My Top Ten Twitter Accounts to Follow in Coventry and Warwickshire

Today I found an article on the Coventry Telegraph that showed the business top ten people to follow in Coventry and Warwickshire. Although there were some lovely people on there who we know and respect, I feel the author missed the point of Twitter.

To me, Twitter is about engaging, listening and talking to your audience. The first person on their list hadn’t sent one tweet this year that wasn’t a RT. Not very social?

I wasn’t on the list. That’s ok; I’ll cope! But I do a lot for businesses with Twitter. Mainly because I teach them how to use it effectively. I know that this list is for the top ten businesses and I’m a mere fledgling business but I do use Twitter… A LOT!

So, here’s my own list of who I think you should also follow in Coventry and Warwickshire because they use social media well, and because they will show you how you could use it for your business. It’s an eclectic list on purpose, and is not in any particular order and certainly not influenced by anyone.

My Top Ten Twitter Accounts to Follow in Coventry and Warwickshire

Below are 10 local accounts in Coventry and Warwickshire from different areas that I feel are doing well and are good examples of how to approach Twitter as a business.

• @ChrisWhite_MP. Our local MP is not only an MP (that’s fairly important) but he’s actually very good on Twitter. Unlike many politicians and councillors he enters into the spirit of Twitter and responds to and retweets local businesses and people. I think that’s well worth following and I also think you can learn from it. If you see what an MP can tweet you’ll soon see how far you can go with it in your business.

Tweets by @ChrisWhite_MP

• @WarwickRocks. No I’m not just suggesting this one as it’s from my local town of Warwick. I’m suggesting this because it’s a great example of what Twitter should do in your town or county. WarwickRocks are a great movement born from Twitter and all of Coventry and Warwickshire should take note. Yes, there are other towns and counties doing this, but I haven’t seen such momentum from one locally for a while.

Tweets by @warwickrocks

• @JDFreeRadio. JD is a local boy on a Coventry radio station and he’s certainly not shy and retiring! The Free Radio Breakfast Show is all about Coventry and Warwickshire and the tweets from this account share local news travel and stories from real people. This will help your business on Twitter and you’ll have an up-to-date feed of what’s going on in your county. (Other radio stations are available but JD is a Cov lad and I think he should be recognised by the Telegraph.)

Tweets by @jdfreeradio

• @LeamCourier. Yes, this is a competitor of the Telegraph I guess, but they really do share a lot of useful content. Twitter, for many people, is like a daily paper and the Leamington Courier do a great job of sharing breaking local news. The Telegraph do a great job in Coventry too, but as their list was about Coventry AND Warwickshire they should really add this side of the ring road in too!

Tweets by @leamcourier

• @HattonHarding5. These lovely chaps run a local shop in Warwick, and yes I’m biased as I consider them to be friends. But they not only use both Twitter and Facebook very well (you could learn a lot from them) but they were also heavily involved in the Portas Pilot project a few years ago and are passionate about Warwick town. They’re still bringing people to the town via their social media efforts and they make sure that everyone knows what a great town they work in. Good job, boys!

Tweets by @HattonHarding5

• Hashtag hours. Can I cheat here? Of course I can; this is my article. I’m going to include a few here. If you’re a business in Coventry and Warwickshire then you need to get involved with local ‘Hashtag Hours’. These hours are purely for speed networking and will really boost your following and reach. Get out there and join in with these great one hour, once-a-week chats. Try @KenBizHour (Tuesday Mornings between 11 and 12) @LeamingtonHour (Wednesday between 4 and 5pm), @Warwickhour (Wednesday between 8 and 9pm) @SUAHour (Thursday between 11 and 12pm) @CovHour (Thursday between 8 and 9pm).

Tweets by @Covhour

• @ChilternRailway. If you’re in business locally then every now and then you need to travel to London and other far away lands. One of the best uses of Twitter is communicating to your customers, and I think Chiltern Railways have it just right. They use a good mix of humour and travel updates with banter and well-wishes thrown in for good measure. Social media is all about talking to people who buy from you and showing you care. Business can often include travel. I think you should really follow Chiltern.

Tweets by @chilternrailway

• @AirAmbird53. If you want to see how you do Twitter personally but for a business then follow Jo. I met Jo years ago (on Twitter) and since then we have helped raise thousands of pounds for the Warwickshire Air Ambulance. Not because Jo was pushy, but because she was friendly and talked to me. She networks very well and gets her message out and gains followers for her charity without spamming my timeline. If you need to get a message out from your business then you should follow Jo’s lead. SOCIAL media done well.

Tweets by @AirAmBird53

• @102TouchFM. If you’re in business then you’ll want to be recognised. Touch FM run several successful awards events in and around Coventry and Warwickshire and you can enter your business for free. Touch put on a great show but also really do engage with their audience. That’s the key point here – they use Twitter and they integrate it with all that they do. Follow them for travel and news updates too, but the awards angle is not to be missed.

Tweets by @102TouchFM

• @KerryBlakeman. The local Chief inspector of West Midlands Police is a great social media user. If you want a real insight into the police then you should follow this guy. It is important to your business what goes on in the area and Kerry Blakeman shares news, travel, missing people, crime and so much more. The police are really using Twitter well and I should add @WarksPolice here too as they also use Twitter very well. You could learn a lot from how the police use Twitter to share information, engage with people, and get stuff done.

Tweets by @kerryblakeman

So there you go. That wasn’t at all easy to select and I purposefully missed out people mentioned in the business list from the Telegraph as they’re already on a list. Twitter is all about talking and listening and I felt that the list they had generated was all about people who are good in business… not all were good on Twitter.

I feel that if you want to succeed in business then you need to hang around with successful people. But on Twitter you should also follow people who are good at it. Twitter is not business. It’s not a PR plan, it’s social media – and it’s people talking to people.

I must stress that this is only a list of 10 accounts and I follow 1000s of locals who are truly awesome. I wanted to select a random mix but also pick people who I don’t owe anything to, and people I don’t work with that I don’t benefit from mentioning in my post. I like to keep it real.

Now it’s your turn

Please to tell me about your best Coventry and Warwickshire accounts in the comments so I can follow them if I don’t already. I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

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