The Power of Twitter

The Power of Twitter
@RobiBrooks #Twitter10

Real-life example - Cork
I am English by birth, but I have lived for the past 16 years in Finland.
In 2013, my wife was invited to take part in a two-month project in Cork, Rep. of
Ireland.
The invitation was a single tweet!
We moved to Cork for two months, so I decided to see how just how much I could
get involved in via social media during those two months.
The following story would not have happened without Twitter.
@RobiBrooks

Cork
Cork is both a city and a county in the
Republic of Ireland.
Corkonians are fiercely proud of their
identity and consider Cork the “real”
capital of Ireland.
Their attitude is summed up in this
picture perfectly.
@RobiBrooks

And so I started to tweet about Cork...
@RobiBrooks

I started a blog.
Created a facebook page.
A Pinterest account.
Google+
And all sorts of other stuff.
@RobiBrooks

I kept a close eye on people tweeting
about Cork and started to follow them
and join in their conversations.
I noticed that Corkonians are
incredibly proud of their city and
county.
For historical reasons they call
themselves “The Rebels”.
So I bought a T-shirt and tweeted
about it.
@RobiBrooks

My mum has suffered with
cancer, so I always support
cancer research when I can.
I bought a daffodil to support the
Irish Cancer Society, and tweeted
about it.
The craziest thing happened:
@RobiBrooks

The Irish Cancer Society noticed
the tweet and decided to award
me a Dell tablet (Dell was
sponsoring the daffodil day in
Ireland).
I was really shocked and happy,
but I already had all the
technology I needed.
So I decided to donate it.
@RobiBrooks

I decided to give it to someone who
needed it more than me.
I mentioned the idea to the guy who
had invited us to Cork.
His wife knew an oncologist, who put
me in touch.
We set up a meeting, and I donated
the tablet to a young man with
cancer.
All because of one tweet!
@RobiBrooks

2013 was a big year for Ireland. The government had funded a country-wide
initiative to get the economy back on its feet.
The initiative was called “The Gathering”.
Each town, village, and city was given autonomy to organise its own events under
The Gathering brand.
Cork City and County Councils took up the challenge and decided to play on their
“Rebel” status.
@RobiBrooks

There were lots of small events planned throughout the year, but the culmination
was a week-long celebration of all things Cork called, “The Rebel Week”.
They had created their own Twitter account, @CorkRebelWeek, and they had
noticed my tweets...
@RobiBrooks

Cork City Council came up with an ingenious way to get the people of Cork involved
in the celebrations on social media.
By visiting designated places around Cork City and County, and posting pictures of
them on Twitter and Facebook, Corkonians could accrue points and get their own
“Cork Passport” (playing again on the rebel status)
Once the person had 1000 points they would be awarded the passport.
I took up the challenge.
@RobiBrooks

I visited as many places as I could wearing my Cork T-shirt, and posted the pictures
on Twitter and my “Pop the Cork” Facebook page.
I very quickly amassed the 1000 points necessary for the passport, but decided to
take it one step further.
I agreed with Cork Rebel Week that other people could get points if they got their
photo taken with me wearing my Cork T-shirt.
@RobiBrooks

I had become a “Cork Rebel Week” ambassador.
@RobiBrooks

Eventually, I was awarded my Cork
Passport.
In fact, I was the first person in Cork
to be given a passport. It was
awarded to me early because I was
flying back to Finland.
I had to keep it a secret until the
official announcement.
I had become an honorary
Corkonian.
@RobiBrooks

The entire family returned to
Finland in May 2013, but my Cork
adventure did not stop there.
A local Cork newspaper contacted
me on Twitter wanting to write
about my story.
@RobiBrooks

I went to meet the Irish
Ambassador to Finland, Dermot
Brangan.
@RobiBrooks

I met expat
Corkonians in
Finland.
@RobiBrooks

And then, on 4th February 2014, Cork was hit by terrible flooding.
Cork is built on an island in the River Lee. Much of the land has been recovered
from marshes. In fact, the name “Cork” comes from the Gaelic word “Corcaigh”,
which means the marshy place.
Cork Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in the world, and Cork is
dominated by its relationship to water and the sea.
Also, Ireland is the first land after 3000 miles of Atlantic Ocean.
When a storm comes off the Atlantic, it hits Ireland first… and usually HARD.
@RobiBrooks

I was following the events surrounding the Cork floods closely on Twitter via the
#CorkFloods hashtag
Many people I knew were affected by the floods, and I wanted to express my
concern.
So I wrote a short message of support to the people of Cork on my Pop the Cork
Facebook page.
It went viral.
@RobiBrooks

@RobiBrooks

My journey with Cork
continued.
Another Cork newspaper
wrote an article about me
and my connection with
Cork.
@RobiBrooks

I got involved with the social
media people in Cork. And helped
them with the World Social Media Day
events in Cork.
The relationships I formed in Cork
continue to this day.
I recently appeared on a panel of
experts discussing community
management for the global #CMAD
event with my friend from Cork,
Antonio Santos.
@RobiBrooks

In October 2014, the first Global Cork
Economic forum was held in Cork City
Hall.
I noticed that they were not using
Twitter as effectively as they could.
I created a Tagboard for the event with
the #GlobalCork hashtag, tweeted the
link to the organisers, and they put it up
live on their big screens in the event.
They were very happy.
@RobiBrooks

One week after the Global Cork forum,
I was nominated in the Cork Digital
Marketing Awards by the Cork
Chamber of Commerce in two
categories:
● Best use of Twitter
● Best zero budget digital marketing
campaign
I didn’t win either, but it was a nice
recognition of my work in social media
with Cork.
@RobiBrooks

I got a nice surprise in February
2015 when Cork’s most popular
radio station tweeted to me asking if
I would like to talk on live radio
about marketing Cork to the world.
I was very flattered, and naturally,
accepted.
240 000 people in Cork listened to
me talk about my experiences.
@RobiBrooks

Soon after the radio broadcast, I decided to
start a project to promote Cork using the
#LoveCork hashtag.
The hashtag was used by a couple of key
figures in the Cork digital scene, so I got in
contact and we decided to work together to
promote Cork.
They sent me some goodies, and I created and
hosted a Tagboard for the #LoveCork project, a
YouTube channel, and I also used my Twitter
account and Pop the Cork Facebook page.
@RobiBrooks

I had organised the launch in
collaboration with another Cork
social media connection.
@CorkHour is a Twitter account
that hosts a Twitter chat every
Monday evening using the
#CorkHour hashtag as well as a
guest hashtag for the chat.
Naturally, we used #LoveCork, and
launched the content on all my
channels at the beginning of the
chat.
@RobiBrooks

The idea was to promote Cork
by getting Cork natives to
make videos of their favourite
places and post them online
with the #LoveCork hashtag.
I had made my own videos to
promote the project.
My tweets alone had been
seen
14 700 times in just the two
hours of the chat!
@RobiBrooks

The total impacts (the total number of times all the tweets in the chat had been
seen).
Here you can clearly see the potential power of Twitter.
@RobiBrooks

In March 2013 I had arrived in Cork with an idea to make the most of the
experience completely via social media.
I had no budget; just my computer, phone, and the social media channels available
to anyone. By the beginning of 2015 I had:
● become an honorary Corkonian
● been written about in two Cork newspapers
● been invited to speak at a Cork marketing conference
● been nominated in the Cork digital marketing awards
● been interviewed on Cork radio
● and become a well-known figure in Cork social media
@RobiBrooks

Thank you, Twitter
You really have changed my life!
#Twitter10

The Power of Twitter

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