Macmillan is most talked about charity online during London Marathon
Howard Lake | 16 April 2014 | News
Macmillan Cancer Support succeeded in generating the most online mentions for a charity during the London Marathon, according to research by social media listening platform Synthesio.
It gained 53% of online mentions of the 12 largest charities that Synthesio analysed. It was considerably ahead of NSPCC in second place on 13% and RNLI in third with 12%.
Synthesio tracked mentions of the charity on social media platforms, forums and the comments section of newspapers over the weekend with the aim of seeing which brands raised their profiles the most online during the Marathon.
Why Macmillan?
Synthesio suggests that Macmillan’s success could be explained by the effective use of its #teammacmillan hashtag, and the charities’ encouragement of its 1,000 runners – including celebrities such as The Voice singer Matt Henry – and their sponsors to show their vocal support online.
They also included humour, inviting runners to share photos of their feet with the #tweetyourfeet hashtag.
Marathon sponsors
Synthesio also analysed online mentions the London Marathon’s corporate sponsors.
Not surprisingly, as event sponsor, Virgin Money dominated online conversations with 87% of mentions. Adidas came second with 9.3%, and Lucozade Sport third on 3.3%.
Catriona Oldershaw, MD of Synthesio UK, said:
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“The London Marathon is one of the key events of the year for UK charities. Not only does the event itself raise millions of pounds for worthy causes, it is also a brilliant tool to raise publicity for ongoing charitable campaigns. Macmillan managed to grab a lot of attention on social media due to the high level of engagement from its runners and their supporters. There was no single ‘buzz’ generating moment, rather Macmillan’s success was down to a concerted social media push”.
She added:
“For charitable events, the best tactic is not to overtly push hashtags or Twitter handles as it can be seen as cynical by the public.”
Some Macmillan Cancer Support marathon tweets
So proud of everyone involved in #teammacmillan including our fastest celeb runner @Mrmatthenry #VMLM2014 pic.twitter.com/QH3s76VcMj
— Macmillan Celeb Team (@mac_celebteam) April 13, 2014
Thanks to @macmillancancer for their awesome support today! The post run massage was ace!! @LondonMarathon #VMLM2014 pic.twitter.com/5Y7wEtWTd5
— John Hill (@inspiringJH) April 13, 2014
#vmlm2014 @macmillancancer wonders if u all really know the incredible difference u made today? Many will know in the months, yrs, ahead
— Macmillan Cancer (@macmillancancer) April 13, 2014
Great atmosphere at the #teammacmillan cheering point. pic.twitter.com/oDPwZZAea9
— Elspeth Cox (@ElspethCox) April 13, 2014
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.