This summer we’ve been interning with Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust. We’ve been helping to manage their social media, from Instagram and Facebook through to TikTok. Our main brief has been to promote the Crescent Experience, encouraging more family tickets, and broadening the reach of the Trust’s channels.
When we began researching, we were struck by just how many events and activities there were, where to begin? We started by promoting the Kids Go Free in August offer, the Buxton Heritage Weekend, as well as one-off events like the Hand & Lock Embroidery Workshop. Nothing is outside of our comfort zone!
We’ve been recording loads of content in the Crescent Experience. We hadn’t been inside before, and we wanted to showcase how brilliant it is. It’s been great to see results already: our reach and engagement have increased across Facebook and Instagram thanks to lots of regular posting and our TikToks have helped reach new, younger audiences.
Interning here has been even better than we could have expected. Everyone is so friendly and always happy to help, and there are always fun activities happening (often with people in costume!) What surprised us most was the freedom we’ve been given to try out ideas and post content, which has made it really creative and rewarding. Of course, the flip side is that you’ll often find us filming silly TikToks around the Experience; lip-syncing in costume or playing with our historical rubber ducks in the Pump Room shop (we promise it’s all for work purposes!) It’s been great fun not only creating content, but also making new friends with all the wonderful people who work here.
Naturally, we’ve made a few mistakes along the way, perhaps most notably when we posted about the arrival of the railways in Buxton but included a photo of a traction engine instead of a train.
You could say that post gained more traction than we expected from eagle-eyed transport fans (apologies for the horrible pun!) Luckily, it’s all part of the learning curve, and ironically, it’s gone on to become our most successful Facebook post to date. Proof that any publicity can be good publicity and that the public love mistakes!
Next up, we’ve got a busy schedule with Heritage Open Days (13 – 20 September) and the Georgian Festival (23 – 28 September), plus lots more chances to promote the Crescent Experience as the weather turns more autumnal (and a bit more typically Buxton️). After this is over, we’re both looking to pursue careers in marketing, hopefully in the heritage industry. Offers welcome!
If you want to keep up with what we’re doing, you can find us on Instagram (@buxtoncrescentheritagetrust), Facebook (Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust) and TikTok (@buxtonheritagetrust), and we’d love it if you could get involved by sharing posts of your own visits to Buxton. Tag us so we can reshare! We always love receiving comments (good and bad!) as it helps us to see that what we are doing is making an impact.
