Consultation promotion

Consultation promotion

Multiple channels were used to raise awareness of the consultation and encourage participation among key stakeholders and the public. This included the use of emails, social media posts, press releases and a letter which was shared with specific stakeholders.

Social media

The Transport Scotland social media pages on X (previously known as Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook were used to promote the consultation and consultation events.

A total of 36 posts were made on Transport Scotland’s social media platforms throughout the consultation (examples shown in Appendix B.1). Transport Scotland also used paid social media promotion to increase the local reach of the advertising for in-person engagement events. Facebook event pages were also made for the in-person engagement events to further promote them on the platform.

Stakeholder emails

During the consultation, four rounds of stakeholder emails were sent to inform stakeholders about the consultation.

• First email - Announced the beginning of the consultation
• Second email - Announced the in-person engagement events
• Third email - Confirmed the dates of the in-person engagement events
• Fourth email - Provided information on the two online events

The emails are shown in Appendix C.

Letter to MSPs

The Cabinet Secretary for Transport issued a letter to all MSPs to announce the commencement of the consultation and to encourage participation, see Appendix D.

Press release

A press release was issued to local and national media to announce the launch of the consultation. The press release included a link to the consultation webpage. The press release generated coverage from multiple outlets including The Times and Highways Magazine.

The second press release was issued to publicise the location and dates of the in-person engagement events. This announcement was picked up by multiple outlets including Dunfermline Press, Glasgow Times, and the Ayr Advertiser.

A copy of the press releases can be found in Appendix E.

Eventbrite

Event pages on Eventbrite were created for the in-person and online engagement events to further advertise the events, and free tickets were provided to help gauge attendance/interest in the events. While attendees were encouraged to register for events before attending, this was not a pre-requisite for entry to the events. An example of an Eventbrite event page is included in Appendix F.

Scottish Government website

The consultation was also promoted on the Scottish Government website (see Appendix B.2).