Hidden Scotland, founded by Jack Cairney, is one of the UK’s fastest growing online travel brands and has recently been recognised for its ‘Best Overall Instagram Presence’ by becoming a finalist in this year’s Shorty Awards. The Shorty Awards recognise the most influential, popular, and culturally relevant brands, organisations, agencies, campaigns and influencers across social media. ‘The Shorty’s’ are now in their 12th year and remain the most prominent award show of its kind.

“We are over the moon to be selected as a finalist in this year’s Shorty Awards for the work we have put into our Instagram channel. Scotland has so many awe-inspiring locations and it is a pleasure to be able to show these off to our community in our own unique way.” Jack Cairney, Founder.

Since its inception in 2016, Hidden Scotland has committed to serving its online community with a daily source of inspiration and information that is carefully curated in order to better equip travellers on their journey around Scotland.

“Our Instagram account has been an essential driver in developing Hidden Scotland’s unique identity and fostering a real sense of community around it. In 2019 we promised to only post content we believed to be interesting, useful and unique, and with this approach, we have been able to grow our social community entirely through organic reach and engagement.” Jack Cairney, Founder.

As true believers in adopting the beneficial methods of slow travel, Aberdeen based team of two, Jack and Karla have committed to creating informative, inspiring and immersive content to further showcase the awe-inspiring locations that Scotland has to offer and what’s within. Each with a different focus, which either told a story, informed or simply inspired, all while remaining true to their brand.

Through their varied discovery slider posts, they each showcase a location, area or specific place and provide information on how to get there, what’s nearby, where to stay, where they can eat & drink and things to do. All with beautiful photography, and laid out in a minimal style with a simple approach to design. By showing what’s within an area and nearby, they encompass their ‘slow travel’ ethos which encourages visitors to Scotland to spend more time there, and really learn about the places they are visiting.

“In 2019 our main focus for the @hiddenscotland Instagram channel was to continue to grow our community through creating informative, inspiring and immersive content to further showcase the awe-inspiring locations that Scotland has to offer and what’s within. We really wanted to get to the heartbeat of these locations and share even more of what makes them unique, whilst engaging with our community. By utilising the slider feature we felt this was a great opportunity to expand our narrative while bringing our community along for the journey.” Karla Hall, Partner & Lead Creative.

It was with the development of these posts that Hidden Scotland saw its rapid growth from 151k to 392k in the space of a year. With their efforts firmly focused on creating interesting, unique and engaging content, their Instagram growth skyrocketed in 2019, growing their audience from 151k at the end of 2018 to 392k by the end of 2019 which is an increase of 241k followers, all of which were acquired organically.

By continuing to adapt their creative content over the years to remain relevant, informative and unique it has meant that in recent weeks in light of public health concerns surrounding COVID-19, Hidden Scotland have continued to commit to sharing joyful images and immersive content to lift spirits and bring moments of calm. While we are all instructed to stay safe in our homes, Hidden Scotland have created a series of Instagram posts that encourage their followers to take a moment in their day at home to stop, be present and listen to the calming sounds of Scotland. By viewing and tapping, followers will be able to hear soundbites of various Scottish sounds, such as the cheerful chirping of the birds out in nature or the crashing waves at Talisker Bay.