SWNS Media Group Acquires Creatorville and Appoints Sam Barcroft as Group CEO
SWNS Media Group, one of the UK’s leading providers of news, factual content, and creative communications, has acquired Creatorville, the digital content consultancy founded by media entrepreneur Sam Barcroft.
The acquisition sees Sam assume the role of group chief executive officer and become a shareholder in SWNS Media Group. Current CEO Paul Walters will become non-executive chair and co-founder Andrew Young will become a non-executive director. Martin Winter will remain as SWNS managing director and Chris Pharo will remain as CEO of 72Point.
The move sees SWNS Media Group expand its capabilities into the creator economy, combining its long-standing expertise in journalism, earned media and brand communications with Creatorville’s expertise in social video, digital publishing, and audience-first content production.
Together, they will support growth across the group’s businesses currently comprising:
72Point - creates newsworthy and impactful campaigns in a page-ready format that achieve high volume coverage across print, digital, social,and broadcast. Its blend of news and PR thinking produces high-quality creative work that is editorially-robust and attractive to publishers.
SWNS- creates and distributes trusted news and lifestyle content to the world’s leading media outlets viaa proprietary newswire platform. As a result of its scale, quality and reputation it enjoys unparalleled relationships with publishers and plays a vital role in the global media ecosystem.
OnePoll- powers online market research and PR surveys with global human experiences; a dedicated in-house market research team carrying out insightful studies providing a framework for engaging, interesting and relevant content.
Creatorville becomes a new division within the group and will support the growthof standout content brands, create new video formats, and nurture next-generation talent.
Sam Barcroft, group CEO SWNS MG, said, “SWNS Media Grouphas always been an innovative and entrepreneurial business. By bringing Creatorville into the group, we’re combining SWNS’s journalistic depth and 72Point’s first class creativity and broad spectrum of brand and agency clients with additional social-first firepower. Together, we’ll help clients connect with fast-changing audiences through impactful storytelling.”
Paul Walters, chair of SWNS Media Group, added, “I’m delighted to welcome Sam to SWNS Media Group as our new Group CEO.Our shared long-term vision is to transform our business into the UK’s most exciting and effective media group. By combining our proven expertise in news generation and creative communications with Sam’s leadership in building communities around outstanding content, we will build our business on our shared journalistic foundations, amplified by the creativity, agility, and reach of a digital-native production studio.”
Sam, best known for founding Barcroft Studios and growing it into a globally respected digital content business - ultimately selling to Future Publishing in 2019 - brings deep experience in leading creative teams and developing original formats for new audiences. Through Creatorville, he has advised major media organisations including Channel 4, Hearst Networks and News UK on digital video strategy and IP development.
Sunday for Monday - Jay Williams tells PRCA why they are a win for clients
"Why do so many PRs rule out ‘Sunday for Mondays’? We routinely get pushback from clients when the slot is suggested. I don’t understand it. It seems that it has somehow become ‘received wisdom’ – perhaps on the basis of a project that failed to launch. But rejecting it out of hand is actually evidence of the disconnect between PR and the media. A misunderstanding of what the media wants".
Read more about how Sunday for Mondays are a win for clients here.
Start a Conversation this Christmas
Recognising Loneliness as a chronic issue in the UK, the late Jo Cox MP established a cross-party initiative called the Jo Cox Loneliness Commission, of which 15 major charities including Age UK, British Red Cross and The Silver Line UK are taking part. The Commission aimed ‘not simply to highlight the problem, but more importantly to act as a call to action. With the message ‘Start a Conversation’ about loneliness, and with each other. The Commission has got people talking at all levels – whether chatting to a neighbour, visiting an old friend, or just making time for the people they meet. After a year of research and community-building activities it will close on the 15th of December.
Bereavement is a prevalent cause of isolation that affects everyone, but in particular the older generation. Chronic loneliness can often set in when an individual loses close friends and partners who they have gone through their entire life with, leaving them with no one to spend time with on a daily basis. This leads to a vicious cycle where an individual has next-to-no contact with the outside world, therefore they cannot meet new people and make new friends and feel increasingly isolated from society. Charities such as Sue Ryder launched their #ConnectingThread campaign, which is on online community to provide people going through a difficult time with support – the campaign has provided people with a safe place to find practical advice, and an opportunity to share what they’re going through.
Poor health is another factor which can be experienced at any age and one that limits people’s contact with society. It’s an unfortunate fact that many elderly individuals are more prone to suffering from poor health, making it difficult for them to get around town or even their own home. Half a million people over 60 usually spend their day alone. In July 2015, Co-op and British Red Cross launched an innovative partnership to tackle this. The partnership has raised £6 million to fund new Red Cross services, helping over 12,500 people connect with their local communities by providing up to 12 weeks of practical support, helping finding activities and groups to join.
The Silver Line UK is the only national, free and confidential helpline for older people that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 68% of callers contact The Silver Line because they feel lonely or isolated, 90% live alone, and 54% say they have no one else to speak to. The charity is doing great ground work in providing older people with practical support, or simply giving them someone to have a chat with. Last Christmas, The Silver Line say they were unable to answer 5,000 calls due to huge demand. It costs £5 to answer a call. So this year, we at 72Point have partnered with The Silver Line to help them answer every single one.
We pride ourselves on being conversation starters. This Christmas we will launch our #StartAConversation campaign, urging people to talk about issues of loneliness, and more importantly – talk to each other.
We’ll be launching a new video on Friday the 24th of November to help The Silver Line start conversations that count this Christmas.
Stay tuned.
Start A Conversation - Christmas Campaign in support of The Silver Line
November 30 - December 31 2017
In 2017, 72Point launched it’s first Christmas Campaign with The Silver Line – the only national, free and confidential phone line dedicated to older people suffering from loneliness and part of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness (2016 - 2017).
We used our talents to #StartaConversation about loneliness and pledged to donate £100 from every new business project we received in December to support The Silver Line’s work.
Our supporters came forward to start a conversation about loneliness in our campaign video. Three brave people, including Luisa, appealed to anyone
watching to “keep talking to each other” – reminding us that we have the power to change someone’s day and create connections that count.
The campaign raised £1,400 and achieved national coverage for The Silver Line in The Independent, The Sun and The Evening Times as well as Scottish Sun and The London Economic, reaching over 288K coverage views and an online readership of 253million.
We also supported the charity's national #FoamAlone campaign on our social media channels, with raised £2352 in donations, as well as reaching hundreds of new supporters. The money raised helped The Silver Line to answer an additional 450 calls over the Christmas period.
Social Outreach: What Is It and Why You Should Be Doing It
Anyone with an account on a social network has been there. A casual surf through your feed, checking in with friends, dishing out Favourites and Likes as needed. As you scroll you notice posts from accounts that you aren’t familiar with. A number of these go by, but every once in a while one hits its mark, grabs your attention, and demands a click to check out the story.
These are targeted adverts, created to spark traffic from a specific audience to a specific piece of content. We call it Social Outreach.
Now more than ever specialisation is key. New content arrives online in an endless torrent. It’s a wonderful outpouring but it poses a problem when trying to draw an audience for a specific piece of content. How do you get seen in this hectic and shifting landscape? Social Outreach can help by placing an ad for your content in the feeds of social media users, targeting only those who are interested in the topic of your content.
Now more than ever specialisation is key.
For example, say you are working for a company that builds bicycles and you’re looking to promote a new range of mountain bikes. Try targeting social media users who express an interest in cycling and fitness, or have been known to mention topics relating to outdoor pursuits in their updates. You could even get right down into mentions of ‘helmets’, ‘punctures’, ‘downhill’, ‘ATB’, ‘derailleur’, ‘schrader’ – terms that only dedicated cyclists are going to be mentioning. The more specific you can be the less time and money will be wasted placing your content in front of people unlikely to click.
Social outreach requires a nuanced approach to reap the biggest rewards. The most important variables to consider when crafting a successful campaign are all creative ones. First and foremost is the quality of the content you are promoting. Content that taps into the interest of the audience and provides a mix of storytelling, topical subject matter and engaging visuals is more likely to be read, shared and spread organically to a wider audience. This organic momentum, when the story takes on a life of its own, is the ideal outcome for your social campaign.
This organic momentum, when the story takes on a life of its own, is the ideal outcome for your social campaign.
Next to consider are the posts themselves. Both Facebook and Twitter advertising allow you to create variations of your post. This is an opportunity to be adventurous. Try a range of images and text configurations to see which resonates best with your audience. You might create two serious, corporate posts with professional images and direct wording, but mix it up on the next two will some pop culture references and a well-known meme. Inside tip: images of cats and Bill Murray never fail. Create the post that you would want to click on.
The three pillars of Social Outreach, then: killer content, engaging social media posts and a specialised audience. When these three elements align Social Outreach can be one of the most exciting and effective ways to get your content out there.
How social media turned TV audiences into ‘sheeple’ – and how you can influence them
Social media has played an increasingly advanced role in shaping what we watch.
It informs us on what the next groundbreaking progrmme is to see, advises us on new talking points to dish amongst work colleagues or friends and it shows us what our friends and our influencers are interested in.
Consequently, critics and wannabe influencers now have the platforms to actively share their voice and impact our decisions, which has become impossible to avoid.
I noticed this trend recently when my mum surprisingly started watching Blue Planet, which is a far cry away from her normal television schedule of Strictly and Downton Abbey.
It is also hard to find a day in the office where someone isn’t trying to converse over the latest episode of Stranger Things.
Significantly, in digging a bit deeper, it became clear that there are clear parallels with social media’s influence on what we want to watch.
This study delves into this debate and how through social media and PR you can influence individuals to watch your content.
The Statistics
If the above doesn’t convince you, numbers will.
As early as 2013, it was reported by Yahoo!7 in a poll of 7,000 individuals that “42% of respondents said they had chosen to watch a particular show because of a social media recommendation and 38% said they became aware of television shows through Facebook and Twitter,” evidencing how social media has turned us into TV Sheeple.
Interestingly, in the Yahoo!7 survey it was stated “43% used social media while watching television,” which demonstrates the connection between the two and the opportunity to boost viewership based on social media activity. This is given further strength as it was corroborated by Ericcson’s surveyof 30,000 people in 2016 that highlighted “64% of consumers say at least once a week they use a mobile device to complement or supplement what they are watching on television.”
In looking at viewership rates, Erriccson reported that since 2010, the share of viewing hours spent on-demand short video clips has jumped 86%. This statistic is particularly important as these clips which are mainly categorised as Youtube videos are based on content that is more reliant on social media, further highlighting the strength of social media in increasing viewership.
Additionally, such is the impact of social media influencers to our life, that Nielson’s in their Millenials on Millennials report, recorded that male Millennials have a “higher opinion of trending social media stars than they do for sports stars, pop stars, actors and actresses.” Thus showing how much influence social media influencers have on our viewing choices but also how far social media has come in allowing these individuals to have a platform to be more respected than traditionally known celebrities.
With the recent outcry over fake news, it should be noted that some people don’t even watch television, such is the influence of social media as a source of information. According to the Conversation in 2016, it recorded globally, for all age groups under 45, “online news is now ranked as more important than television news.” Particularly among the consumer group of 18 to 24 year olds, social media at 28% was rated more important than TV at 24%.
Overall, these statistics paint an effective picture that social media to a large extent has been and can be responsible for our viewing habits. The tricky part is using the platforms we have to affect this.
The Unilad Model
Unilad, a platform that is synonymous with being a giant in social media and the place that unearths the latest trending content, is the best example of this.
Launched in 2014 as an entertainment outlet for UK students, its rapid rise coinciding with its campaign for The Inbetweeners 2 movie and The Entourage movie stressed how media has shifted in generating mass traffic.
Starting out as a Facebook group, its large global share of the social media world has meant that Quantcast, an audience measurement company, discovered that “Unilad users are over 5X more interested in film and entertainment than the average internet user.” Therefore, when promoting content to its 34 million audience on Facebook alone, it was the largest site in the world to host the official trailer of Inbetweeners 2. Notably it also received the greatest amount of views and shares of the UK trailer for the Entourage film.
Consequently, as a platform Unilad have understood their audience to match their needs without being too intrusive and their audience has complied to share their content. Utilising these skills sounds simple enough but it can backfire if not done with care and consideration for your audience. Significantly, this is why sites similar to Unilad are able to generate such reach and are the starting point in that discussion with your friend at the pub or at work, as to what you are excited to watch next.
PR Stunts
Stunts are always a good way to stimulate interest for an upcoming series or film.
A recent example of this successfully working is the 2017 Baywatch film where coinciding with its release, a slow-mo marathon was held in Los Angeles. This gained traffic through social media with 60,000 views on Youtube alone and was likely a shared talking point for many people during the day who witnessed the event. It further gained shares and mentions on major publications, like Adweek and Campaign for its efforts.
More effectively, the best example is the 2012 stratos jump from Red Bull, where Felix Baumgartner became the first person to break the sound barrier. This stunt produced and broadcast by Red Bull pulled in 8 million live views on Youtube and currently stands at 42 million views on their channel. Although not solely responsible for Red Bull’s expansion into cementing itself as more than an energy drink, it did significantly assist in helping it transition its focus on the media front.
Incorporating Social Media into your Show
Audiences of yesteryear had less influence on what they saw on their favourite programmes or films with only little opportunity that their sentiments would be heard by a network exec.
However, the introduction of social media has changed this dynamic, as today’s viewers can not only watch a show but also share their feelings in real time. This has also changed the role of the producer of these programmes, for they can potentially know what is popular or not by what is trending on social media platforms. In essence social media has transformed live television into a “global social experience.”
It should be noted that this isn’t exclusive to television, as live game broadcasts on Twitch, events shown on Youtube Live, Periscope or Facebook live, all offer opportunities to be involved and have your thoughts heard.
Although consumer feedback is not necessarily a new invention with the previous method used as SMS, it is notable how much more influence social media has in this area. For that reason, those conversations on Facebook or Twitter shouldn’t be underrated in their importance to the higher-ups. Consequently, popular channels and television stations are using this to their advantage to encourage people to share and promote their shows.
An example of this working very well is WWE or World Wrestling Entertainment. For those who thought wrestling was just men in tights drop-kicking each other prepare to be surprised. Forbes reported at the end of 2016, WWE had close to 739 million followers. They also anticipate that by 2018 this will surpass 1 billion. Additionally, now that your attention has been caught, you may be left wondering how this is possible?
>Well, WWE has mastered the art of making the views of their audience heard. Regular viewers will know that at different points in the show, a running tab of social media comments will be displayed on the bottom of the screen displaying people’s opinions on the show thus far. Therefore, if your comment is merited you will be rewarded on live television for your views, thus enabling the incentive to share your views.
Importantly, in every match or segment, there is a hashtag in the corner of the screen so people know what to mention and they inform the viewer with a notification in the opposing corner when they are trending worldwide.
The use of hashtags or encouraging individuals to share is given extra weight as is it also cited by Daily Nationwho mention “that the more a show is talked about the better the chances it stands of surviving…It starts with a simple hashtag like #NowWatching which makes it easy to track the conversation.” Moreover. that article goes as far as to say that “TV shows cannot run away from social media but should just embrace it.”
Overall, there is a lot of credence to suggest that the more your content is talked about, the more weight it lends to not just survival but also revenue. Consequently, mere things like hashtags or encouragement to share or subscribe can be very important to measure success and gain it.
72 Point’s Work
Our company’s influence is exemplified by a wide range of work but most recently, the work utilised for the History Channel on the build up of their “World War True” season strongly demonstrated the importance of PR and social media side-by-side.
Using our creative team and our extensive research arm which covered 2,000 respondents, 72 Point were able to demonstrate the shocking lack of knowledge regarding WW2 with some people mistakenly believing Germany and Britain fought on the same side. Coinciding with the survey which demonstrated more startling statistics, a quizz was generated to highlight the top 10 WW2 films.
These facts displayed on our site and spread across our wide media connections through social media and marketing platforms elevated the serious concern for these issues but also generated significant buzz for History Channel’s new programme. Examples of the success of our campaign are displayed by it reaching an online readership of 448 million combined with it being circulated by print to an audience of 4.45 million. The value of our sources gained in print and digital is highlighted by major publications like The Independant, The Sun, Mirror and UniLad promoting the story. Ultimately, this campaign built publicity in a unique way and assisted in turning people into TV Sheeple.
Conclusion
While the social media world seems like a competitive battlefield for attention it can effectively be used to your advantage. Utilising some of the tips above or just acknowledging the statistics can help and it should be known that the game has not just changed but evolved. Significantly to stay one step ahead of your competitors is necessary in this market and it is solely up to you to find ways in social media to step
The Social Media Election. Was this it?
Five years ago, at the time of the last general election, I was studying for my undergraduate degree. For the first time ever I felt the election buzz. Although I personally wasn’t that interested, I found myself surrounded by people who couldn’t shut up about it, and everyone, of course, was voting Lib Dem.
This time around things are different. I’m back at home, fully employed and paying attention due to my own genuine interest. This is in no small part down to the role of Social Media (and hours of TV satire and a determination to not let full time muppet and general pain in the arse, Nigel Farage have any sort of power). The role of social media in this election has been much anticipated. We’ve already seen how social media can be used to reflect the way votes are likely to go in our own light-hearted infographic. However it is the use of social media to attract and persuade voters and to promote the campaigns of individual parties which has stirred up all the fuss.
The 2015 election has been dubbed ‘the social media election’. This was partly due to the speculation and anticipation due to the rise in Social media’s popularity over the last five years. 5 million people have joined Twitter alone in the years since Britain last went to the polls. This has been key for political parties. It meant that parties and politicians had a direct way of speaking to people without having to trawl the streets. This was good for two reasons. Firstly it meant that the powerful elite of our society didn’t have to go into areas where people shop in Aldi rather than Fortnum and Masons. Secondly, it meant that they could target specific demographics at the touch of a button. In particular they could target youths, or as they’re known in Westminster, ‘bloody hoodies’. Youths are not a group politicians normally go near for fear of being mugged or stabbed but now they could talk to them without fear of physical contact.
The televised debates in the last election boosted turn out by 65%, but only 44% of young people (aged 18-24) turned out to vote. It would therefore be amiss of parties not to take advantage of a primarily young person’s medium to reach this audience. It was revealed fairly early on that our current lord and master, Mr Cameron and his Conservatives had spent £100,000 pounds on Facebook advertising, ten times that of Labour and 1000 times that of UKIP. A recent article in the Guardian stated that Facebook has the potential to reach 9.2 million young people with one post and with UK adults spending a minimum of 1.33 hours on social media, spending obscene amounts on these platforms isn’t exactly a bad idea.
But it’s not just paid promotion and it’s not just Facebook. Politicians have taken to Twitter to personally promote key party policies (or at least their social media managers have). This means for the first time in living history, politicians have been forced into giving short concise answers and policy announcements.
Parties have also embraced the ways of YouTube. As you can imagine this means a lot of clips of speeches and cringe worthy videos of politicians looking to camera giving heart felt speeches “to you, the voter” *VOM*. The Conservatives channel is particularly bad for this. The video of David Cameron welcoming you to the channel actually makes me physically look away as if I were watching a man on Embarrassing Bodies with some disgusting skin complaint. Labour’s channel is marginally more watchable. It displays a great deal more personality. For example the featured video is of Miliband playing pool with snooker favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan. In fact celebrity support is something that Labour play on quite heavily with their channel featuring videos from people such as Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Jo Brand. The Lib Dem videos on the other hand focus very much more on the general public. Their featured video is the Clegg Meister visiting a school, followed by a video of him visiting animals. Everyone together now…awwwww.
Despite this use of social media many say that the ‘Social media election’ never came to fruition. The build-up has even been described as ‘routine, predictable and over cautious’. If that weren’t bad enough much of it has been unpleasant.
This is particularly evident on Twitter . Twitter as a PR and marketing tool can be and has been successful. For example a recent Twitter campaign prompted the petition to get leaders from smaller parties involved in the leaders’ debates. However much of the party campaigning consists of mocking and bitching about other party leaders. A perfect example of this is the Twitter feed of the one and only Boris Johnson. Bo-Jo’s feed consists mainly of jibes at Miliband, with his tweet referring to Miliband’s wall of policies being a personal highlight (see image). 
Obviously all parties’ campaigns feature a certain number of put downs but this election is being referred to as one of the ugliest campaigns in history. One therefore has to wonder whether Twitter is doing nothing more than making things worse. After all with Twitter you get trolls. The only thing that gets met through the Twitter bitching is the hope that there is a Malcom Tucker figure behind the scenes taking control of people’s mobiles and blasting them with a particularly taboo outburst.
I think, on reflection though, social media has played a huge part this time round. Yes it might not have been ‘the Social media election’ that we were all promised but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. If nothing else, it has shown how seriously we should take social media as a platform and the benefits of social media advertising. That’s something businesses can take out of this election regardless of the outcome. If Twitter promotion and campaigning is good enough to get you to run the country it’s good enough to get you some business and get your message out there.
Furthermore Stephen Coleman, professor of political communication at the University of Leeds, commented that traditional methods of party promotion, primarily newspapers, are being disregarded time and time again by readers who are desensitised to it. This also applies to the mounds and mounds of party leaflets we get through our doors which seems to have reached frankly ridiculous levels this year. Therefore it makes sense that other methods of campaigning should be introduced, if only to pump a little fresh blood into the election build up. Remember the last election, the so called ‘TV election’ that saw the first ever live TV debates that boosted voter turn out by over half? What I’m essentially saying is that when it comes to getting your message out there you can no longer just rely on one platform to do so. It’s very much a multi-platform world that we live in and as a result campaigns, political or not, can only benefit from multi-platform content. Just remember to make it nice. The place for trolling is in fairytales. Not the internet. Or the Hopkins residence.
(All of the above views are mine, not the company’s…or are they?! Yes, they are.
Social Media Content: It's a dog's life
Working at a press agency means I’m constantly surrounded by creative, passionate people in an office buzzing with ideas. Every morning my colleagues scour the news pages and sites to see if their stories made. Hours are spent every week brainstorming ideas for clients and writing witty, compelling copy. They deliberate headlines, by-lines and always push themselves creatively. In a competitive market, they are constantly asking themselves the age old advertising question: What sells?
In my role as OnePoll’s online community manager, it is my job to interact with our OnePoll panelists. Whether it’s competitions, answering member queries or just posting an image that I think they might like – the latter of which I like to do on a Friday to cheer everyone up for the weekend. A while back, I posted a picture of a dog. A picture of a wet dog if you want to be specific. Why I hear you ask. Well it had been a long week so work so I decided to Google ‘frazzled dog’, as one does. I saw the picture and loved it. I decided to add a few words to it, to really drive home my message. It turns out that this dog was no ordinary dog. It was internet gold. The image has so far reached 22 million people, been shared by more than 350,000 and has over 50,000 likes.
Who knew those words and that image would resonate with so many people! People have shared stories about their stresses at work, their lives in general and have told me about their beloved pets. They tagged people and those people tagged other people. At first we had a few likes and shares, then those likes and shares doubled, then tripled.
After a week we reached nearly 500,000 people (the most likes a post had got before was 819, and the post was boosted, so beating that was my original goal). I kept refreshing the page until it crashed and refused to update. I left work on Friday feeling super successful….just like Dave from Money Supermarket.
It was pretty surreal seeing my post pop up on my newsfeed because someone I know has shared it, without knowing who I work for, and colleagues (yes you Rick Maughan), telling me their friends are also sharing it. It was just plain odd.
I post on the OnePoll members Facebook page every day, it’s my job, and never before has anything taken off in such a way. So what is so special about this post?
Obviously we need to make something clear. The OnePoll Facebook page is a B2C. This gives it the freedom to feature light hearted, jovial content whether it be memes, YouTube videos, dogs, cats, goats …anything really. It’s the go to page for our panel; it’s the home of OnePoll’s online community. Being a Facebook page for our OnePoll community means therefore that follower numbers are considerably more substantial that other B2B accounts, which means the impression rate is automatically more impressive.
These things don’t automatically mean that content will go viral – an overused buzzword for the 21st century – but they do obviously lend a hand in making them popular.
In the serious world of journalism and B2B marketing there were mixed feelings about the success of the image, or ‘cognitive dissonance’ if you want to be smart (Jay Williams, our Content Director!). On one hand, as Jay puts it, there is a sense of frustration that a picture of a soapy dog has done so well. But, on the other hand, and I’m quoting Jay directly here for maximum embarrassment, ‘Look! It’s a soapy dog! That’s soooooo cute!’ (Yes, he did over extend ‘so’. That really happened).
So why has the image done so well? Obviously no-one can predict what’s going to go viral (there’s that word again, sorry), but in an article for the Guardian in 2014 Buzzfeed’s editorial director, Jack Shepherd, gave the world some insight in to what makes it more likely.
His first piece of advice was to avoid the term ‘viral content’ like the plague, hence my overly apologetic use of the phrase earlier on. Shepherd described the term as sounding ‘like a vomit bag’. Lovely.
His second piece of advice was to share things that people can relate to, or in other words ‘things people share the most are things about themselves’. Shepherd commented that in the modern online world ‘your readers are your publishers’ – sentiments that relate strongly to our own findings from our Generation Editor report. ‘They are more likely to do that if the act of sharing helps them to make a strong statement about who they are.’ That doesn’t mean that the thousands of people who shared our dog image think of themselves as wet dogs, although some of them might and who are we to judge? What it means is that something about this image related to them on a personal level. Maybe it was the sentiments of the text. Maybe all 381, 839 shares were from people who had had the week from hell.
Shepherd’s third piece of advice was that people are more likely to engage with a something if they have ‘a strong, positive emotional response to it’. The guardian article refers to findings of a 2010 study into the New York Times’ “Most emailed” list (an early form of viral content, before social shares) which found that items on the list fell into one of four categories:
- Awe-inspiring
- Emotional
- Positive
- Surprising
Ok, so the soapy dog isn’t awe-inspiring, emotional or surprising but it is positive. The dog has had a rough week and come out fighting! (I know I sound crazy, but please suspend your disbelief for a bit longer).
Last and by no-means least, and this isn’t Shepherds insight, it’s a cute dog. Animal posts do well. It’s an unexplained phenomenon. You just have to look at the rise to fame of the host of internet cat celebrities….wow, there’s a phrase we never thought we’d hear. Since the early days of the internet cat posts have always done well, starting with email and chatroom images, then to the rise of LOLCats (which now has over 100 million views a month), right through to Keyboard cat, grumpy cat and Nyan (who isn’t even a real cat). One of our panelists even commented on a later post featuring a dog, that it’s nice to have a break from cat pictures.
Truth be told, we will never know for certain why this image was so popular. In my own personal opinion, as OnePoll’s online community manager I have come to realise that people take an interest in your post when it’s either humorous or potentially offensive. Also it was a Thursday and people were feeling tired and stressed out. The dog in the picture also reminds them of their own pet, which invokes a multitude of emotions. It’s relatable, both on a personal and professional level and who doesn’t love a photogenic dog! Turns out, from further investigation that it’s a famous dog, called Tusk. You can visit his Instagram and Twitter accounts. Bottom line though…everyone loves pictures of cute animals. It’s human nature and sometimes that’s all it takes.
Written by Jade Easton and Ruth Davison
Sledgens and Legends: The 2015 Cricket World Cup in Tweets
At the risk of sounding like a bitter Englishman, the 2015 Cricket World Cup has been a bit of a laborious affair. Ever since that fateful day in Adelaide when England failed to overcome Bangladesh (BANGLADESH!) to reach the knock-out stages I have been huffing and puffing about the long-winded nature (irony of ironies for a cricket fan) of a tournament that has served only to draw attention to the gulf in class that divides India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand from the rest of the world.
But despite there being a distinct lack of momentous games, there has been no shortage of momentous moments. New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori defied the laws of physics with a spectacular one-handed catch at the boundary this weekend, Windies all-rounder Chris Gayle mirrored Sachin Tendulkar with a double century, Pakistan's Wahab Riaz bowled a mesmerising innings against the Aussies and Martin Guptill’s 237 runs from 163 balls are just a few of many moments that match the gravitas of a World Cup.
And this year Twitter has been there to capture all the action after signing an agreement with the ICC to launch a host of innovative and interactive features. The move, which sets a precedent for future tournaments, positioned the social media platform as a central hub for match commentary, expert analysis and fan insight, transcending geographical and time limits to make the cup a truly ‘world’ affair with fans at the heart of the action.
In true cricketing fashion the Twittersphere responded with admiration and tactical intimidation in equal measure. Old rivalries re-born, fierce competition re-lived and passions personified as the highs and lows of The Imperial Game were played out across Australasia, all of which made great fodder for social media channels.
Here’s a review of how the Sledgend and the Ledgend lit up this year’s tournament on social media.
The Sledge
Australia (gotta love ‘em) initiated the sledging (a form of verbal intimidating) with a campaign by an online bookmaker advertising two cricket balls with the slogan: “Missing, Pair of Balls – if found please return to the English cricket team.” The ad ran before the home nation’s game against England in Melbourne and immediately became a social media success with the hashtag #MissingBalls trending in a matter of hours.
Our Digital Hub team picked up the social media movement and were quick to publicise. The first sledge of the tournament was soon up on the Telegraph, the Mirror and various other online titles who published the story as a good-natured exchange of banter.
But it doesn’t always work out so well. A club cricket final in New Zealand has recently made national headlines after it was abandoned due to one team refusing to play on, citing "bullying" from their opponents as the reason for pulling stumps. As the national team prepare for a feisty encounter with South Africa tomorrow could we see a repeat of the feisty 2011 World Cup quarter-final, or will the intimidating exchanges be left for the Twitterati to administer?
The Ledge
One thing we are sure to see as the semi-finals commence is a good dose of admiration for World Cup legends. The one day format differs from test cricket in that it propels individual performances into the limelight more than the team as a whole, a trait which is conducive to the 140 character limit on Twitter.
This year’s semi-finalists demonstrate this well. Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc is at the centre of social media hype in the run-up to their clash with India who have every chance of upsetting the host nation in their own backyard if the likes of MS Dhoni, Mohammad Shami and Ajinkya Rahane can repeat their heroic performances. And if New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill can #Guptill South Africa tomorrow he will become a social media saint overnight.
With three of the best games of the tournament yet to come, prepare to see a frenzy of social media activity kick off as the sledgend meets the legend.
#SecondHandSeptember
By Lisa Malyon
72Point has been flexing its CSR muscles this month, with the successful launch of Oxfam’s Second Hand September initiative – encouraging Brits to sign up to 30-days of buying second-hand, instead of new. The hard-hitting behaviour change campaign reached over 10 million consumers via national TV and radio (6m), print (1.95m) and online (2.6m) coverage, and resulted in a great big spike in people making the pledge.
Having already undertaken primary research revealing the shocking stats about the environmental impact of fast fashion, Oxfam enlisted the support of 72Point to ask consumers how the stats made them feel when it comes to fast fashion, and if they would change their behaviour. If you were told that buying a new white shirt is as bad for the environment as driving 35 miles, would you think twice about buying it? A massive third of all Brits said that although they were shocked about the impact their fast fashion purchases have on the planet, they probably won’t change their habits. The study of Brits also found the average adult spends £27 a month in fast fashion outlets and two items are currently owned which remain unworn.
The shocking fact is that every week 11 million items of clothing end up in landfill - with many of them being still wearable - and every minute two tonnes of clothing is bought, producing nearly 50 tonnes of carbon emissions. We, as consumers, must change the way we act. Join us in doing so, and make the pledge today – it’s never too late.