Go North East has turned to Facebook Live to run what is thought to be an industry first in engaging with its biggest fans online.
An hour-long live interactive broadcast was held in partnership with the Northern Group Enthusiasts Club where Managing Director, Martijn Gilbert, and Commercial Projects Co-ordinator, Dan Graham, answered enthusiasts’ questions about the operators 700-strong fleet of buses and its operations. Nearly 100 live viewers tuned in on the evening, with 200+ comments and questions posted. It has attracted in excess of 2,000 further views since.
As well as taking questions live during the broadcast, questions could also be posted in the comments section on the Facebook page ahead of the broadcast. It now remains online for viewing after the event.
Commenting on the initiative Martijn Gilbert, Managing Director of Go North East, said: “We have a large number of keen followers of our company, many of whom use social media to engage with us. Using Facebook Live was designed as an initial trial to try and answer everyone’s questions in one place, with a view to running this as a regular event every month or so.
“The enthusiast community are huge supporters of the work of our company and our hard-working team. Many of them are also customers of ours and represent the communities we serve. Sometimes they even go on to become great members of our team. Whilst we mustn’t get distracted from our core business of running buses and serving customers, taking time out now and again to engage with our supporters can be a good thing in winning hearts and minds, generating excitement about using our services and inspiring good enthusiastic people to come and work for us.”
