Tapping into the #NaturalHair Phenomenon with an Online News Release

Posted by on Nov 11, 2011 in Party Aficionado, PR, Social Marketing Strategy | 0 comments

A visit to Dallas, TX in August to get my hair done, resulted in me turning the webcam on to help natural hair pioneer, and the person who started my locks over 13 years ago, Isis Brantly, get the word out about her September 2011, natural hair parade and festival.

As I often do, I offered to sponsor the efforts further by writing and publishing one of my favorite Prweb news releases.

Announcing Natural Hair Parade and Festival 2011, Dallas, TX by @Naturallyisis

Was the release I wrote and published on August 11, 2011.

What happened next could only be described as viral and somewhat frenzied.
August 12, Huffingtong post ran the video. With the headline
Erykah Badu To Lead Isis Brantley’s Natural Hair Parade (VIDEO) (154 shares on Facebook, 124 Tweets)

August 17, 2011 Essence.com followed up with the headline: (1k Facebook likes 58 tweets)
Erykah Badu to Lead Natural Hair Parade

While this seems to be great news, the story was now out of control and completely off message.. Or so it seemed.
While the mainstream media was focused on the celebrity endorsement, Facebook and Twitter friends understood that the parade was in fact a celebration of natural hair and that the movement to get more African American people involved in the estimated billion dollar natural hair care industry was bigger than celebrity.

A well timed tweet from her friend, sealed the deal for fans who did want to hear from the celebrity.

Badu TWeet

During the event, I was able to use one of my other favorite tools,Storify to curate the story of the event.

This isn’t the first natural hair client.  My first,  was Natural Hair Expressions in Riverside, CA who I helped get set up to sell their MissTee’s Natural Hair Products.

Knowing that there was an already strong natural hair community online, I knew the message would spread.

The examples above and the Prweb release analytics show just how far.

 

I am encouraged by the number of people embracing their natural hair, I was happy to be a part of what I know is a turning point in the acceptance of natural hair.

 

Feature image credit: https://www.facebook.com/NaturalHairSorority