Viral Marketing At Its Best While Twitter Claims A Couple Of Gotcha’s
The internet can be a minefield at times and you just never know when something will backfire on you or turn into an unexpected viral marketing bonus. Sometimes the backfiring can be great for outcomes. At other times it can really hurt you and your reputation. Over the last couple of days we have seen the best and worst of the internet when it comes to sports and sportspeople. Let’s look at the worst first.
Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes was dropped from the Australian Ashes team prior to the third test. Being a little impetuous, he twittered the fact to all his fans. The problem was, it hadn’t been made official and the full team had not been released. Sometimes, when it comes to sport, tactics including who is in and who is out play a part in the mind games of teams. He certainly let the cat out of the bag a little early – much to his team’s displeasure.
That was rather tame compared to Darren Brent. He was taken off a plane moments before his team, Spurs, left for China. Brent was in the process of being transferred to Sunderland. When it comes to football and player transfers, nothing is straightforward. Brent knows it – but rather than wait to let things sort themselves out, he decided to get on Twitter and give the Spurs chairman a piece of his mind. Talk about letting the emotions run wild – he was certainly not polite in what he said. The down side – if his transfer falls through, and it’s still 50-50 at present, he is going to have to eat a big chunk of humble pie – I hope he is hungry! It is interesting to note that Brent’s Twitter account has now been deleted.
Of course, sometimes the bad can turn into good. Tranmere Rovers Football Club is up for sale. If you haven’t heard the news, where have you been? Tranmere’s chairman has certainly been up in arms over the sale telling all and sundry how the sale is being handled in poor taste. What has got him up in arms? Ebay.
The owners have listed the club on Ebay for a cool 10 million dollars (US). Following the chairman’s attack, news of the sale has hit national television, the radio and of course the newspapers – and that is offline. Online, it has been Tweeted, written about and made the online newspapers. It’s not often that something gets listed on Ebay for 10 million, particularly an English football club.
Whilst the current owners may not be happy with their chairman criticizing the sale, I am sure they are thrilled with the free publicity that surrounds it. If they can sell the club quickly, you can guarantee that this publicity has helped the cause. The question being raised in some quarters now is whether or not the chairman’s actions were actually part of a marketing ploy. If it was, it has worked – this is viral marketing at its very best.
All three are also big lessons in how not to manage your reputation. The internet has reduced our world considerably. Sites such as Twitter are reducing it even more. You need to ensure that what you say online doesn’t come back to bite you tomorrow. Viral marketing can be one positive outcome, a ruined reputation another – that’s the online world we now live in.
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