Well Saturday marks the four-year mark for this idea that I call ReTales.
It started as a way to reach out to the community with something I was interested in, and a simple tweet.My first follower was @tbpHFX and from there it has just continued to snowball well past the 500 followers I was aiming for.
Since this time last year I have gained 3700+ followers on Twitter, over the last two years I changed my Facebook strategy after disastrous early results, and in the last 12 months, I went from 3000 to over 8200 likes. I have put some effort into Instagram over the last 18 months and went from ~500 to 2700 followers in the last year. My blog continues to grow, and I am now averaging 10000-12000 unique hits a month. Late 2015 also saw the launch of the newsletter that in only six short weeks already has 500 subscribers.
2015 was a rough year for me on a personal level, but I was glad to have this avenue to focus on. The continual support from my community makes me feel that my time is being spent somewhat well. I can’t thank all of you individually, but I appreciate every like, favourite, retweet, share and response I get. I love when I get a chance to meet you in the real world, and the response “Oh you’re ReTales!” I do want to give a shout out in particular to @evilpez4, who’s humour is easy to play with, Sack Vegas everyone needs an adversary, and Eat This Town whose food quest team, I’m a proud member of. (Andy, Jeff, Lindsay thanks) I also have to thank Haligonia, who quickly picked up on my idea, and have encouraged and supported me, and I look forward to our continued relationship.
What’s in store for 2016? I will continue to share as I know things; I will be working a bit more on my sandwich site Wich.ca. I enjoyed my day trip piecing together Moncton ReTales and will be trying the same with the Valley, Truro & Sydney this year.
Click away if you want to consume Halifax ReTales in another format
Twitter – This is where I go on and on about Retail/Food/Canada/Halifax/PopCulture etc
Facebook – Curated and mostly Retail/Resto news and some satire
Instagram – this is satire primarily and the bigger news
Blog – This is essentially a compilation of the Facebook feed
Newsletter – This is almost the same as the blog
In short thank you!
You make this hobby worthwhile.
I will continue to be reliable, consistent and authentic!
-Arthur
