Sometimes I do work at uni...

The brief was to write an original news story. The subject was Greg Burney and his #drawmyfollowers project on Twitter. The final outcome follows...

A new era for marketing? Twitter project snowballs in popularity.  

A student from Kent has gained notoriety from a project he developed on the social networking website, Twitter.

The initial concept, created by Greg Burney, 20, enabled new followers gained within a 2 week window to have their profile picture drawn.  

However, the number of followers increased from 80 to 2500 in the space of a few days, causing the cut-off point to be 3000 followers.                                                           

“It's a project that is just for fun, and it brings everyone together. That's what I wanted from ‘#drawmyfollowers.’ I never expected it to get as huge as it is,” he says.

The scheme proved to be successful in generating publicity for Burney’s clothing company, Dashing Industries.

“It was only after I noticed that Dashing Industries was suddenly receiving thousands of hits that I remembered the url, www.dashingindustries.com was in my Twitter bio,” he says.

“The ‘#drawmyfollowers’ project led to our first sale in Australia, so that's good.”

The idea has become so successful that there is now an opportunity for the public who are not part of ‘#draw my followers’ to donate a sum of £3 to get their hands on a personalised drawing by Burney.

The project has since taught Burney the power of social networking within marketing.

“It provides a massive reach to a company's fans and stakeholders. Advertising to the right people is important, and what could be easier than sending out a message to the people who have chosen to like your Facebook page, or follow you on Twitter.”

Follow Greg on Twitter here
Check out the official site for Dashing Industries