On Tuesday the 15th of June 2021 I was assaulted. Why & how? Well, I was walking home from work, & a charming young man wanted a fight. I refused, told him to back off, & then he used a slingshot to fire a ballbearing into the back of my head. Just before this, his girlfriend purposely crashed into me with an electric scooter.
What you may find interesting is how I used my knowledge of digital marketing to find out who these individuals were, which then made it possible for them to be convicted (hopefully).
Step 1: Create a narrative to gain public interest 📖
If you want people’s help, you have to make them route for you. You have to create a narrative with heroes & villains, so I immediately posted onto the local Facebook group with the start of my tale:
This generated a lot of interest & some useful pointers of where the culprits had been that day. Unfortunately the police felt this wasn’t enough information & were unwilling to ask businesses for CCTV, so I posted again to draw more attention:
At this point a lot of people were interested in the assault, & a local newspaper even covered it:
So now I had a good amount of public interest.
Step 2: Combine this awareness with a clear call-to-action 💪
A couple of days later I asked for CCTV images from local businesses on the road the assault took place. They provided an image of the culprits, which I was able to post on the local Facebook group asking if anyone knew who the two were.
I won’t post the photos for obvious reasons.
The photo received a lot of engagement, & finally someone who knew the two individuals got in touch out of sheer embarrassment.
As there was so much public interest, I had witnesses, CCTV images & more; the police would now pursue the crime more seriously.
What are the lessons from this event? 🤔
Firstly, if you get in a similar situation to me don’t hold back, feel free to defend yourself because the police don’t give a flying fuck.
Secondly, if you’re looking for a “viral” campaign you need to utilise emotional triggers so your audience will want to get involved. In this case I was writing as the aggressor. I used names of locations so people felt it was more relevant to them, school names so they would involve their children, & I wrote posts talking directly to their family to try & provoke a response.
Personally I don’t like doing this kind of PR-esque-stuff but in this instance it was definitely needed.
SIR THORNEY 