In 2009 the LookWest.ie Team decided that we needed to broaden our reach and connect with subscribers via new channels in addition to the website.  A strategy and campaign plan was drawn up.

The focus of the campaign was to reach users who may not be aware of us yet, but to whom the LookWest.ie message is very relevant.   The goals of the campaign were to:

• Benefit users by connecting them with information, activities, groups, grants & initiatives that were potentially beneficial to them.
• Enable users to access the networks and regional meetups that could assist them in establishing contacts helpful to facilitate a move to the region. 
• Convey the positive and creative spirit that prevails in the region.
• Highlight the benefits of living in the West whilst honestly addressing issues.
• Interact with and listen to our users and discuss any ideas, thoughts or issues that they brought to us.

LookWest.ie speaks to two very different audiences. We provide information and advice for people living in or thinking of moving to Ireland's Western region.  We also provide information and support to attract enterprise and business to the region.  We had to segment our channels for our two different audiences based on the demographics and profile of each channel.

The new channels we adopted were:

• Email Newsletter; We use this to provide relevant and timely regional information to both our personal and enterprise subscriber.
• Facebook; is primarily a channel for our personal subscribers. Facebook focuses on the fun, quirky and social side of living in Ireland's Western region.
• Twitter; addresses both of our audiences with information and links to articles, events. We also celebrate local success on Twitter.
• LinkedIn; focuses in large on our enterprise audience, and we use it to highlight news and policy that has an impact on doing business in the region.
• YouTube; has video case study content of relevance to both audiences.

After little over 6 months, we have 1,069 facebook fans, 400 Twitter followers and 106 LinkedIn Users.  User feedback and Google Analytics data has been very positive.

We can tell that:

• The LookWest fan base demographic is very much Irish Eastern Seaboard and US / UK Irish Diaspora. 
• The countries with most followers are Ireland, the US and the UK, in that order. 
• The cities with the biggest fan base are Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Manchester & London.
• LinkedIn is currently the number 5 referrer to the LookWest website
  
  • These users spend an average of 8.34 minutes on site
  • This compares with a site average of 2.45 minutes
• The number 9 referrer to LookWest.ie is currently Twitter
  
  • Twitter users spend a healthy average of 3.54 minutes on the LookWest.ie site