When I first noticed the tweets of Mr. John Casson, The British Ambassador to Egypt, he was addressing the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and referring to someone who had tweeted to his account asking to work as the Egyptian Ambassador in the UK!
Instead of giving a blunt official answer or ignoring the sarcastic tweet, the Ambassador simply quoted the tweet to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying “Someone wants to work with you”.
I immediately realized this as a perfect example of “Forget about B2C & B2B, it’s H2H” from my recent article “The 10 Social Media Facts They Are Not Telling You”
@MOFAEGYPT في واحد عايز يشتغل معاكم https://t.co/UCRCClzytM
— John Casson (@JohnCassonUK) May 7, 2015
The British Ambassador is Promoting Tourism to Egypt!
I started reading through his recent tweets only to find them all interesting and fun to read. I was surprised to find 2 threads of hashtags that one would usually expect from the Egyptian Tourism Authority or the very least by Egyptian influencers interested in promoting their country, #ReasonsToLikeCairo and #ReasonsToLikeAlexandria, the posts show someone who is both very knowledgeable about the local culture and having a creative sense of humor.
Although the posts have nothing to do with the official Ambassador role, however, he knows that “Posting about “other” stuff is not bad” and this is bringing more followers and engagement to his account from both locals and foreigners alike, his account is not just a timeline covering official visits and announcing statements, his account is actually fun and turned out an account that one would enjoy following.
Surely not everyone agrees about or enjoys his sense of humor, and unfortunately, some have hijacked the hashtags with political and unrelated tweets, but again “you will not please everyone” so why bother being picky about your tweets? Just speak your mind and let the followers sort it out between themselves increasing the engagement while they are at.
The Most Controversial Tweet by the Ambassador
عايز تشتغل في السفارة البريطانية؟ نرحب بالجميع و نرحب بابن عامل النظافة. https://t.co/bNnQRFkwSs
— John Casson (@JohnCassonUK) May 13, 2015
This translates to “Do you want to work for the British Embassy? We welcome everybody including the son of the garbage collector” referring to a recent incident where a minister, the ex-head of Egyptian Judges, had given a statement that Garbage collectors’ sons are not allowed to work as judges.
Although the tweet shows a creative sense of humor and shows that the Ambassador is aware of internal affairs and events, yet IMO such a tweet could easily backfire by being perceived as “a hit below the belt” or as inappropriate, in general, it is usually safer to steer away from political and religious topics, especially if the general public thinks of you as an “outsider”
It’s Not a Normal Ambassador Twitter Timeline, He’s Taking Part of Almost Every Egyptian Event!
My Final Example, and My Favorite
الموقع ده بيشتغلنا يا جماعة 🙂
Out by 3,350 years pic.twitter.com/hyH2l0j5rD— John Casson (@JohnCassonUK) May 3, 2015
I certainly agree with that, when I tried the site, it thought I was 29, well at least it got the gender right.
I invite everyone to follow and learn from @FCOJohnCasson ‘s Twitter account. It’s a perfect example of Twitter engagement done right.
Another BOOMING tweet by John Casson wishing luck to Ramadan Sobhi who moved to Stock City from Al Ahli this summer.
رسميا رمضان في الدوري الانجليزي.. سلمته الباسبور والتأشيرة: باسبورك في ايدك تأشيرتك معاك.. تجيب الدوري وتيجي #رمضونا pic.twitter.com/aZdg8nuGtw
— John Casson (@JohnCassonUK) July 31, 2016
