Hi all,

After discussion at the Club committee meeting at the weekend, the Club has now increased its social media presence to include Twitter and Instagram.

The OC channels are now as follows:

• Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Rover200and400OC/
• Twitter @Rover200400
• Instagram @Rover200400

There are a number of enthusiasts Facebook groups too of course which help with the cause!!

There are lots of club events coming up during the year which will be advertised on the Club’s website and social media output.

In two days, the new Club Twitter account has gained 12 followers, and the Instagram account 46 followers.

Very pleased with that in 48 hours and this will only help the profile of the club being raised.

Good to see wasn't another fake Instagram account

JOHNDQ wrote: ↑Wed Feb 13, 2019 10:23 pm Good to see wasn't another fake Instagram account

Have you seen any others purporting to be the Club?
I had a good look around but couldn’t see any.

this will only help the profile of the club being raised.

It may help with the profile of the club being raised but it also dilutes the matters of the club across 4, or more, platforms – depending upon just how many Facebook groups are included – and, who knows, more platforms in the future.

This means there are now 4 platforms for us to police to ensure the reputation of the club is not tarnished. It also means that communications to club members need to be published on all platforms so that each member receives information through their chosen social media outlet.

We will also lose the central repository of information and knowledge. In my opinion this does not sit well with the aims and aspirations of the club.
Currently, the forum provides a well organised and easily searchable place for information to be accumulated and added to. I have no doubt that much of the help content will gravitate to Facebook (particularly) and other platforms. On another interest group I signed up to, the original (parent) group eventually died completely because people simply stopped going there and Facebooked instead. I can see the same happening to our forum. The forum is also a central place to communicate club activities and for members to interact.

We have already seen decreased traffic on the forum since the arrival of the Facebook groups with a lot of owners choosing to use those channels rather than the club’s forum.

To reduce the risk of this backfiring on us, the club will need someone to co-ordinate and police all the social media communication (potentially the most time consuming job on the committee). The club will also need a social media policy. This has been talked about for 2 years but, to my knowledge, has not actually yet been enacted.

In my opinion this is not an entirely good move by the club but I understand the desire of some to go this route. I think it’s ill thought through. Due to the type of members our club attracts, there is a fair chance that a good many will not wish to create personal accounts for all the social media outlets just so they can see what’s going on in Rover 200/400 world and will therefore be excluded from their content.

Personally, I don’t want to have to go round 4 people’s houses to find out where the party is.

Just my two penn’orth.

Thank you for the feedback.

I understand your points, but in the 21st century, social media is here to stay.

The Twitter and Instagram accounts are not intended to replace the club forum but to complement it. As such the central repository, ie the club website, would not be lost. Note that the Twitter/Instagram pages link back to the official club website.

I don’t see how the club reputation could become tarnished?

The club forum will always be the no. 1 go-to place for all things Rover 200/400/25/45/Streetwise related.

What does everyone else think?

I do share StubbornPatriot's anxieties.

I have however acquired a facebook account to keep an eye on areas of interest. I noticed that a car offered through the Club was posted there recently, but not here.
Actually, I'm getting facebook fatigue already as regards keeping up to date - so much clicking and scrolling back and forth as threads need to be expanded to see what's entered them since last visit. And that's on a laptop, not a phone.

I think there have been 4 cars offered via the club in recent weeks, and I may have forgotten to cross post one of them in the forum.

Incidentally a 416 GTi was posted on here and there was zero interest. Added it to one of the “unofficial” FB groups and it found a buyer the very same day.

“Unofficial” groups being an interesting point actually... these FB groups have their place and are a good thing, however we have now increased our “official” output to ensure that club news (eg charity car at the NEC) gets as much interest as possible.

Biggest problem with this forum is not being able to attach pics.

However my intention going forward was to post cars offered for sale via the club on Instagram (easier to add pics) and then cross post the links here.

Unless someone has any alternative suggestions?

There is a need for club presence in all social media but it is important that the no. 1 place for all information is the club website and the club forum. For this reason any cars offered to the club need to be advertised on here. I know you (Paul) are reluctant to load pics of cars for sale on to your personal Flickr account as it mixes them up with all your personal photos (although I like looking at your bus photos!!) I am sure we can set up a club Flickr account in the same way as we used to have a club photobucket account. Having links to other social media options is only partially successful as not everyone has those accounts and therefore access is limited.

Interesting discussion and one that has been going on for some time, having been discussed at the last 3 AGMs.

All these new channels are out there and we have to decide which to use and which not to but limiting our presence to just the forum will surely limit the reach of the club. With Paul F now on the committee we have someone with the ability and time to start this. He is running the new Twitter and Instagram accounts and is now an admin with me on the Facebook account

It is an experiment in a way but then so many of these things are!

We are 'connecting' with a new group of people through these channels and we want to direct them to the forum for what it's good at, which is sharing, organising and keeping knowledge. We include links back to the forum topics in the other channels at appropriate points in the threads.

Let's see how it runs but the first signs are promising and thanks to Paul for having got them running so quickly