A Yorkshire town is proving it’s not just individual businesses that can use social media to broaden their reach as a Twitter campaign targets more than one million people a month.

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the launch of #wetherbyhour, a scheme designed to unite the town’s business community in promoting their offering.

The initiative is the first, and only one of its kind, which not only has an hour dedicated each week to tweeting about the town, but also runs live events at venues across Wetherby to further promote the town and its businesses.

The very first night of the campaign saw #wetherbyhour trending in the UK and now generally features in UK and Leeds trends weekly.

Its total monthly reach is now 1,136,269 people who have potentially seen a tweet, with a monthly total impressions of 5,422,539.

Local business owner David Scott, of Scott Ross Media, said: “A business revolution is happening in Wetherby.

“Thanks to the hard work and incredible efforts of local guru Jo Maltby, she has single-handedly rallied the local area into an ‘all for one and one for all’ attitude and the town is bursting with optimism for the future.”

The “live nights” have grown from only seven local businesses the first event to between 60 and 100 in less than eight months.

Local celebrities have also lent their support to the scheme, including broadcasters Christine Talbot, Harry Gration, Alex B Cann and Tanya Arnold, actress Zoe Henry, sportsmen Richard Mathers and Ryan Sidebottom and business figure Kate Hardcastle.

Jo Maltby, who instigated the initiative, said: “#wetherbyhour’s first year has been a rewarding experience watching everyone connecting and building their business relationships into friendships. This is a great platform for every form of industry to be heard, including charities, education, sports associations, and more. Thank you to all our supporting venues and everyone that attends, we couldn’t do it without you.

“I am so proud of our beautiful historic town and we are extremely lucky to have such a diverse business mix on our doorstep.

“Supporting our local independents not only helps to keep the unemployment levels down but keeps our hard earned money in our community. The power is in our hands to shape a brighter future for Wetherby.”

Businesses can take part in #wetherbyhour by adding the hashtag to tweets every Tuesday between 8pm and 9pm, or by attending the monthly live events.