Kelly Fox runs the largest Traffic update Facebook page covering the wider Porirua Region.
Affable, quick witted and good humoured, Kelly tackled one of the gnarlier topics – traffic jams/accidents/craziness – and has made a huge success of it online.
Kelly started Facebook page Traffic Updates – Horowhenua – Kāpiti – Wellington in the final days of 2018 during a summer break at her parents’ house.
“I could see the road from the back yard and there was an accident and traffic was backed up from Ōtaki to Manakau,” says Kelly.
“You could see on social media pages people wanted information so I just created the page and there was an immediate response.”
Kelly says she was a bit surprised at the end of day 1 when the FB Page already had 200 members.
Having created the page Kelly had now become the ‘It’ person for all things traffic and by the end of week one the FB Page had 1000 followers.
Kelly has an extensive background in media, particularly radio, and appreciated the importance of having information quickly available. She says the public were quick to respond to accidents and holdups and the Traffic Updates page was ideal.
“Before long our Facebook Page was the go-to site and eight months later we had 10,000 following.”
Recently the Traffic Updates Facebook page hit the 100,000 followers mark which is a phenomenal number.
“The growth has been organic really, no marketing, just a lot of hard work to keep the page up to date with interesting information, stories, links and as-it-happens content,” says Kelly.
Kelly has since developed her Traffic Fox website (see link below) where anyone can subscribe for only $2 a month and there is a wealth of information available.
Kelly says the advantage with the website, is subscribers can get even more in-depth real-time traffic updates and travel information 24/7, usually faster than official sources.
There is also an opportunity for advertisers to use the site and get their message out to the public.
Kelly says subscribers to TrafficFox get on-the-hour updates, which is ideal for businesses and individuals reliant on the road network. She says there is also access to pages on this website that only members can view.
“We cover Manawatu to Wellington, including Wairarapa, and also other main routes further up the line as required, look at public transport, and provide exclusive deals, motoring news, reviews, and more to our subscribers,” says Kelly.
KEY LINKS:
Website: www.trafficfox.co.nz
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/518355278684596