Altrincham HQ on BBC Breakfast – i’m on the left
As a former journalist i’m not lost on the fact that as much as businesses love social media and the marketing power it brings – it’s human nature to love those tangible items.
The local newspaper often is seen as the all important holy grail for local businesses, yet strangely, a specialist blog despite often gaining more regular readers online is seen as less of a priority (NOTE: if you underestimate the power of blogging bare in mind that one blog I wrote a few years ago now has over half a million views)
And then there’s the big box in the corner of the room – it’s something we’ve grown up with from day dot and as Andy Warhol once said “Everybody will get their 15 minutes of fame”
So just how did I get from a tweet to 1.5 million viewers on BBC Breakfast TV?
As many of you know when it comes to twitter the key message is important and that’s why 80% of the time my messages revolve around Social Media, small business, Altrincham and local town issues. It’s why my followers follow me and to be honest most of my personal day to day stuff i’m happy to have a personal facebook as an outlet
But that 20% of talking about a few more personal things is what got me on national TV. As many of you know i’m one of the 8000 – an Olympic Torch Bearer – so spent much of the weekend excitedly tweeted about the torch landing in the UK.
Low and behold a researcher for BBC Breakfast TV was researching a story on the Olympic Torches being sold on Ebay and wanted a opinion on those bearers like myself who weren’t prepared to sell theirs.
NOW the important thing here was that my contact number was on the Altrincham HQ website so there was no barrier for the respective researcher contacting me even on a weekend
Less than 24 hours later from a tweet that took 5 seconds to write – I was being picked up by car to be taken to Media City for an audience of millions
On the back of the TV Appearance I was invited to Trafford Council to be one of their profiled Torch Bearers for Media Appearances and an upload on YouTube has seen the video viewed another 700 times (14% of that powered by facebook posts)
Twitter is a powerful tool for reaching out to those in the media – as well as this appearance in the past few months i’ve had media exposure as follows
* A Client appeared in the Guardian
* 1 Radio 5 Live Appearance
* 2 BBC Manchester Appearances
* 3 specialist food blog appearances for a local business
* Tweet of the week – Sale & Altrincham Advertiser
* Sale & Altrincham Messenger Feature
Also last year a front page story broke in the Sale & Altrincham Advertise off the back of one of our tweets
Use these simple tips to maximise exposure, not just for the media, but generally on twitter – in the past few weeks i’ve been had single tweets retweeted to over 93,000 people
* Use relevant hashtags to maximise reach
* Keep on topic or those topics close personally to you – don’t latch on to anything and everything
* Always have your contact details (inc mobile number) on your website
If you want to strengthen your business message, while still staying human and not feeling like a sales man – have a look at our about section above or simply get in touch
PS. If this blog or any on our website have helped you – please donate to my chosen charity The Christie here www.justgiving.com/alex-mccann
“With over 12 years experience of Social Media and 17 years experience of online marketing in other companies, clients come to myself when they want a veteran rather than a rookie” Alex McCann
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