Bridgend 2015

Social Media To The Max

The creation and delivery of TestTown Bridgend was led by the Enterprise Unit at Bridgend College. Designed as an enterprise market, this was run over a weekend in November in 2015. The Bridgend TestTown team recognised the importance and usefulness of social media at the start of their planning and as a result, developed a comprehensive social media strategy which served as a fantastic tool for recruiting, promoting their event as well as documenting activities. Through the synchronised use of Facebook, Twitter and social video they built their following and reach beyond the participants, the college and even the town itself. They encouraged each participating start-up business to create their own social media accounts to link in and filmed them giving an on-camera business pitch before the market began. They also made sure that all the events were either photographed or filmed resulting a valuable visual record of the event.

Through the synchronised use of Facebook, Twitter and social video they built their following and reach beyond the participants, the college and even the town itself. They encouraged each participating start-up business to create their own social media accounts to link in and filmed them giving an on-camera business pitch before the market began. They also made sure that all the events were either photographed or filmed resulting a valuable visual record of the event.

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Words of Advice

  • We underestimated a lot or things which needed to be considered for the units and ended up doing the cleaning etc. for a couple on our own. All a good learning curve though for future initiatives and we’d make sure we added more lead in time to them.

    TestTown 2014 Host

  • I would advertise the event on local radio stations and also in the local newspaper to create local interest in the town to raise awareness of the event. As not everyone who shops in the town uses the internet.’

    TestTown 2015 Participant

  • Make sure you have the commitment from key players in the local area. Without the dedication of the local authority and the City Strategy group, it would not have been possible.

    TestTown 2014 Host

Highlights from the recent years

Five Ways To Supercharge Your TestTown

We believe there are five things which would Supercharge your TestTown:

  1. Every town should create a clear, supported pathway into trading and opening up a shop  for new town centre entrepreneurs.
  2. Every town should have a permanent pop-up facility in a viable trading space which offers flexible lease arrangements up to a year for new town centre entrepreneurs to learn.
  3. Every town should work, within their means, to reduce financial barriers in reduced rates and rents for new traders during their first year of business.
  4. Every town should carry out a regular (every five years) entrepreneur-led consultation which would feed into a business-led strategy for town centre development and business support.
  5. Every town should develop a hyperlocal cross-sector partnership to lead local innovation, ensuring that agencies, businesses, and residents are all powerful in leading local development.