Social media weighs in on failed #ShareTheBay campaign

After failing to get their money’s worth after a failed influencer-driven social media campaign, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality may just get their money’s worth as #ShareTheBay is now the talk of the town,

According to a thread posted on Twitter using information gathered from a Herald Live article, sponsors for the municipality’s tourism month initiative were left fuming after they reportedly provided twelve celebrity influencers with an all-expenses-paid four day trip to the city in the hopes that they would post about it, make it trend and entice more tourists to visit the city.

Privileged to welcome influencers @LindaMoeketsi, Katlego Selekane, @barbiliscious, @Sincerelyward, @ChanitaFoster, @NwabisaJoka, @MbauReloaded, Tebogo Lerole, @casspernyovest, @Carpo_mr_ & Allana Foster in the Bay as we prep for #SHAREtheBay #TourismMonth.

Enjoy the Bay. ⛱️🌞 pic.twitter.com/uRgD4SIyZe

— Mongameli Bobani (@CllrBobani) September 9, 2019

Local names like Linda Moeketsi, Mbau, Nyovest, Katlego Selekane, Babalwa Mneno, Nwabisa Joka, Tebogo Lerole, Carpo and Tumi Mohale, as well as international influencers Sincerely Ward, Chanita Foster and Allana Foster, were just some of the people tapped for this campaign.

However, according to the Herald, only five of them – Mneno, Moeketsi, Mohale, Selekane and Foster – met their end of the bargain by posting about where they were.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2MuF28gOsl/

Leading the charge on holding the group to account is public relations officer and copywriter at Mantis, Mandisa Magwaxaza.

“I always work with contracts, and with my contract with the municipality, I stipulated what we would do as Mantis. “We made it clear that on [Monday’s cocktail] evening we expected them to be posting and we gave them the hashtags. I put drops in the five rooms that we had sponsored which had a rhino mascot from Community Conservation Fund Africa valued at R250 and a letter stating our expectations as well as all the tags,” Magwaxaza told the publication.

She says that upon checking the progress of the campaign on Tuesday, she noticed that most of the group were not meeting their deliverables to she tried to fill the gap by repurposing images they had already taken and posted on the trip.

She alleges that Moeketsi then blocked her on social media after she reposted his images from the trip and tagged him and his fellow influencers.

Celebs and influencers fail to #ShareTheBay

The thread has been trending for most of the morning and has prompted social media users and influencers to weigh in on the project and why they believe it failed.

We had a couple of “influencers” here in the week to promote Nelson Mandela Bay. They came, they enjoyed the free stuff and left with most of them not sharing anything via their social media platforms. I want to make a point, please type #SHARETHEBAY in the comments and retweet. pic.twitter.com/ifbX0L4L1j

— Ngamla Gouws 🇿🇦 (@RenaldoGouws) September 14, 2019

but most importantly, when doing these influencer/PR trips, clients need to properly disclose deliverables and influencers need to be on the same page. if posting was a trade exchange for the trip, it needed to be known and if it was but they still didn’t post, have consequences

— miss honey 🍯 (@foyinog) September 15, 2019

#SHARETHEBAY is such a sad hashtag of you click on it. Do we not have local influencers in PE who could’ve done this?? This is what happens when you chase people’s followers instead of people who are passionate about the content they share. You can always see who puts in effort.

— #PrEPa Pig 🏳️‍🌈 (@Phumlani_PrEP) September 15, 2019

https://twitter.com/RealLifeGold/status/1173130882862997504?s=20

https://twitter.com/MrGwej/status/1173141247357333506?s=20

Those influencers did not even RT at least the post you tagged them on @BobaniMayor. #SHARETHEBAY pic.twitter.com/iVCp7Yb6Vm

Read more

Cancel culture 101: Navigating the business of social media

— Injoli yeSizwe (@osipuka) September 15, 2019

That #SHARETHEBAY campaign was a complete fail. I hope a lesson was learnt by the agency

— Mwelase (@_Teegan__) September 15, 2019

Hahahaaa He's a "marketing specialist" fam #SHARETHEBAY https://t.co/7EgitEqbz6

— YAM-YAM DAKHILE (@AndaSobs) September 15, 2019

Thank you for your input Asa, we will consider using locals & PE born "influencers" to promote the City, boosting the profile of the Bay & give a better story of the Nelson Mandela Bay a national appeal. 🛥️⛱️

We want to promote the Bay as a destination to go to. #ShareTheBay https://t.co/6I1kPXxbwQ

— Mongameli Bobani (@CllrBobani) September 14, 2019

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.