Generating buzz

Buzz is a general term for being talked about, getting other people to talk about you. The best bit of PR is word of mouth. A buzz hub may be any group of connected people:

• Experts – these might be bell founders and bell hangers, rope makers and other companies who are experts in the bell industry, or could be local historians interested in the church architecture and what’s up those spiral steps.
• A social hub could be the regulars who sit in the pub on a Monday night and at about 9.30pm when you stroll in after practice, say “Oh here come the bell ringers, did you have a good practice? Sounded good tonight”. Everyone else sat in the pub would have heard that. You could be starting a new job and your new colleagues want to find out a bit more about you so ask what you do outside of work and you tell them you’re a bell ringer, then they are inquisitive about it.

You can use tags and hashtags on social media that let you keep track of the buzz associated with your message. If you search the #bellringing tag on Twitter you can see the latest chatter about bell ringing related things. You can track how people have heard about your event simply by asking them as part of an evaluation questionnaire. It's always a good idea to respond to any buzz if a response is required to engage with people and turn any negativity into a positive outcome.

People will talk about things that they’ve personally experienced.If you hold an open day or 'have a go' session, they will tell their friends and family about it, this is where you need to make that experience the best it could possibly be. If you can, get some testimonials - ask what they enjoyed most about their experience.

Vicki Chapman, CCCBR PRO