Sunniside Sunderland
Helping celebrate the businesses, people and stories transforming one of Sunderland’s most exciting neighbourhoods.
The Challenge
Sunniside is one of Sunderland’s most exciting and creative areas, full of independent businesses, passionate people and ambitious regeneration projects. The challenge wasn’t that there wasn’t enough happening. It was that there simply wasn’t enough time to tell those stories.
With a small team juggling countless projects, social media often became something that had to be squeezed in at the end of the day. Kate and Posy wanted someone they could trust to take ownership of the content, understand the vision behind the project and become an extension of the team, rather than someone waiting to be told what to post next.
The aim was simple: celebrate everything happening in Sunniside, shine a light on the businesses and people making the area what it is, and create a social presence the community would genuinely enjoy following.
Discovering The Community
Before picking up a camera or opening Canva, I wanted to understand what made Sunniside… Sunniside.
I looked at how other regeneration projects communicated online, explored the independent businesses in the area and reviewed everything the page had done previously to understand what resonated and what didn’t. What quickly became clear was that there was an incredible opportunity to tell far more human stories.
The more time I spent with Kate and Posy, the more obvious it became how much they genuinely cared about the area. Every conversation came back to the businesses, the people and the future of Sunniside. That passion shaped everything we created.
Together, we built the campaign around one central idea:
The Many Sides of Sunniside.
Every piece of content had one job: celebrate the neighbourhood and the people making it special. They told me they wanted the page to feel “grown up, but playful” but professional enough to communicate important updates while still feeling welcoming, local and full of personality.
Bringing the Strategy to Life
One thing became obvious very quickly.
The best content wasn’t going to come from sitting behind a laptop.
It was going to come from being there.
Rather than relying on emails and photographs being sent over, I became the team’s boots on the ground. I spent time walking around Sunniside, popping into independent businesses, speaking to owners, attending events, capturing regeneration work as it happened and creating ideas on the fly whenever an opportunity presented itself.
That freedom allowed the content to evolve naturally.
One week I’d be interviewing a local business owner.
The next I’d be filming behind the scenes of construction work before anyone else had seen it.
Then I’d be wandering into a hidden independent business that deserved far more attention than it was getting.
One series I’m particularly proud of was “Hidden Gems”. The idea came from wanting to encourage people to look beyond the obvious and discover businesses they may never have noticed before. It quickly became one of the strongest-performing series on the page and perfectly captured what the project was all about, celebrating the people who make Sunniside unique.
As the months went on, we constantly refined the strategy based on what the community engaged with most. Some ideas flew, others didn’t, but every post taught us something. Rather than sticking rigidly to one plan, the content evolved alongside the community itself.
The Results
Over the first six months, the page experienced significant growth across every major metric.
- 41.3% follower growth.
- More than 500,000 impressions.
- Average engagement rate of 6.3%.
- Increased reach, profile views and overall visibility.
- Numerous local businesses reached out asking to be featured on the page.
- Businesses reported gaining new customers after being showcased through the content.
Just as importantly, Kate and Posy were able to focus on delivering the regeneration project itself, knowing their social media was consistently being looked after and continuing to grow.
What People Started Saying
One of the biggest turning points came when Kate and Posy began hearing comments from people around Sunniside about how much better the page looked.
The content wasn’t just reaching people, it was becoming something the community actively looked forward to seeing.
Businesses started getting in touch asking to be featured, while others shared messages like:
“Thank you Ryan, this is mint and I’ve already had new customers reaching out.”
Receiving Posy’s testimonial was another real highlight. Hearing that the project had gone from late-night Instagram posts to having someone who genuinely understood their mission, took initiative and became a trusted extension of the team made all the hard work worthwhile. It reinforced exactly the kind of working relationship I aim to build with every client.
My Biggest Takeaway
This project reminded me that community can’t be manufactured.
It has to be lived.
The strongest-performing content wasn’t the most polished or expensive to produce. It was the content that celebrated local people, highlighted independent businesses and gave the community a reason to feel proud of where they live and work.
Looking back, I’m proud of far more than the numbers.
I’m proud that the page became somewhere businesses wanted to be featured, that people started talking about the improvement in the content, and that local businesses were seeing new customers walk through their doors because of the stories we were telling.
For me, that’s what great social media should do.
It shouldn’t just grow a page.
It should help a community feel seen.