With it’s sweeping coastline, Pennine hills and historic towns and cities, Lancashire has always held a special place in the heart of Northerners. There’s just such a variety of things to do and I guess that’s why tourism remains a major part of the county’s economy.
Social media is now playing a vital role in extolling the county’s charms and it was actually a conversation on Twitter that led to us being invited to deliver a conference on behalf of Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board, an organisation that really does understand and value the opportunities that exist to create a genuine dialogue with potential visitors from across the UK and around the globe.
Last Thursday we were at the stunning Towneley Hall in Burnley to manage a day of inspirational presentations and case studies for delegates including award winning accommodation providers, major attractions and other North West tourism organisations.
The day was chaired by the Tourist Board’s Sarah Lundy who’s passion for social media has helped shape their online presence to include a blog that expertly reflects all that’s happening across the county and a Visit Lancashire Twitter account that absolutely nails the use of tone and language to be both informative and often very funny.
We were also blessed to be able to attract some fantastic speakers for the event. First up was Rob Brown of Staniforth who opened the day with a scene setting overview of the impact of social media and later spoke again on the isssues of reputation management and the influence of holiday makers who are increasingly using the internet to research, book and discuss their breaks.
Mark Hanson of Wolfstar did a fantastic job of tailoring the possibilities of Twitter as an additional communications tool for tourism related businesses and the elder statesman of UK social media, Neville Hobson seemed to fire up the entire room as he focussed on the newly evolving business benefits of all things social media.
The speaker presentations were interspersed with case studies and Wolfstar’s Amy Johnston and Emma Gardiner of Go Ape reinforced the importance of nurturing an online audience and provided an insight into the blogger outreach programme they are using to promote their outdoor activity centres to relevant online infuencers.
Hetty Byrne of Forest of Bowland discussed a really cool model of aggregating news and information on their blog for the mutual benefit of smaller tourist businesses in the area of outstanding natural beauty. Wildlife and conservation figure heavily and they are focussing on developing conversations with a range of niche audiences within the wider nature / outdoor market.
We were really pleased to have Heather Price of SKV speaking about the thinking behind their multi award winning J’aime la Tour viral video for Blackpool and the unbelievable amount of print and broadcast coverage they achieved from what must be one of the cleverest and most uplifiting tourism adverts ever. Don’t take my word for it, have a look for yourself.
Our final presentation was delivered by Constandina Milios of Visit England, another organisation that fully recognises the significance of social media within their industry. Visit England were keen to support and be involved in the conference and Constandina provided an overview of their social media wizard, a simple step by step guide developed to help tourist businesses set themselves up on the various social media platforms.
Thanks to all our speakers, delegates and Ken and the team at Towneley Hall, it was one of those events that was truly a pleasure to be involved in.
Here’s Blackpool’s finest Section 25 with their proto house remix of Looking From A Hilltop.