With all the social media #winning from brands around the announcement of the birth of the #RoyalBaby, there is one that seemed to miss the boat: The British Monarchy.
Of course, the first thing we now all do (or wait, is that just me?) when big news goes out is look to social media to see which brands are impressing us, especially after the SuperBowl's iconic Oreo tweet. Well, no surprise here, but brands turned out in a big way to welcome to new baby to the royal family.
There was one presence that seemed to be lacking in social space on this big day - the British Monarchy themselves.
- While their official Facebook and Twitter pages made posts announcing the royal baby, it was the Clarence House Twitter that broke the news.
- In a larger fail on the family's part, it seems they all seemed to get the memo on the dedicated hashtag, #WelcometotheWorld, as it only began being used hours after the big announcement and many official tweets later.
- Another fail still, was that the official Google+ still seems to be forgotten about when posting announcements, as it still has not posted on the news.
- No customized graphics made the announcement (and there were so many great quotes that will never be pinned now).
This was a prime opportunity for the royal family to take their social media presence (less than 1.5 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Google+) and sky rocket them into the 21st Century. While I admit that it is tough for such a long-standing, traditional brand like the monarchy to transition into the space, today was the today to try. Kate and Will have proven to be the family's saving grace, when their wedding skyrocketed approval ratings, and the birth of their first child will likely make even a bigger splash. With all this admiration, the monarchy should be soaring in the social space, but sadly they trail most brands and figures.
Let's hope that this #RoyalBaby (nameless still - but luckily that has paved the way for a few good memes), will steer The British Monarchy into a life with a rich social media presence and live up to this comparison.