Castle Grove joins @bamptonbizgroup on Twitter
Castle Grove @castlegrove has linked up with the Bampton Business Group @Bamptonbizgroup on Twitter to keep in touch with the community.
Send a tweet to @castlegrove here
Read more here courtesy of this article from this is Devon
BUSINESSES in Bampton, including Castle Grove, are joining the Twitterati and finding that using social media can both raise their profile and help them
keep in touch.
Firms in Bampton have started using networking site Twitter as a means of communicating with local people – providing they can keep to the standard 140 characters.
Bampton Business Group was set up last summer to discuss business-related issues within the town. Since then it has grown to about 100 members and now some of its core members are keeping in contact with each other outside of their regular meetings using website Twitter.
The account has only been running since the beginning of August but already has nearly 40 followers on its @Bamptonbizgroup page.
Those taking part include the town post office which tweets its ‘Sweet of the Week’ promotion – most recently Aniseed balls – and the Swan pub, which tweets about offers including its Friday fish-and-chip special offer, while the local children’s drama group has even used the forum to advertise for somewhere to store its costumes.
Andrew Lathwell, who helped set up the initiative, said: “The idea came out of a business group meeting when someone mentioned what a shame it was that people aren’t aware of what services are available in the community.
“A website would take considerable time to keep updated. Using Twitter allows the businesses in the area to post special offers or promote themselves.”
Mr Lathwell said: “There are lots of different ways it can be used to benefit business. If you are a shop and you have a sale on, you can get the message out via Twitter or if you are a local restaurant, you can put up an update when you change your menu. Businesses can also help each other, if a B & B is fully booked, they can refer people to other local accommodation.”
Martin French, who runs the Bark House Hotel at Oakford Bridge, said he had initially been unsure about the benefits of the website. “When I first heard about Twitter, I thought it was a waste of time, why do I need to know if Stephen Fry is having a cup of coffee? But I went to a seminar about how it could be used for business and that is how I began tweeting a couple of years ago.
“For us, we are a few miles out of the town, so we don’t see people from other businesses that often, so it is a great way to keep in touch.”
Mr French said the world of communications was changing so fast, that not keeping up to speed with Twitter could mean missing out on bookings.
He said: “I have answered Tweets from people who are looking for B & Bs in Devon, someone in Newcastle might Tweet asking for suggestions for good places to stay and that gives me an opportunity to respond and put ourselves forward or recommend someone else.”
Not everyone was won over on the advantages of this form of communication though, Mr French admitted.
“There were plenty of cynics when we started doing this and my other half Melanie is one of them, but I think if more of the community start using it, it will become a brilliant way of keeping people informed about what is going on.
“Twitter its absolutely ideal for a small rural community like ours.”