‘Waste of money!’: Harrogate council criticised for spending £700 on social media influencer

Harrogate Borough Council has been roundly criticised for spending £700 on a social media influencer whose posts about the town received little attention.

The Stray Ferret reported yesterday that the council paid Bristol travel blogger Heather Cowper to praise its new Harrogate Christmas Fayre.

But her post about it on Facebook received just two likes, which included one from the council itself. Her post on Twitter generated no likes but a series of posts on Instagram performed better, generating up to 65 likes.

Liberal Democrat councillor for New Park, Matthew Webber, who sits on the council’s audit and governance committee that scrutinises council spending, told the Stray Ferret he was “appalled by this waste of money”. He added:

“I would have thought it was possible to arrange to pay social influencers by their results and clearly this time the results were extremely disappointing.”

Cllr Matthew Webber

Cllr Webber said the council should have used local residents to promote the town instead.

“It probably received less likes on the various social media platforms than we could have got from just posting a similar article ourselves or other local residents who have social media profiles.”

‘I’d have done it for free’

Mary Beggs-Reid is a Harrogate resident who runs a Christmas page on Facebook that has over 500,000 members. She told the Stray Ferret she would have promoted the Christmas Fayre on the page for the council for free.

Ms Beggs-Reid, who found fame for starting the Christmas jingle, said she posted a video of Knaresborough market traders in the group that received 14,000 views in an hour.

“I’d do anything for my town. I’d have done it for free.

“But they’ve paid an out-of-towner to promote us. The council don’t look into what’s going on in our town”.

Mary Beggs-Reid

‘Online vanity project’

The £700 spend was also criticised by the national group Taxpayers’ Alliance, which campaigns for a low tax society.

Harry Fone, its grassroots campaign manager, said:

“Taxpayers will be absolutely livid at this terrible waste of money.

“The council should be ashamed that it has spent public cash so poorly.

“In future, town hall bosses should focus on frontline services rather than online vanity projects.”

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It wasn’t all criticism, however. One reader contacted the Stray Ferret to say the article was unfair as Facebook is not Heather on her Travel’s primary channel.

The reader said Ms Cowper’s posts about Harrogate had performed better on Instagram although she added she wasn’t suggesting it was good value.

Destination Harrogate

The decision to use a social media influencer to promote the town was made by Destination Harrogate, the council’s tourism body.

The organisation is headed up by Gemma Rio who was appointed in September 2020. A job advert from when before Ms Rio was appointed advertised the role for a salary of around £60,000 a year.

The Stray Ferret has requested an interview with Ms Rio on three separate occasions. These have all been refused.

Gemma Rio

‘Digital landscape has changed’

The council sent a pre-written statement from Ms Rio in response to our story yesterday.

“The digital landscape has changed significantly in the last few years with around 80% of adults (53 million) using social media daily, with the average user spending almost two hours on these platforms.

“Like many other destination management organisations – as well as most businesses – Destination Harrogate is keen to capitalise on this incredibly effective marketing tool to target specific audiences, especially around the tourism and travel sector.

“Heather Cowper was chosen as she regularly appears on the lists of top 100 travel blogs worldwide and has established herself as one of the best traveller bloggers. Regularly receiving thousands of views every month on her videos, photos, podcasts and blogs.

“Heather’s content is also incredibly well written – having spent many years sharing her own travel experiences and insights – and also attracts our target demographic.

“The joy of using social media as a marketing tool is that it is often more cost-effective and engaging than traditional advertising, as we can utilise photography and video as well as words. All adverts and promotions can also be evaluated extensively; whether that’s reach and engagement or driving traffic to our website, for example.

“We can also continue to adapt and tailor our approach to future campaigns, attract new visitors, as well as understand the behaviours of our target demographic to ensure a return on our investment.

“Social media advertising and the use of influencers to increase brand awareness looks like it will continue to be one of the most beneficial marketing tools. We’re keen to continue using it to showcase what the Harrogate district has to offer and stand out amongst competitor destinations.”

Prime Minister thanks Christmas Eve Jingle Harrogate family in letter

The Prime Minister has thanked the Harrogate family behind the global Christmas Eve Jingle in a letter.

Boris Johnson had promised to join in but he was too busy with Brexit to step out on the doorstep of Number 10 Downing Street.

So he has penned a letter to the Mary Beggs-Reid’s son Dexter to show his support. It reads:

“Dear Dexter, I am writing to thank you and your wonderful family for starting the Christmas Eve Jingle campaign.

“This heart-warming campaign gave us all a way to come together at a time when we were unable to do so in person. It captured the true meaning of Christmas and gave a sense of hope to so many.

“I would like to thank your marvellous mother Mary for her fantastic efforts to keep spirits up and make sure nobody was lonely over Christmas. I hope you are all keeping well and that you are looking forward to going back to school soon. I am sure all of your friends and teachers at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Harrogate are very proud of you.”

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Mary Beggs-Reid, the founder of the Christmas Eve Jingle, told the Stray Ferret that it was exciting to receive the letter out of the blue:

“Mr Johnson was busy on the day with Brexit but it was really nice of him to write this letter for us. Dexter hasn’t seen it yet but I am sure he will be very proud.

“The Christmas Eve Jingle went very well and we still have a lot of people in our Facebook group. It would have been mean to close it down when so many connect there.

“It may be a little early now but we are already thinking about the next Christmas Eve Jingle. There’s real demand for it to come back.

“And who knows? If it goes well this December it could then become a yearly tradition. It could be a positive way to mark 2020.”

Doorstep jingle founder Mary leads the ringing in Harrogate

Hundreds of thousands of people from Britain and beyond stood on their doorsteps at 6pm tonight and rang bells as part of an idea that started in Harrogate

Bilton woman Mary Beggs-Reid came up with the idea of a doorstep jingle to “spread festive spirit and help Santa’s sleigh fly”.

More than 500,000 people pledged to take part and this week Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Ms Beggs-Reid pledging his support.

The Stray Ferret went to St John’s Grove, Bilton, where Ms Beggs-Reid lives, to witness the phenomenon.

Mary Beggs-Reid

TV crews from the BBC and Sky were due to be present but the signing of the Brexit trade deal prompted them to change plans.

But the Stray Ferret was there to capture the moment when Mary led the countdown. After two minutes of jingling, carols were sung.

Mary’s inspiration for the event came from the film Elf, where New York folk sing together to power Santa’s sleigh with their Christmas spirit.

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Boris backs Harrogate Christmas Eve doorstep jingle

Prime Minister Boris Johnson today called a Harrogate mum backing her campaign to get the world to ring a bell on Christmas Eve.

Mary Beggs-Reid came up with the idea last month and nearly 500,000 people have already signed up to take part.

Today she received a phone call from Mr Johnson, who told her that he will be taking part at 10 Downing Street with his fiancé Carrie Symonds and their young son Wilfred.

Mary planned to travel to London to meet the Prime Minister but the new tier four restrictions in the capital meant a phone call was more suitable.

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The Christmas Eve doorstep jingle asks people to ring a bell or bang a pan at 6pm for two minutes to “spread festive spirit and help Santa’s sleigh fly”.

With her now famous bell in hand, which will soon become a family heirloom, Mary told the Stray Ferret:

“It’s wonderful, I can’t believe we’ve got the Prime Minister involved. Lots of people from Lapland joined last week, it’s going to reach everywhere.

“There will be a wave of bells on Christmas Eve. We will see it coming from New Zealand and that will build up the excitement even more.

“We will just have two minutes for the children when something amazing and magical will happen, I can’t wait.”

Mary’s inspiration for the event came from the film Elf, where residents of New York sing together to power Santa’s sleigh with their Christmas spirit.

With news that the Christmas relaxation of rules has been reduced to just one day, she thinks that there will be a lot of interest on Thursday.

Harrogate Christmas Eve Doorstep Jingle goes global

A simple idea to create festive spirit in Harrogate has gone global in just a few days.

Wanting to bring people together at the end of a difficult year, Mary Beggs-Reid came up with the idea for a Christmas Eve Doorstep Jingle last week.

She set up a Facebook group, supported by the Harrogate Mumbler network, to invite local people to ring bells on their doorstep at 6pm on Christmas Eve and even sing a few carols if they wanted.

Within hours, the group was attracting interest from around the world. Less than a week later, it had 160,000 members – and an event sent up on Facebook had 570,000 people interested in taking part.

More groups have also been set up for people in other countries, including Canada, America and Australia, all linking back to Mary’s original idea. She told the Stray Ferret:

“It just blew up over night and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. It’s all from one hub, but there are people around the world doing it at 6pm their time, in their country.

“It’s going to be like a wave across the world – everybody is getting involved. If we pull it off, it will sound fantastic.”

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Mary’s inspiration for the event came from the film Elf, where residents of New York sing together to power Santa’s sleigh with their Christmas spirit. Mary added:

“I thought people might be too embarrassed to sing, so I thought of bell-ringing. All the kids will love it, thinking they are going to fly Santa’s sleigh.”

The Facebook group has become so busy that Mary has enlisted the help of friends to help her organise it. People are sharing their own Christmas traditions and ideas from around the world and discussing how they can make this year special, even if they can’t do what they normally would.

The Facebook group has also become a hub for people to support each other. A buddying system will see anyone feeling lonely receive a message from someone else on Christmas Day, while one group member is working on a Christmas Day quiz to run on Zoom.

Mary Beggs Reid and her family

Mary and her family will be ringing bells on their doorsteps at 6pm on Christmas Eve.

As well as setting up the event, Mary is working with Sally Haslewood at Harrogate Mumbler to create a sheet of carols which people will be able to download nearer Christmas so they can sing with their neighbours if they want to. There will also be a poster for people to put in their windows, spreading the word about the plans.

Mary hopes people who don’t use social media will find out from their friends and neighbours and will be able to join in – especially those who live alone and may feel particularly isolated at Christmas.

“It’s lovely everyone wants to get involved in it. It’s free, it’s going to make everyone feel much better – it’s giving everyone an escape from the doom and gloom.

“There’s two months to go yet, but whatever tier you’re in, this can’t be cancelled and that’s why people are enjoying it so much.”