Can you believe we’re already through the first quarter of 2017?! I can’t! The first 3 months of 2017 seem to have whizzed past in the blink of an eye. I thought it would be fun to recap what’s been happening on the blog and behind the scenes over the last 3 months…as well as sharing some secrets about what’s coming up!

WHO WE’VE WORKED WITH

I’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with some really exciting brands during the first quarter of 2017. These have ranged from well-established brands to those just getting started on their journey.

JANUARY

I kicked off the year with our ‘Hot List’ of 2017 – 5 brands which I think are the ‘ones to watch’ in 2017. A variety of blog posts followed, including a review of James Greenwood Ceramics, a Q&A with Growlees as well as Facebook LIVE interviews with Huxley Hound & Tales of Teddy.

I loved hearing the feedback from many of you about these brands and how many of you have since gone on to connect with them and even try them. The feedback from the brands has been amazing too, with new retailers secured and more social media followers, to name but a few things! It makes me so happy connecting fab dog brands with the dog community.

January also gave me the opportunity to showcase how dogs can help us beat the blues (with a little help from Oxford University!) I was thrilled by the reaction to this piece so thank you for your comments. I hope to do more pieces like this in the coming months.

FEBRUARY – MARCH

Ted and Millie were busy during February and March putting various products through their paces. This included their Valentine search for love, thanks to collaborations with The Distinguished Dog Company and Barking Bakery Company to selecting their favourite Spring accessories from Jolie Dog HQ. They even tried out pet tech from Furbo and also shared two of their favourite dog walks. Phew! Exhausting!

WHERE WE’VE BEEN SEEN

The start of the year has seen TWILIGHT BARK UK featured twice in our local press in Oxford. It was really great to be approached and be given the opportunity to share the story of how this little old blog started! Fancy reading the full article? Click HERE.

I was also interviewed by Freeview TV Channel, That’s Oxfordshire about the blog and the plans for the future! It was a really great experience to be in a studio with cameras, lighting etc! Pretty daunting but I absolutely loved it – certainly made a change from being the interviewer! Missed it? Take a peek below (try not to laugh at me too much!!)

ACHIEVEMENTS

It’s not all about the numbers (but sometimes it is!) I have long grappled with Instagram but since the beginning of the year, I’ve noticed a gradual increase in not only the number of followers but most importantly, the level of engagement! I LOVE having a regular ‘hello’ with our friends over there (and making new ones too). Towards the end of March we even reached a milestone of 5k followers. A huge THANK YOU to any of you guys who follow us. This milestone means such a lot.

We also saw one of our photos ‘go viral’ (well sort of!) as it was liked nearly 7k times (and it wasn’t even from being shared on a larger Instagram account – crazy!!) Ted & Millie really did feel like royalty!

Do you follow us on Instagram? We’d love to say hello to you over there….

BEST BIT

It was such an honour to be invited to ‘takeover’ the Woof Woof Network Facebook page for a very special day at Crufts! I visited the trade stands of four great dog brands (Lily’s Kitchen, Hownd, Dogrobes and Grippy Leads) and conducted four mini Facebook LIVE interviews with each of them. It was such a great opportunity to interview in a different kind of setting and really made me push myself out of my comfort zone. I loved every minute of it!

At the time, I only publicised this minimally (so sorry if you missed out!) but I’ll be sure to shout from the rooftops and schedule exact times when I do more Facebook LIVE over the coming months. Missed it? Don’t worry! Check out each of them HERE!

(Oh and if you like my jumper as much as I do, you can get your own personalised one from Duke Loves Fergie!)

COMING UP!

As well as the blog AND our regular column for The Good Vet & Pet Guide, you’ll soon start to see us in a further two places (excited to share this with you soon!)

I also have some great Facebook LIVE interviews lined up with some brilliant dog brands! I’m so excited to start expanding this as part of the TWILIGHT BARK UK blog and whilst not everyone gets it and it’s not perfect (yet!) I love trying something new and helping provide dog brands with a unique platform for storytelling – something I genuinely believe is so important for the dog community. I LOVE it when you guys join in the fun by asking questions when I’m ‘live’ or by just showing support, it means sooooo much, so thank you (and I hope to see even more of you joining in with our next ones – exciting times!)

Have you enjoyed anything in particular? We’d love to hear if you have any favourites from the last 3 months. In the meantime, here’s to the next quarter of 2017!!

Sarah, Ted & Millie xxx