Business Advice
Social Media for Business
Benefits of Using Social Media
Social media is a great way to connect your business with new customers and build relationships with your existing customers. When used consistently and correctly it can be a great cost effective marketing and customer engagement tool.
Using visual and engaging content on social media will help drive traffic to your other digital marketing platforms, including your website, and help improve your ranking in search engines.
Using social media helps reinforce your brand and gives your business a voice. It helps you showcase your business and helps influence potential customers.
Follow Us
| This is durham (Consumer Information) | Visit County Durham (Corporate Information) | Discover Durham (Groups and Travel Trade) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| /thisisdurham | /VCDBusiness | ||
| @thisisdurham | @VCDBusiness | @Discover_Durham | |
| @thisisdurham | /visit-county-durham | ||
| @thisisdurham | |||
| YouTube | /thisisdurham | ||
| /thisisdurham | |||
Key hashtags
A great way to reach people on social media who don’t follow your pages is to use #hashtags. Simply put, a hashtag (#) is a label for posts shared on social media. It helps users who have a specific interest to quickly find content on the same topic by searching for a hashtag, or to join in by using the hashtag in their own posts. By using a trending hashtag, all users searching for it can see your post, regardless of whether they are following your page, helping you reach new audiences. Hashtags can be used across all platforms not just twitter.
Below are a few examples of some of the hashtags we use when posting on social media –
Visit County Durham hashtags - #Lovedurham #Tastedurham #NorthernSaints #DurhamDarkSkies
Durham event hashtags - #LumiereDurham #DurhamBrass #dbf22 (Durham Book Festival 2022 ) #Kynren #NPennDarkSkies (North Pennines Stargazing Festival) #NorthPenninesAONB
#HODs (Heritage Open Days) #Bishfoodfest #Seahamfoodfest
Other useful hashtags - #NorthEastHour (Monday 8-9pm and Tuesday 2-3pm) #Latebookinghour (Monday 7-8pm) #mondaymotivation #traveltuesday #weddinghour (Wednesday 9-10pm) #wednesdaywisdom #tbt #throwbackthursday #ukholidayhour (Thursday 8.30-9.30pm) #nefollowers (Thursday 2-3pm) #flashbackfriday #followfriday #ff #fridayfeeling #connectfriday #weekendhour (Saturday and Sunday 11am-12pm) #selfiesunday #sundayfunday #englandhour (Sunday 9-10pm) #EnglishTourismWeek22 (18-27 March 2022) #VisitEngland #VisitNorthEastEngland #LoveGreatBritain
Awareness days
Throughout the year link your social media activity with things that are trending. By utilising trends such as national days, major events and awareness days you can amplify your message and reach/engage with new followers.
New awareness days and celebrations are created all the time, our best advice would be to start to create your own calendar with trends, national days, holidays and events which work best for your business.
Below are examples of some of the main days and events we link our social media activity to. No matter what time of year, you’re guaranteed to find something that happening that day, month or week which will help you create engaging content.
January
Veganuary – All Month #vegnauary
Walk your Dog Month – All Month
Heritage Treasures Day #heritagetreasures - 11
Blue Monday - 16
Museum Selfie Day #museumselfieday - 18
Cheese Lovers Day #cheeseloversday - 20
Chinese New Year – Year of the Rabbit - 22 Jan
Durham Restaurant Week 28 Jan – 4 Feb
National Storytelling Week 30 Jan – 6 Feb
February
National Wedding Month – All Month
World Wetlands Day - 2
Valentines Day - 14
Love Your Pet Day - 20
Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day - 21
March
Women’s History Month – All Month
World Book Day - 2
World Wildlife Day - 3
National Day of Unplugging - 3
British Pie Week - 6 – 12 March
International’s Women’s Day 2023 theme: #EmbraceEquity - 8
British Science Week - 10 – 19 March
English Tourism Week #EnglishTourismWeek23 - 17 – 26
Mother’s Day - 19
International Day of Happiness - 20
Spring Equinox - 20
National Proposal Day - 20
International Day of Forests - 21
World Poetry Day - 21
World Theatre Day - 27
April
National Pet Month – All Month
National Walking Day - 5
Good Friday - 7
Easter Monday - 10
National Pet Day - 11
International Dark Skies Week - 15 – 22
World Heritage Day - 18
Earth Day #EarthDay2023 - 22
Bicycle Day - 19
International Astronomy Day - 29
May
National Walking Month #walkthismay – All Month
National Photography Month – All Month
Space Day - 5
Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III 6 – Bank Holiday Monday 8
International Dawn Chorus Day – 7
Love your local market #LYLM2023 - 12 – 27 May
World Migratory Bird Day - 13
World Cocktail Day - 13
National Train Day - 13
International Day of Families - 15
National Vegetarian Week - 15 – 21
Global Accessibility Awareness Day - 18
International Museum Day 2023 Theme: Museums, Sustainability and Wellbeing - 18
June
National Great Outdoors Month – All Month
Pride Month – All Month
Volunteer's Week - 1-7 June
National Fish and Chips Day - 2
World Bicycle Day 2023 - 3
World Environment Day - 5
UK National Bike Week 2023 #BikeWeekUK #7daysofcycling - 8-15 June
World Oceans Day #WorldOceansDay - 8
National Get Outdoors Day - 10
World Gin Day - 10
National Beer Day #CheerstoBeers - 15
Nature Photography Day - 15
International Waterfall Day - 16
National Go Fishing Day - 18
Father's Day - 18
National Picnic Week - 18-26
Summer Solstice - 21
National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay - 21
World Music Day - 21
Social Media Day #SMDay - 30
July
National Picnic Month – All Month
National Ice Cream Month – All Month
National Meadows Day - 1
World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay - 7
World Youth Skills Day - 15
Festival of Archaeology 2023 Theme: Archaeology and Creativity - 15 – 31
National Ice Cream Day - 16
World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay - 17
International Moon Day - 20
National Marine Week - 23 July - 7 Aug
International Bog Day - 25-Jul
Love Parks Week - 29 Jul-5 Aug
August
National Fishing Month – All Month
International Beer Day - 5
Afternoon Tea Week- 7-13
National Relaxation Day - 15
World Photography Day #WorldPhotoDay - 19
International Bat Night - 26
International Dog Day 26
September
National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay - 4
International Day of Charity - 5
National Beer Lovers Day - 7
Heritage Open Days - 8 - 17
Autumn Solstice - 23
World Rivers Day - 24
World Tourism Day - 27
World Maritime Day - 28
October
Vegetarian Month - All month
National Dessert Month - All month
World Vegetarian Day - 1
World Architecture Day - 2
national curry week (UK) - 2 – 8
World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay - 4
World Space Week - 4 - 10
national poetry day (UK only) - 5
National Dessert Day - 14
Halloween - 31
UNESCO World Cities Day - 31
November
World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay - 1
National Authors Day #NationalAuthorsDay - 1
National Spa Week - 4-10
World Children's Day - 20
December
Small Business Saturday #SmallBizSatUK -2
International Day of People with Disabilities - 3
Winter Solstice - 22