Social Media Tips: #ScotlandHour Twitter Chat
In this series of blog posts I’ve been looking at Scottish tourism businesses that are using social media effectively and highlighting some examples of good practice. The use of hashtags has come up in almost every post, from encouraging user generated content on Instagram to making the most of trending hashtags on Twitter. Hashtags are now used on many social media platforms, including Facebook and Google+, but are particularly associated with Twitter and Instagram. One way in which a specific hashtag is used is in Twitter chats – and the first of these was #ScotlandHour.
If you’re a Scottish tourism business on Twitter it makes sense to get involved in #ScotlandHour (the last Wednesday of every month from 9-10pm). Promoting tourism in Scotland, this monthly Twitter chat covers a range of topics from the outdoors to family holidays, and is a great way not only to promote your business but also to connect and engage with others. And with stats like these, why wouldn’t you join in?
If people are using the #ScotlandHour stream for inspiration when holiday planning, make sure that your business is there to be found. The hour is divided into six question slots, with 10 minutes for each question (and the last always photo based). This month the topic was agritourism which was ideal for any rural businesses in Scotland. Ardross Farm Shop in the East Neuk of Fife was one such businesses who took full advantage of the Twitter chat.
As a regular #ScotlandHour tweeter myself, and having visited the farm shop during a stay in Elie, I have tweeted with Ardross Farm Shop in the past. This particular chat was the perfect topic for promoting their farm shop and produce. But the point of #ScotlandHour, as always in social media land, is not to fire off promotional tweets left, right and centre; the personality of your business should shine through. I thought that Ardross Farm Shop did a great job of engaging their followers, with fun tweets like below, as well as showcasing the quality of their produce, highlights of their local area and retweeting anything of interest to their followers.
If you want to make the most of #ScotlandHour like Ardross Farm Shop, here a few tips:
- Take a look at the questions prior to the chat on the ScotlandHour blog or Facebook page and schedule some tweets. This allows you to read through the stream (which can be very fast-paced!) and engage with other tweeters, retweeting or replying to their tweets. Don’t forget to use the hashtag or your tweets won’t be found, and start the tweets with A1, A2 etc, as in the above example, in answer to the specific questions.
- If you use Hootsuite, a social media management dashboard, add a stream that searches for #ScotlandHour and you can more easily keep track of the tweets.
- Some monthly topics will be more suited to your business than others, make sure you’re taking advantage of those that are relevant.
- If it’s a topic that fits really well with the nature of your business you could contact the #ScotlandHour team to see if they’re looking for co-hosts.
This month there is a second chance to get involved in the Twitter chat with a St Andrew’s Day special on 30th November, at the earlier time of 8-9pm. Take a look at the questions and join in on the St Andrew’s Day tweeting!
