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Finlay
12th November 2015, 01:50 PM
One of the answers to many questions, is to use social media to reach out to new/old cachers. So....

Can you expand on how you would use the various social media tools that the GAGB have to further promote geocaching and the GAGB in general? What new ideas can you bring to the table?

arrowrat
12th November 2015, 02:52 PM
Can Twitter be used more rather than Facebook?

Antreid
12th November 2015, 08:12 PM
We have so many avenues of communication to choose from nowadays - we used to rely on the forums - NW, SE, and GAGB - but now it seems we have almost a geocaching facebook groups or page for each town... It's natural (given our pasttime is so secretive) to want to socialise online, and I don't think GAGB should try to organise any of that or muscle in on it!

Twitter - my twitter feed is incredibly dynamic, it's easy to miss stuff. I have cut out the worst tweeting offenders from my list but still I get probably get 5 meaningful tweets an hour from completely random people and organisations. Not sure how effective GAGB can be against that - we;d drown - but perhaps a committee person - or appointed other person - can find something meaningful to tweet about more regularly that now. Once a week? Maybe more around important events, like souvenirs? It would also be a good means of connecting with media organisations and cachers - if we can work out what it is GAGB does and how we can be useful to cachers, that is... Nobody wants spam tweeted just to make up the numbers...

Perhaps the best role for GAGB in the short term is to post links to useful stuff in our forums, and then all of us can post links to solve people's queries in our own Facebook groups? I often see 'newbies' asking questions and to have a repository of stock answers - on the Groundspeak forum but also UK-specific on our own - would mean I don't have to invent the answer on the spot... or contradict someone else who also invented a different answer right before me! If this proves useful, then it is another way of connecting cachers together and being useful.

So - in short I'm skeptical about twitter, I think facebook can handle itself, and GAGB can connect to both by making the forum more useful.

by the way, has anyone seen the incredibly handing events calendar that GAGB manages on these pages? I don't know if that counts as social or media, but I think it's really good to have. It basically tells me where I am going on the weekend...!

Ant

twoofnine
12th November 2015, 09:30 PM
My experience is that you need a feeder site (the forum or webpage) that sends out simultaneous posts to the Social media outlets of our choice.


As an example, my personal blog site uses a combination of Wordpress add-ons, IFTTT and the FB/Twitter interface to post my blog to FB, Twitter and Google+
The scheduling/timing of posts is also important, as can be seen from the Social Media statistics.


I am not yet aware of the current GAGB setup but there may be some changes that could be made.

Maple Leaf
12th November 2015, 11:26 PM
I agree with both Ant & Alan that having a reference area to refer/link back to is the way forward. I have been doing this for some time if I see a question on Facebook that I know we have covered e.g. about Trig Points, YOSM etc which were covered in early editions of Seeker or if someone is asking about an events calendar. But we need more things to link back to.

I often use the 'schedule feature' on the Facebook page, so that posts appear at prime times or spread out rather than lumped together.

Twitter - Rich has represented the GAGB in the #UKGeocachingHour on Tuesday nights when he can and the group of users is growing. I tend to browse through tweets and retweet the odds ones, but apart from keeping our presence there, I don't how useful Twitter is. However if we had more resources available (with short url prepared) then it may be useful.

Griff Grof
13th November 2015, 04:18 PM
I think Twitter is very useful in helping raising awareness of the GAGB, as is social media in general.

As I said on another thread, interacting with cachers on Twitter has led to more followers and more members on CacheWalker. This should, therefore, apply to the GAGB, especially as it would be done on a larger scale and on other social media outlets as well such as Facebook. For example, there are newer cachers who tweet about their first experiences, and GAGB could be the first account to say well done and direct them to the website for help.

If my idea for events is adopted, it could be used to promote them, and resources the GAGB offers could be tweeted on a regular basis.

Personally, I think the GAGB Twitter account is already run very well, perhaps it's just a case of interacting a little more and helping create more of a buzz at times.

Other than that, I concur with the other comments already made above :)

UKCACHEMAG
13th November 2015, 08:05 PM
I think video is a way forward with social media. Perhaps a YouTube channel and periscope where people can interact and ask questions.

We should have a plan of delivering educational content and useful information

abiherts
15th November 2015, 03:14 PM
I do think the gagb needs to increase it's social media profile as well as maintaining the website/forums for those that do not use social media.

However I'm not an expert in the use of social media so can only offer my thoughts.

Cache on Wheels
17th November 2015, 04:22 AM
I think video is a way forward with social media. Perhaps a YouTube channel and periscope where people can interact and ask questions.

We should have a plan of delivering educational content and useful information

Hi, as the committee have answered, I hope it's ok to add some suggestions, and ask if you would be interested in getting involved with YouTube and periscope please?
Here seems to be the most relevant place, and is in keeping with the theme in this forum thread.

Great ideas Adam, :)
We always enjoy watching your periscopes which cover different topics, but always informative :)

Periscope is certainly one App that has become more popular quite quickly, had lots new features and has the added element of it being streamed Live. I can certainly see how this would be useful to use, as many do, to help educate, share Geocaching experiences and adventures with all cachers.
You can also do videos / periscopes in or outdoors so can also use wifi.
When at a PC too it has added bonus of you being able to log on PC, whilst scoping from another device, using add on programme Chatterbox, it means you can scroll back through comments whilst live so you don't miss any questions.
Added bonus is you can also show people the website pages too like where to find info on your website and GC. Com and you don't have to show your face if you prefer not to.

If #GAGB is included in title and shared to twitter this will significantly increase the profile of GAGB and it's profile on Twitter too when you ask people watching to share on twitter.

Any committee who are using Twitter can also pick up on comments, questions raised.

It was highlighted on a leading Tech reporters periscope recently of how important it is to have accurate and consistent information.

A suggestion is if and when the committee use video / live stream media under the name of GAGB like this, perhaps the committee should have some guidelines so any committee member knows what to do and can participate, eg of you do or do not give info on GC code or cache location unless you've got permission of cache owner, and check if Groundspeak allow this.

Another is always refer people to the website where they can look up info to ensure accuracy to guidelines in UK eg not putting caches in dry stone walls, and rules and guidelines from Groundspeak through Geocaching. Com.

If you do videos / live streams you could note certain points raised and the time and list this on the eg YouTube page and link to twitter. Example what is Geocaching starts at 2 min 10 sec, so people can refer back to the info quickly.
Also always remember that muggles and land owners could be watching too.

I think GAGB can definitely make use of video media and have a plan like Adam mentioned about how you can help educate people.

All the best to you all :)
Thanks to you all for giving freely and enthusiastically of your time.

Heth aka Cache on Wheels :)

Cache on Wheels
17th November 2015, 04:31 AM
I do think the gagb needs to increase it's social media profile as well as maintaining the website/forums for those that do not use social media.

However I'm not an expert in the use of social media so can only offer my thoughts.

It's great to share your thoughts Abi, I was always told always give ideas, some may not be right, right now, but may lead to other ideas :)

You raise a great point about GAGB increasing it social media profile.
I don't know how to do it either, but I've got a feeling I heard that all your social networks can be linked so when you post on say Facebook, or in the forums, it will come up on Twitter too and shows a live stream on your website so it saves time. I think GAGB Facebook and Twitter account may already be linked, but not sure.