by submitting their cards in the hope of either winning a prize or coming in the top 5, which merits them with a badge they can put on their blog.

Of course, the above are all generalisation, not all art and craft bloggers feature these attributes. But as we go from subject to subject on our task, no doubt we’ll find more surprising results, which we’ll continue to blog here.

About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, writing for TV and editing a music title, SWN Magazine.


Blogging In The UK, Paul Barnett


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