As share prices slide and then recover \u2013 depending on the crispness of answers provided at Senate hearings \u2013 there was a rush of social media consumers declaring that sharing of personal information had gone too far and that the time had now come to close down their accounts.<\/p>\n
The irony of users often announcing the closure of their social media profiles on social media is neither here nor there.<\/p>\n
One month on, the scandal has so far shown little signs of abating. The rush by users to close accounts \u2013 if there ever was a rush \u2013 seems to have diminished, but journalists are still digging.<\/p>\n
Domestically, the SNP has faced awkward questions<\/strong><\/a> from media and opposition politicians regarding the nature of its interactions with Cambridge Analytica.<\/p>\n Internationally, Facebook has faced new questions about the spirit of its data protection policies as Reuters reports that new GDPR rules<\/strong><\/a> designed to protect individuals\u2019 data will only be applied by Facebook within the EU boundaries rather than extending the protections to other parts of the globe such as Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America.<\/p>\n In the midst of the data hullaballoo, JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin chose this week to announce that the pub chain was to close down all its social media<\/strong><\/a> platforms.<\/p>\n Mr Martin, who denied the move was a publicity stunt, said that social media had so many “damaging effects” and added: “In politics and business, people vastly overestimate social media. I think Tweets and Facebook underestimate the intelligence of the public and it\u2019s all a bit of marketing hype really.\u201d<\/p>\n So is the ditching of a social media presence by a prominent company \u2013 rather than an individual \u2013 an indication of the impending general decline of digital sharing platforms?<\/p>\n The answer is no.<\/p>\n When Media House International advises its clients on how to use social media effectively, the first and most basic question \u2013 but almost certainly the key one \u2013 is: “What do you want to achieve through use of such platforms?”<\/p>\n Looking at the social media presence of Wetherspoons, it would appear they didn\u2019t know the answer to that question.<\/p>\n It is easy to say that we want to build an audience or want more followers than business competitors but those are stock responses that drill little into the dynamics of social media.<\/p>\n Like all PR and marketing, engaging content creation is key. Wetherspoons may take the approach that it doesn\u2019t need to put the resources required into social media as they can sell plenty of pints without doing so.<\/p>\n Content doesn\u2019t always have to be firmly focused on the product you are trying to sell<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And that is a perfectly valid and honest business view to take if they don\u2019t believe social media can help them sell more. They would also contend that their customer base cares little for their social media output and more for the price of a Bacardi Breezer.<\/p>\n Yet, as we\u2019ve seen in other sectors, content doesn\u2019t always have to be firmly focused on the product you are trying to sell.<\/p>\n One obvious example of a company that takes a different approach to social media is Paddy Power, whose financial health may or may not be assisted by the libation enjoyed by patrons in Wetherspoons free houses\u00a0across the UK.<\/p>\n The bookmakers, often taking a leaf out of PR and marketing campaigns devised by the likes of Ryanair, realise that posting and Tweeting solely about the odds they are offering will be fairly dull to most social media consumers.<\/p>\n Instead of creating content around stakes and probabilities, they create it around the sport that gamblers can bet on.<\/p>\n And its tongue-in-cheek approach \u2013 sending up sporting personalities and teams, no matter who they are \u2013 has created an audience far beyond those who wish to have a flutter.<\/p>\n The recent boxing bout between American Floyd Mayweather and Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor provided the perfect example.<\/p>\n Being an Irish company, most would have expected McGregor to receive the support of his Emerald counterparts \u2013 but the bookmakers were having none of it, as Mayweather appeared at the weigh-in sporting Paddy Power-branded clothing and then featured in a series of social media videos promoting Paddy Power and featuring his expectation that he was going to sweep aside the home favourite.<\/p>\n Clearly not every business can afford what could be considered an expensive publicity stunt to create great social content but they can think more creatively about the content that can deliver value to the brand without necessarily focusing narrowly on the product or service that is being sold.<\/p>\n There may be a 3\/1 chance \u2013 other odds are available \u2013 that Paddy Power won\u2019t give you the best odds but their social media presence has helped build brand recognition from a low base over the last decade that has increased the chances that followers will choose the company to place a bet rather than with a competitor.<\/p>\n Every sector, every company, every social media platform, is different. It takes time and resources \u2013 and a willingness to share data \u2013 to make it a success.<\/p>\n It also requires an understanding of what can or cannot be achieved.<\/p>\n Did Wetherspoons see the backlash against social media and think this was the right time to get out? Possibly.<\/p>\n However, it is maybe also the case that the guidance they were receiving led to resources being pointed in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n As ever, sound strategic advice \u2013 whether it be on PR<\/strong><\/a>, public affairs<\/strong><\/a> or social media<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 is worth raising a glass \u2013 or giving a Like \u2013 to, in the expectation that it should enhance the bottom line in the long run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wetherspoons missing sound advice on PR and social media Since Facebook became embroiled last month in a transatlantic storm regarding the harvesting of users\u2019 personal data by Cambridge Analytica, there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1111,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions\/1111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/spoon.jpg\")
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