Using blogs to maximise your sponsorship

I presented at the recent IIA Congress but as time keeper had a great chance to see the key note addresses. PodCast and Presentations are available from their website. There were lots of great speakers but as usual there was one stand out one amongst the giants that presented. Barry Meehan from Cycle World presented on how he has used social media to generate extra footfall to his store, increase traffic on the site and actuall sell a number of high spec bikes to customers overseas. His enthusiasm for what he does was infectious and what he has achieved on small budgets was impressive. Through the blog he has managed to create strong one on one relationships with people before they physically visit his store. Cyclists generally want to research online before making a visit to a store and through the content – from new designs to how to clean your bike tutorials – he found a very strong relationship between what gets sold and what he blogs about. Before custmers visit him they already feel that have a relationship with him and offers challenges on people arriving knowing his name and what he has been up to. One of the interesting areas that PR executives could learn from was how he uses the blog to maximise his return on sponsorships. He uploads the photos and results from these events – generally small events – and traffic spikes the following day with cyclists looking to check their times and photos. The blog platform allows him to deliver this with minimal effort. When quizzed about unhappy customers and posting online about it he was happy to accept that it was better that he knew the issues and saw it as offering more opportunities than threats.

While Dell, Bebo and PWC gave interesting overviews on the market, there was no replacement for an owner manager talking about his own experiences.

Campbell Scott, from IGOpeople.com presented his offering in harnessing online conversations and matching people and services and using social media to change/leverage/improve the services that are offered. Due for release after the summer it will be interesting to see how it takes off.