Social media success for Inverness tour group
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The woman behind tour group Walk Inverness has been enjoying huge success on social media.
Cath Findlay, who established Walk Inverness around five years ago, posts regularly on social media, amassing almost 20,000 followers across different social media accounts, over 10,000 of them on TikTok.
Her most popular post to date amassed some 400,000 views but, as she explained, such success is generally hard won.
“You don’t just suddenly get a following on a platform,” she said. “You need to post consistently and it takes a long time to build.
“It might seem like I have a good following but my Instagram, for example, has over 800 posts to get 5000 followers which took five years to get.”
Postings definitely became more popular during the pandemic when people were stuck inside during lockdown, she said.
“When we could only walk so far away from our homes I would take a mile walk down the river with the dog and I would film the buildings, nature, wildlife.
“It’s free content for people to watch and I think for a lot of people they missed being able to just go out to explore.
“They especially like posts about wildlife – rabbits, seals, just animals you don’t normally see in your daily life, especially in a city setting.”
“That’s what sets Inverness apart from other cities. You have a wonderful blend of nature and historic architecture that can’t be beat.”
Cath’s most popular to date is a video posted on TikTok showing a bagpiper performing on Inverness High Street and, for all the talk of hard work, it proves that sometimes popularity really
does come down to nothing more than sheer good luck.
“Americans love things that are Scottish so there was an interest in that, but the reason it got so big was because there was Poundland in the background of the video!” she said.
“They started sharing it, fascinated by the fact that they have The Dollar Store in the States and we have Poundland in the UK. Something as coincidental as having Poundland in the background of a piper video made it my biggest video.”
Making the videos themselves is no simple task, involving multiple takes to get the right shot and the right recording for the voiceover. And then there is the time it takes to edit together.
“I don’t think people realise the work that goes into making a video, even if it’s only a minute long.
“It takes planning, patience and hard work to consistently post videos of good quality.”
Cath also uses social media to promote other local businesses in Inverness.
She believes that “you can go all over the world and find these multinational coffee shops, but if you’re coming to Inverness you want a local shop, making local food.
“Inverness is unique to the Highlands so you want an authentic experience and that’s done by going to local businesses.”
Her passion for Inverness is what shines through the most and she’ll have you noticing things that even locals won’t have spotted about Inverness’s buildings, statues and scenery.
“When you live somewhere for long enough everything just kind of blends into the background of daily life and you stop taking an active interest in the history of your area. The tours are not just a bombardment of information, we do have a laugh and a joke, plus it’s interesting when local people come on the tour and they are able to tell me about something I didn’t know.”
Tours can be booked at WalkInverness.com and you can also follow Walk Inverness on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
